What Makes a Team Fail? Top 5 Things to Avoid in Any Organization
“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” – Babe Ruth True, right? A company is known not just because of the owners of the firm but also the amount of work put in by the employees to reach the position that it is at today. Though the firm may be divided into different divisions & each division may have their goals but, in the end, the employees all work together for a collective goal of the firm. Working in smaller teams doesn’t completely avoid the risk of the team falling apart, why? Well because every individual brings in a different perspective to look into a problem or a given task. While there might a handful number of reasons for a team to breakdown let us understand where the problem lies & stay vigilant to avoid these pitfalls & then hurrah to the way to success!
Lack of purpose
The most important goal of any team must be to understand why it is necessary to work together. A team needs to have good communication & that could lead the roadmap to its success. The inability to have a proper definition of the workflow will just mean everyone would make assumptions & work not up to their full potential. A great team understands its company well, the product/service they have to offer to its clients. This lets the team focus more on how to get more engagement levels to the company & also help them grow in terms of working in groups.
Unclear roles
Nothing can be worse than having a team of the most talented people but they aren’t sure of what their role to your company is. When the roles of an employee are unclear, they sort to doing short term task just so that it brings in some productivity to their day. A company should make sure that they have defined their tasks to each individual through regular meetings & discussions. It must be a practice for companies to ensure that each individual maintains a weekly calendar & list down their tasks, this can then be taken up in any meeting to ensure a smooth flow of work.
Fixed mindset
Many a time it happens in a team that people might not be up to take the risk to try a different way to achieve their goal & they keep re-thinking on how to achieve the same goal by doing something that goes the standard way i.e., sticking to previously tried methods. Teams that lead to success are the ones that go the extra mile & are wilful to take the risk. Everyone in a team must have an open mindset when it comes to achieving goals. When you take the road less travelled you get to learn new skills & techniques.
Poor decision-making
There could be two reasons that lead to poor decision making, one, not thinking enough for a solution & just assuming that previous methods might work & the second, overthinking decisions which end up consuming a lot of time. A smart team would follow a plan, i.e., to input, consult, make, approve, inform & make it clear to everyone on who is responsible for each stage. This makes it simpler & easier to come to a decision.
Lack of resources
This could be a huge downer to the team, an organization must always know that to achieve a target, resources are required & the inability to provide it not just adds additional burden to the employees but also brings down their morale & commitment. A company must trust their employees enough to not doubt their need for additional resources, they must definitely understand the purpose of it but not stand in between their needs. Highly motivated teams can do wonders for the organization. By making sure individuals & company goals are aligned, an organization cannot fail.
