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How to facilitate a dysfunctional team
Ultimately, decisions to change what the team is doing and actions
to improve future performance must be made by the team. An instructor
can help a team recognize its challenges and
- Facilitate dialogue with the entire team
present
- Ask team members to review or describe the goals for the team
- Ask team members to review their code
of cooperation and explore what items are not being followed
- Instructor leads a review list of effective team traits
- Each member should review each trait and
decide where it is not working
- Group comes together to discuss what traits are missing
- Ask team members to suggest strategies
to address their problems
- Openly confront the difference or discuss where the difficulty
lies. As a group, define the issue (not the person) at hand. Use
constructive feedback
- Decide on solutions that will be employed
to address the problem
- Discuss where the team is now and where it needs to be
- Define the problem that is keeping the
team from moving ahead
- Discuss all possible solutions (to be conducted by instructor)
- Negotiate openly with the group
- Ask team members to suggest strategies to address their problems
- Meet again with the group and reestablish
team expectations, goals, and behaviors
- Meet with team members individually to uncover their needs
and how the team can meet those needs
- Increase positive reinforcement
- If problem continues, confront person privately again about
the person’s behavior
- Listen to the problem from the team,
not just individuals. Paraphrase and summarize what they are saying,
without lecturing
- If nothing changes, the person must be taken out of the group.
This possibility should be raised at the beginning (very
important point) of a team assignment
Many dysfunctional teams can be improved by open discussion with
the team. Occasionally, an outside person can help the team resolve
the problem. Very rarely, problems are so severe that the team needs
to be dissolved or a team member needs to leave the group.
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