I’ve talked here before about teams and what makes them work (or not). Have you ever stopped to think about why it’s so difficult to get teams working in the right direction?

1. Different people want different things from their work.
2. Different personal styles/personalities.
3. Interpersonal communication preferences.
4. Power struggles and competing agendas.
5. Politics.
6. Lack of participation.
7. Members who reject new ideas because “we’ve never done it that way before.”
8. People with a constant sense of negativity.
9. Team that agrees on everything too quickly just to avoid conflict.

Credit: Flickr (Envato)

1. Lack of adequate support and resources.
2. Ineffective leadership.
3. Favoritism.
4. Members or leaders resistant to change.
5. Groupthink (no diversity in ideas).
6. Lack of skills on the team.
7. Lack of compromise.
8. Trust issues.
9. No shared focus.
10. And loads of other potential problems.

When you stop to think about all of those potential issues, it can be overwhelming. How can a leader really get their team on the right page and moving toward higher levels of success?

Later this week we’re going to talk about the two areas you need to focus on for your team to be cohesive and results-oriented. Stay tuned. I’ve been working with a friend to develop a new tool for teams…

Any ideas you would add to the list above? Why is this “team” thing so hard?