What are the signs of a dedicated team? Focused individuals, working together whose collective goal is to overcome obstacles and achieve their objectives. A dedicated team is efficient, innovative, committed, and willing to make use of all their resources and capabilities to achieve success. It doesn’t matter whether some of your team members are remote, how long they’ve been working together or how experienced your manager is, every team will run into obstacles at some point. Below, I will outline some of the most common challenges all teams face, and how you, as a team manager, can overcome them.

Varying Personalities

Every person is unique. In a team situation this can be an advantage, as every unique individual has different strengths and weaknesses, however it can also cause issues due to varying personalities. Think of your team as your family. Everyone learns the unique quirks and habits of their family members, and a team is no different. To maintain harmony and efficiency, it is important that you learn to recognise potential areas for friction and how to resolve them. This may seem like a daunting task, however you will have the highest chance for success if you do your best to ensure your workplace’s atmosphere is comfortable and that every team member feels equal and valued.

Despite your best efforts however, issues will arise. To tackle personal issues within a team, it’s a good idea to start as early as possible. During the recruitment process pay attention to work ethics and personalities. Involve your existing team members in the selection process. This ensures they feel valued and gives you a better chance of having a harmonious, efficient team. Have a conflict resolution plan in place. Maintaining open communication with both sides of a dispute is essential, whether you choose to do this individually or in a group situation is up to your discretion and will most like vary depending on the situation. Either way, ensure you listen to both sides so everyone feels heard and you are best able to define the situation and suggest possible solutions.

Overlapping Roles

Ensuring that each member of your team is clear on their roles and objectives is essential to ensure maximum efficiency and satisfaction within your team. Often, without proper supervision, employees can become unclear on their positions and at times overlap in roles can occur, meaning too many people are attempting one task while another may be getting left undone. The time taken to realise and then correct such a situation, then tackle the tasks which were forgotten is valuable time you and your team are wasting. A solution is to clearly outline roles and tasks for each team member. Be upfront and allow your team input into their roles. If certain skills are missing, consider hiring a new team member or enlisting your team in a training program. Pair team members with existing expertise and knowledge with newer, less experienced ones. These tactics will ensure your team members are clear on their roles and objectives and will prevent any overlapping.

Feeling Overworked

Teams with set objectives can at times find themselves struggling to achieve their goals within their set timeframes. This can happen within any team or workplace. Again, an open line of communication is essential in these situations. You want your team members to feel comfortable enough to let you know that they are struggling, rather than feeling overworked and underappreciated and therefore delivering subpar work. According to a recent research by Glassdoor, over 60% of millennials would prefer having $40,000 salary/year at a job that they like, compared to raking in $100,000 salary/year at a job that they don’t find interesting. This just proves that it is critical that you ensure that your team members are not overworked.

To counter this problem, employ a system that can help you and your team in handling assignments and tasks. Relying on project management apps to manage your team can streamline your team’s process and workflow, and subsequently make all of your goals achievable.

Conclusion

Whatever challenges your team has, you as a manager can resolve them by talking to each of your team members and maintaining open and honest communication. As a team leader, you should remember that we are all unique and utilising tools like collaboration and communication platforms such as Zillable can help a lot in organising tasks and projects, making sure everyone is aware of what they need to do and do not feel overworked. In the case of disharmony, it is essential to have an action plan for resolving issues and conflicts in place.

Always remember to listen, care for your team, discuss any issues or tasks together, and have some fun once in awhile!