Teamwork is the primary reason humans have managed to advance in our technology, but due to our nature, successful teamwork can be hard. There is a multitude of factors that every team member has to acknowledge and act towards, and there are many barriers that can make it hard to overcome teamwork challenges.
Real Business has put together this article to ensure that ambitious, involved and long-term thinking business owners and management can be aware of the best practices to take to unlock the full potential of your team and have the tools to overcome teamwork challenges that often crop up in the workplace.
Table of Contents
How To Overcome Teamwork Challenges – 10 Common Issues
1. Lack Of Trust
A key building block of human interaction is trust. When you’re in an environment where you know you can trust your peer, you’re able to communicate effectively. Communication breakdowns come from the symptoms caused by a lack of trust, such as self-centred competition, lack of self-awareness, and typically a lack of interest in what goes on around you.
Google released a groundbreaking study named “Project Aristotle” to identify areas in which a business has to excel to result in the entire team performing highly. They found that a key building block of high-quality productivity is psychological safety, a state of mind where you feel as if your mental state is not at risk of being adversely affected. By creating a company culture that ensures that a team member or their teammates won’t be punished or otherwise penalised for taking risks, sharing ideas, offering feedback and admitting mistakes without negative consequences, you can foster this state in your own employees.
Building trust means incentivising people to know each other professionally and personally. By opening up the path of friendship amongst teammates, you are on yo
ur way to establishing that all parties are there to further the ends of the workplace. Working towards a common cause is one of the best ways to pursue a united team.
2. Conflict And Tension
Conflict between teammates within a work env
ironment is a huge problem. It creates an air of antagonism that most people do not want to be around, and in the worst cases, it can lead to the alienation of a team member, or even several. What follows is a breakdown in communication, the formation of cliques and the general reduction in productivity. To overcome teamwork challenges like this, immediate and swift action has to be taken.
A 2022 study by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that workplace conflict is a significant contributor to employee stress. Unresolved conflict was found to be linked to many negative consequences, such as absenteeism, presenteeism, employee performance and employee turnover.
3. Poor Communication Surrounding Work
Sometimes, acting to improve company culture isn’t enough to overcome communication issues. Effective teams employ effective communication, not necessarily just face-to-face, but also through software that allows for easy collaboration. Below are some ideas, but none will work if you don’t mandate their use, and make them a common part of daily work life:
- Instant Messaging – Instant messaging platforms offer real-time communication, sidestepping distance between teammates and allowing for a paper trail. Slack is one of these platforms, and studies have shown its widespread use has resulted in a massive decrease in email usage and an 85% improvement in communication effectiveness (Colorlib: Slack Statistics “How Many Companies Use Slack?”). This is due to its intuitive interface, organised channels and seamless integration.
- Collaborative Software – Some software enables high levels of collaboration through chats, video meetings, file storage and modular app integration. Providing clear communication channels that can encompass the whole workplace through this software is fantastic because it allows for meetings with other team members and clients like a remote team, making you highly versatile. By far, the number one program for this need is Teams – which blew up in popularity during the 2020 Quarantine.
- Workload Management – With software that allows for project management, you can track the progress and requirements of various tasks within the workplace in one display. Monday and Notion are two examples of this. They are centralised hubs the entire team has access to.
Again, tying into the first point – ensure that all communication efforts are done without fear of consequence. Research reveals that 80% of workers use collaboration tools for work-related tasks, and 70% believe these tools improve their work quality and productivity (Gartner, 2023).
4. Low Engagement
An effective team is one with high levels of engagement. Team encounters through meetings, social applications etc. are the main ways to improve teamwork. Low engagement usually coincides with less intuition and contribution, which in turn will lead to less productivity within the workplace.
This is where the business owner’s leadership skills will come into play. First, there will need to be a rundown of how each person’s work affects the business. For example – good SEO will result in good rankings. The many pieces that go into SEO strategy should be highlighted, in this example. Incentives also play a huge role – ensuring that professional development within the workplace is available will result in better training, more impact on the bottom line, and, of course, pay increases.
