We all know that positive team dynamics are critical for organisational success. Without this, your business will struggle to fully leverage the potential of employees and tap into their skills and experience.
At People Central, we define team dynamics as being the unconscious, psychological factors that influence the direction of a teams behaviour & performance.
A team with positive group dynamics tend to have team members who trust each other and their manager. They know that they are cared for and can work towards collective decisions and be held accountable for outcomes. They are productive in their work and demonstrate mutual understanding and self-corrective behaviour.
On the other hand, poor group dynamics can be disruptive for successful decision making and work outcomes, they hinder creativity, innovation, productivity & effectiveness.
Some of the most common causes behind poor group dynamics are:
- Weak leadership – where the team lacks a strong leader -this can pave the way for a dominant team member to take over, resulting in a lack of direction, undermining and conflict.
- Authority and groupthink – Excessive deference to authority can have a stagnating effect of teams as people would rather agree with the leader than offering innovative ideas and opinions. Groupthink can have a similar effect.
- Blocking behaviours – Aggressive, passive-aggressive, negative, withdrawing, recognition-seeking and even joking behaviours can block the flow of information in the team.
- Free riding – Some team members taking it easy at the expense of other colleagues can lead to poor group dynamics and outcomes.
- Evaluation apprehension – Team members may hold back their opinions and ideas as result of feeling they are being judged harshly by other team members.
If you see some of the above examples taking place within your team, work to address it quickly. Either speak to team members directly and invite them to reflect on their behaviour and how it can be changed to support the teams goals or consider building a team development session into your next away-day or strategy session. At People Central, we are skilled in quickly and effectively switching your team from being divided by their differences to being stronger because of their differences.