Teamwork challenges you should try to avoid

Teamwork challenges are natural when managing a group of staff, and effective managers know how to identify a challenge and provide a solution. Understanding how to deal with such challenges improves the morale and productivity of the employees. 

Since teamwork is an important part of the corporate environment, there are do’s and don’ts that should be adhered to. This article focuses more on what not to do in teamwork.

Some challenges that should be avoided in teamwork

The ability to keep your employees working together can significantly increase production in your company. In order to be able to solve disagreements among your staff in future, it is paramount to comprehend some of the teamwork challenges that any manager can be presented with. 

Before moving further along, see our article Why team building is important. 

The most common teamwork challenges are what follows.

Lack of clarity

When an employee is working on a project, it is important for them to appreciate what it entails. Let them understand what you expect from them, for it’s because of lack of clear guidance and instructions that they end up completing tasks contrary to what was expected. 

When such employees do not recognize their goal, their final work is inefficient, and deviates from the actual objective of the company.

Trust issues

Trust enables the employees to seek clarity if they stuck along the project. When working in a team, the degree of openness is based on how well the co-workers can trust each other. The opaqueness mitigates the progress of the project. 

To be able to raise the trust among a team, the leader should consider planning for team building activities to enable the employees to gain trust of each other and work cohesively.

Withholding information

Sharing of information related to a particular project is instrumental for attainment of success. In instances where a team member withholds crucial information, it allows progress of the project with insufficient information, which is detrimental. 

The project either stops midway, or the final product is not as it was detailed in the initiation process. The managers should always encourage the staff to share beneficial information freely whenever requested by the colleagues.

Lack of communication

An open communication is helpful because it allows the employee to understand what each requires from the other. This increases the reliability of the team, and cultivates a culture of mutual operations. No one is above the other, and the main mission is to achieve the company’s objectives. 

When this free communication is lacking, it becomes difficult to drive the goal of the company. One of a manager’s responsibilities is ensuring staff have several methods of communicating and coordinating with each other.

Interior competition

While competition among your staff is allowed, too much of it can be poisonous to progressive teamwork. When unhealthy competition sets in within a group, there is a high chance that employees would less communicate with each other, and also, they would tend to withhold crucial information. 

The effects of these are derailed achievement of set goals. Managing employee competition requires a structured reward system and emphasis on collaborative work.

Philosophical differences

Although an organization may have well defined goals, diversity in beliefs could complicate issues in a team. Employees have different views concerning work, and if not well managed, it can result in philosophical conflicts. 

Allowing varied views far from what is stipulated in the organizational structure births inefficiency. Having firm leadership can help mitigate the effects of divergent views.

Lack of self-awareness

A person who has less self-awareness might be a problem to a team. Failure to understand someone’s role in a team can come along with other challenges such as resentment and more. 

Often, this becomes a major problem to a team, since others might end up completing the responsibilities for that one unresponsive coworker. The best solution for an employee with poor self-awareness is to have a private conversation.

Skill overlap

When coming up with a team to complete a project, one of the key considerations is the skill match. You need to set up individuals who have the capacity to deliver, and handle the challenges that come with the project. When too many of the staff share the skills, this creates conflicts. Careful consideration should be taken to balance the skills.

Don’t be deceived! Teamwork has innate challenges which can be ignored when taken on a superficial level. Every manager or business leader should consider the above challenges before contemplating to constitute any team at the workplace.

See our other related articles such as Key benefits of team building.