Effective Teams....

1. Deal With Conflict

Every team that has ever existed, be it in business, sports, and even school have encountered conflict. Teams are made up of different types of people each with their own personality and opinion on how things are to be done. Conflict can sometimes arise because of these different opinions and personalities. Successful teams are able to confront conflict in a professional manner.

Successful teams that are able to deal with conflict allow team members to air out their differences in a task oriented manner rather then a person oriented manner. By focusing on the root of the conflict rather then the person who created the conflict allows the conflict to be resolved in a constructive manner. Conflict can only be resolved if all parties come to a consensus decision on the topic. No team member can feel like his/her opinion was not heard.

Question for Discussion:

Think of a time when your team encountered conflict. How did you and your team resolve it?

2. Agree On Procedures

All successful teams develop various procedures and rules to guide the operation of the team. They assign roles, tasks and delegate the work load amongst the team members. By establishing these procedures, teams are focused on a result and every team member feels like each person is doing an equal amount of work. These teams also decide on how decisions are to be made within the group and follow through on that procedure whenever a key decision has to be made.