Barriers to Teambuilding

Interpersonal conflict, workplace conflict, and group conflict inhibit team interactions.

Individuals cannot align around a common goal unless they feel safe and secure within the team unit.

Before you accuse me of being warm and fuzzy, let me explain. Safety is not limited to physical wellbeing. There is another, and often more important aspect of safety. To thrive in a team unit, each person must feel free to express themselves emotionally, professionally and creatively without attack or mean-spirited rejection.

In my ten years of team building and training experience, I have discovered three common reasons teams do not bond properly. Certainly, other challenges exist, but let's focus on the most common.

Barrier to Team-building #1 The ‘it’s all about me’ Syndrome.

Many people interpret work and workplace functions in the context of what the workplace system can do for them and only them. But any athletic coach will tell you that the “all about me” philosophy simply does not work in building a healthy team dynamic. For a team to be all that it can be, there must be a specific purpose [ to exist] or as Etienne Wenger of the book “Communities of Practice” would say, a specific domain. He defines the domain as “a commitment to the domain, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes members from other people.” That is a team.

Barrier to Team-building #2 – A Hyper, Insecure Manager

A healthy manager is confident and comfortable in their own “professional” skin. If a manager is secure, he or she is free to allow their staff to grow, succeed and even fail. Should the staff fall short, the manager coaches them through reflective processes and transforms a perceived failure into a teachable... Read more