Working in a team can lead to amazing productivity and innovation, but it can also result in some common problems that hamper team success. As a team leader or member, being able to identify and resolve these issues is a valuable skill. This article explores some of the most frequent team problems and provides tips on how to address them.

Table of Contents

• Lack of clear goals and priorities
  • Having regular goal-setting meetings
  • Creating a shared vision
  • Tracking progress visibly
• Poor communication
  • Establishing clear guidelines and channels
  • Making time for check-ins
  • Addressing issues early
• Lack of cooperation and collaboration
  • Building trust
  • Promoting interdependence
  • Resolving conflicts through dialogue
• Unclear roles and responsibilities
  • Creating a responsibility matrix
  • Updating role documentation
  • Applying role flexibility
• Lack of accountability
  • Setting clear expectations
  • Conducting peer reviews
  • Linking metrics to goals
• Poor decision-making
  • Seeking diverse inputs
  • Defining and tracking outcomes
  • Being decisive
• Lack of innovation
  • Allocating free thinking time
  • Exploring wild ideas
  • Cross-pollinating perspectives
• Unmotivated team members
  • Connect to purpose
  • Learn and grow
  • Feel valued

Lack of clear goals and priorities

When team members do not understand or agree on goals and priorities, it leads to confusion and inefficient work. Some ways to get everyone aligned include:

Having regular goal-setting meetings

• Set aside time for the team to define and agree on goals and priorities
• Revisit goals frequently to update and realign as needed

Creating a shared vision

• Have team members contribute to articulating a shared vision statement
• Refer back to the vision when setting goals and priorities

Tracking progress visibly

• Use charts or dashboards to track progress on goals
• Make sure everyone can access and view the trackers

Poor communication

When communication breaks down in a team, substantial problems can arise, including duplication of work, dropping the ball on tasks, and misalignment. You can improve communication by:

Establishing clear guidelines and channels

• Define team communication tools and guidelines personnel should use
• Streamline the channels to prevent information overload

Making time for check-ins

• Schedule regular check-in meetings on work status
• Set expectations that team members will proactively update one another

Addressing issues early

• Encourage openness to surface concerns right away
• Discuss misunderstandings quickly to prevent escalation

Lack of cooperation and collaboration

At times, personalities or work styles can get in the way of good teamwork. You can encourage more collaboration by:

Building trust

• Make time for team-building activities
• Model vulnerability by admitting weaknesses and mistakes

Promoting interdependence

• Design projects that require cross-collaboration
• Celebrate group wins over individual wins

Resolving conflicts through dialogue

• Facilitate open and non-judgmental communication
• Identify common interests and motivations

Unclear roles and responsibilities

When members do not understand their own or others’ roles, territorial issues, confusion, and dropped responsibilities can occur. Defining roles clearly can help by:

Creating a responsibility matrix

• Document all team members and project tasks and roles
• Make sure nothing falls through cracks

Updating role documentation

• Review and refresh documentation as team grows
• Get alignment as new members join

Applying role flexibility

• Cross-train beyond formal roles when possible
• Support pitching in during crunch times

Lack of accountability

Without individual accountability, some team members may not carry their own weight, causing resentment and frustration. Boost accountability by:

Setting clear expectations

• Define what success looks like for each role and task
• Establish guidelines for project timelines and quality

Conducting peer reviews

• Implement 360-degree feedback within the team
• Provide constructive criticism to improve performance

Linking metrics to goals

• Connect key performance metrics to team goals
• Track progress transparently with tools like dashboards

Poor decision-making

Ineffective decision-making can severely bog teams down and lead to failure to move initiatives forward. Make better decisions by:

Seeking diverse inputs

• Gather perspectives from different team members and stakeholders before deciding
• Consider “ red teaming” to surface alternative solutions

Defining and tracking outcomes

• Outline what success looks like for each decision
• Analyse results and correct the course as needed

Being decisive

• Set deadlines for reaching a conclusion
• Commit to taking the next steps after choosing a path

Lack of innovation

Over time, teams can get stuck in a rut and have a status quo mindset. Inject more creativity with:

Allocating free thinking time

• Provide space for blue-sky thinking without pressure
• Consider offsite sessions to change context

Exploring wild ideas

• Brainstorm without filters early on
• Do not judge initial suggestions prematurely

Cross-pollinating perspectives

• Bring multi-disciplinary teams together
• Welcome outsider opinions to challenge norms

Unmotivated team members

When individuals lose intrinsic motivation, they drag down overall team momentum. Re-energize members by helping them:

Connect to purpose

• Share customer stories to reinforce meaning
• Remind members why work matters

Learn and grow

• Support professional development opportunities
• Assign stretch opportunities beyond comfort zones

Feel valued

• Recognise strong effort and extra contributions
• Express genuine appreciation and praise

FAQs

Q1. What causes conflict between team members?

Common sources are poor communication, lack of trust, unaligned priorities, role confusion, personality differences, work style clashes, and competing egos or credit-seeking.

Q2. How can you tell if your team lacks alignment?

Signs include members working on duplicate or nonessential tasks, critical work falling through cracks, finger pointing about responsibilities, high levels of confusion, and missing major goals or milestones.

Q3. What are symptoms of low motivation on a team?

Look for tardiness, absenteeism, procrastination, lack of initiative, disengagement in meetings, negative attitudes towards work and change, a lack of creativity, and an overall slow pace of work.

Q4. Why is team innovation important?

It leads to fresh ideas that can improve products and services, processes, and the customer experience. This allows an organisation to stay competitive. Stifling innovation can lead to obsolescence.

Q5. What causes poor decision-making?

The main factors are a vague problem definition, inadequate information gathering, a lack of diverse input, no clear evaluation criteria, ambiguous authority, a lack of commitment to the outcome, and not learning from past choices made.

Conclusion

A high-functioning team is critical for any organisation to execute on strategic priorities and compete at a high level. However, team success does not happen on its own; it requires continually addressing common pitfalls that can derail collaboration and alignment. Leaders need to be vigilant in identifying issues early and skilled in resolving conflicts, motivating members, enhancing communication, and reinforcing clarity of direction. It takes work, but the payoff for cracking the code of teamwork is invaluable.

By acknowledging these universal problem areas and applying the suggestions in this article, any team has a strong chance of overcoming drag and maximising its performance. With persistence and care put into the team and its members, dramatic transformation is possible. Releasing the potential and power of a unified team is well worth the effort.