Say Goodbye to Team Problems

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

How many of these issues sound familiar to you?

A team member frequently interrupts or talks over others during meetings.

A colleague presents a project as their own without acknowledging your contributions.

People leave their old leftovers in the fridge for months at a time.

Someone is ignoring emails or messages, causing delays in a project.

Your leader consistently shoots down people's ideas in meetings.

A policy changes without notification, causing confusion.

A supervisor insists on micro-managing your work: closely monitoring and controlling every aspect of it.

The printer always seems to be jammed.

You find you don't have the knowledge or skills to accomplish a newly assigned task.

Coworkers are spreading rumours or gossiping about others.

What if, rather than stewing silently about these problems or venting to your spouse about them in the evening, you could discuss them with your team and work together to fix them?

Being a team isn't just about creating solutions and solving problems for others, it's about doing it for one another too.

I find myself looking to the education field more and more for insight into building stronger teams and better workplaces. Why? Because a large part of education is teaching kids the social-emotional skills necessary to work together.

It's not just about math, science, reading, and gym. It's also about how to listen effectively, recognize and understand their own and others' emotions, take accountability, and work through conflict (to name a few).

All of these are things we could do with more of in the workplace.

One concept I read about recently was class meetings.

These are meetings that occur as often as once a day where kids work together to solve their own problems in the classroom. For example, if a student has an issue with another student rather than expecting the teacher to fix it or have to deal with it on their own, they put it on the meeting agenda. At the next class meeting, everyone has the chance to come up with solutions for it.

Sometimes the issue just needs to see the light of day so the other person can understand the impact of their actions and apologize. Or it's a misunderstanding that needs an added perspective to clear up. Other times, the class needs to brainstorm ideas to try.

The purpose isn't to blame or shame, but to actively work together to make the class a better place for everyone.

It's not about the problem, but the solution.

The goal is to be helpful, not hurtful.

Just think of the knowledge, ideas, and solutions a team of 10 people could come up with to reduce micro-management, communication, or workload issues?

What help could they offer a co-worker who was struggling with knowledge or skill gaps?

What benefit would it be for people to know that something they might be doing unconsciously is negatively impacting team members and give them an opportunity to apologize and keep the relationship strong?

Bob Farrell, American motivational speaker, author, and founder of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour and Restaurant said, "A team is a group of people who go out of their way to make each other look good."

The best way we can help one another look good is to feel safe discussing the issues that arise when we work together - whether they be individual, interpersonal, or system issues - and work as a team to fix them.

And when people understand their team members want to help them, not hurt them, they will be more open to feedback on their actions and behaviours and more actively seek their input when they are struggling.

It’s win-win for everyone.

Learn more about the concept of class meetings here.