Collaborate develop teamwork and leadership communication skills

Teams, groups, committees, councils, and cohorts require complex communication skills, like the ability to navigate conflict, to be successful.

Almost sixty years ago, American psychological researcher Bruce Tuckman developed a teamwork development theory that has stood the test of time. These stages, widely accepted in professional circles, are defined in the infographic.

Subsequent research reveals that storming is not a stage that the team passes through but a constant teamwork feature. Personalities clash and disagreements arise, especially in modern, diverse work environments. Learn to accept conflict as a natural part of team progress, and then manage it to succeed.

Although conflict has a negative connotation, a degree of conflict is normal and healthy and even a vital aspect of team success. The most effective teams are those in which members feel safe enough to disagree respectfully.A culture where dissent is encouraged can spur innovation, diversity of thought, and better decision-making.  However, without proper harnessing, conflict can get out of control, leading to team disaster.

One of the best tools for anticipating and managing team conflict is a team charter. Created during the forming stage, a team charter is a simple document that captures the goals, expectations, roles, and rules that will govern the team.

Conflict resolution 

However, even the most thorough and well-intended charter won’t completely prevent team conflict. When tempers boil over and teamwork starts to derail, your ability to resolve conflict will be an asset. Conflict resolution is a complex skill that could easily fill its own textbook.

The following tips come from Stanford professors Dr. Kathleen Eisenhardt and Dr. Jean Kahwajy and UVA Darden School professor L.J. Bourgeois, III, who published research about workplace conflict. The researchers' work recommends the following tips to help you play a calming, unifying role on the team:

Focus on facts, not personalities. Stay above the emotions by steering the discussion toward what’s right, not who’s right.

Highlight the team’s shared goals.  Find common ground by emphasizing agreed-upon objectives, roles, and deadlines.

Express the value of diverse viewpoints.  Acknowledge everyone’s opinions and perspectives. Make sure everyone feels heard. 

Deploy humor.  Find a self-deprecating way to get people laughing at the conflict rather than intensifying it; however, never ridicule or belittle teammates in the guise of humor.

Share power. If a dominating team member is exercising undue influence, change the dynamic by inviting a less-dominant team member to have an equal say.

Seek qualified consensus. Consensus is achieved when everyone agrees to support a decision. Consensus should always be the goal, but when it’s not achievable, work out a majority-vote approach in order to move forward. This works best if the team has agreed to support majority decisions, which sometimes requires members to agree to disagree.

meetings

1. don't save problems and questions for the next meeting

Always use the simplest and quickest communication method to resolve issues. Real-time communication—a quick in-person chat, video call, or even phone call—is often best. This rule is especially useful for sensitive topics that require reading nonverbal cues. Emails and chat messages are too easy to misinterpret.

Waiting for the next meeting to raise a current issue may unnecessarily hijack the meeting’s agenda thereby prolonging the discussion. Use team meetings to discuss issues that legitimately require everyone’s contribution.

2. influence your team's meeting culture

Quickly audit your team’s meeting culture by answering the following questions:

• Are your meetings driven by the schedule or the need? If your team is meeting just because it’s time for your weekly meeting, talk to your teammates and manager about switching to an as-needed approach or propose short daily huddles instead of long weekly reviews.
• Does your team have a meeting budget? Some companies impose limits on the amount of time teams can spend in meetings. Once a team has used up its allotment of minutes, no more meetings are allowed that week.
• Are teammates allowed to opt out of meetings? Team members with nothing to contribute should be honorably excused from the meeting, and after team members report or resolve their issues, they shouldn’t have to sit through the rest of the meeting.

3. Own the Agenda

Make your team leader’s life easier by volunteering to create and distribute the agenda before each formal meeting. Solicit input from your teammates. Include the meeting’s goals, outcomes, and decisions.

Go one step further by offering your services as timekeeper, gently reminding the group when it’s time to move to the next item on the agenda. Circulate a brief recap with action items, assignments, and deadlines

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4. eliminate the distractions

Multitasking is a myth. Your team’s meetings will take less time if everyone agrees to leave their mobile devices at their desks—unless, of course, they’re joining via their mobile device.

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5. advocate for dmzs

A DMZ is a de-meetinged zone—a block of time on each team member’s calendar when meetings are not allowed. For example, BCG North America has Focus Fridays. All meetings are prohibited after 1:00 p.m. That meeting-free time is devoted to uninterrupted, heads-down work.