There are hundreds of theories and many research studies in the field of organizational psychology on working with teams. A lot of these studies have found trust building to be an important area to work on, but I also like the research on the behavioral aspects that have shown that relationships function best when the parties to the relationship approve of each other’s behavior. This holds true in intimate relationships, work teams, and even at the community or national level. Conflict and even war ensue when we do not approve of what others do.
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”-Helen Keller
What are some of the challenges to the success of a team? Uneven performance among the individuals, role confusion, not understanding one another’s habits and preferences for types of work, destructive agents within the team or negative subgroups (for example, a group carpools to work together each morning and speaks badly about the rest of the team or the company), change management issues, or creative stagnation.
What are the ways teams can succeed? Leadership, clear goals, bonding-a sense of community, communication that is honest and transparent, equality-what is good for one is good for all, role clarification, understanding the habits and preferences of one another, a good onboarding process for new team members (this will be the focus of another article), and the absence of negative subgroups.