A study named “State of the Global Workplace” by Gallup in 2023 ensured that organisations with higher employee engagement experience 23% higher profitability than those with low engagement. Employees come to get paid and work to live – by tying them closer to the company by investing in that desire, they will begin to put energy into the business. Ensure you’re on the same page at all times.
5. Lack Of Transparency
A lack of transparency in the workplace means a lack of open communication or intentional withholding of information. Information sharing between employees and management, in particular, is highly important for a business to thrive. Failure to ensure open communication of goals or other such information can lead to a feeling of alienation and uncertainty. When you leave team members to make their conclusions, then the business goal naturally becomes misaligned.
Leaders must ensure that honesty is established within the team to overcome teamwork challenges. This is best done through social settings, whether before lunch or during team meetings. Simply by keeping the team up to date on the future of the business.
Slack found that 80% of workers want to understand how decisions are made in their workplace, and 87% of job seekers look for transparency in a future workplace (Rahaman, 2023). The ability to answer hard questions and assure your team of the future and long-term plans is key to keeping everyone feeling stable in their role. Poor leadership may be the cause of this, either on behalf of the business owner, or even the management.
6. No Long-Term Thinking
Businesses all have short-term goals, but the long-term is equally as important. Not having a long-term goal essentially means that you’re in a reactive state to anything that may open up opportunities down the line. Business changes all the time, and the very way we live has changed thanks to both smartphones and the developments/concessions made during the 2020 quarantine.
This ties into the last point. Poor leadership through failing to illustrate the overall goal of the business means that fewer people will use initiative to plan for advantages in the future. Ambitious goals, targets and roadmaps lead to a sense of pursuit amongst the team and make them more likely to be flexible, and take initiative.
The importance of long-term thinking is underscored by research conducted by the Harvard Business Review, which found that companies with a long-term orientation tend to outperform their short-term-focused counterparts in terms of revenue growth, profitability, and market share (Barton & Wiseman, 2014).
7. Poor Team Dynamics
Good planning, high resources, and heavy initiative within collaborative environments can still result in poor performance if the team dynamics are not up to snuff. This can be anything from interpersonal conflicts, misaligned goals or even simply a missing piece that would otherwise guarantee success.
The catch-all solution is to foster psychological safety through active listening via management, who should have valuable insights. Their direct superiors will be able to find the problem, and when it’s highlighted, it’s best to approach it in a constructive, empathetic manner.
8. Poor Changes Via Management
Changes are necessary, but some changes can lead to dissatisfaction. Thankfully, this is an easier challenge to conquer. Effective communication is essential for managing change successfully, as well as an openness to change.
Be aware of the change curve, the four predictable stages of change are:
- Denial/Resistance
- Emotional
- Hopeful
- Commitment
Have management monitor the reactions and progress through each change. Some may jump right to a commitment with no issues, but those who struggle to pass through may signal that adjustments are needed.
9. Working In Silos
Team members working in silos is a reality for many teams. Team members may sit side by side without really working together. Try to foster an environment where everybody knows the roles of their team members, as well as their impact on their work or vice versa.
This is a simple yet critical component. For example, if you have an overtime contract that several people are involved in, it’s important to ensure that all of them are working on it according to a schedule of sorts. After all, it’s in their best interest, and if one person can decrease the productivity and effectiveness of the work, all will suffer, or at least feel as though their efforts will be in vain at no fault of their own.
10. Not Following The Same Vision
A team leader, manager, or owner must have one thing to ensure the full function of their workplace – vision.
All businesses have a target audience they’re chasing to further their productive ends and make a profit, but there must always be several stages beyond that which could potentially land the business in the big money. This is, in reality, the goal of all businesses, and ensuring that you project your pursuit of their ambitions will make people believe they are possible – because they are.
Conclusion
There is much overlap between the common challenges of teamwork within businesses, and all of them tend to have similar solutions – unity. By ensuring that everyone in the team is valued and that their efforts are recognised and rewarded, you will embolden them to take their skills to the next level. Furthermore, many businesses do not do this, and employees understand this fully. Demonstrating that you can, and will, will cement their loyalty.
