FREE online courses on Building a Winning Team - Managerial Inputs in
Development - Encourage Mutual Support
If there is
friendly competition in your office, subordinates can develop and grow if
targets
are realistic and everyone can win. But use it sparingly
as a means for advancement, because it has the potential to quickly degenerate
into conflict. Keep teamwork and achievement of
organizational objectives uppermost in your list of priorities.
Avoid the following:
- Unclear or over-lapping
boundaries
- Unclear goals
- Insufficient resources,
unfairly distributed
- Hazy values
- Vague standards of
performance appraisal
- Incompatible
personalities
- Poor communications
Conflict is not always avoidable because of underlying human situations, but
take the trouble to get to know your team well and understand their deeper
selves, which may help in defusing situations.
Conflict
from external sources may not be amenable to
easy solutions, but it helps if you take staff into confidence and enlist their
participation to bash on and achieve departmental goals, using good
communications to enhance positive attitudes and feelings. Some
suggestions to consider:
- Listen to your staff,
and encourage them to listen to each other
- Keep track of mutual
relationships in the interests of the team
- Don't let them jump to
conclusions; encourage data-based analysis, not ‘hunches'
- Create opportunities for
them to help each other
- Use mentoring
- Train subordinates to
coach each other
- Encourage people to
counsel each other on work/ personal problems
- Give stronger
recognition to team identity, to create a
feeling of excitement in hurtling jointly towards achievements/
rewards.
- Divide and rule
ultimately backfires on the oppressor.
QUESTIONS:
- How would you go about
achieving departmental and organizational objectives? Would you need to create ‘team spirit',
or enhance it?
- What are the steps
involved in creating a situation where a team is unfocused and internal
conflicts are imminent? How can these undesirables be avoided?
