Examples of Team Dynamics

The following are some real (anonymised) examples of team dynamics - the symptoms, causes, how the problems were overcome.

There was increasing distrust between the management of two organisations who were collaborating on an international project, potentially escalating to legal action.
Solution: A Team Health Check revealed that each organisation tended to interpret the other’s actions in a negative way - i.e. a “team island” or in/out group problem. A joint workshop built greater understanding of each other’s motivations and enabled them to find better ways of working towards the shared goal.
A new member of a team was causing friction with established members. As a result, they tended to resist any changes she tried to introduce.
Solution: A Team Health Check revealed a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the new person. She had been guided by her job description, which gave her a wider set of responsibilities than the team expected her to have. The misunderstanding was cleared up on a team building workshop, and the team members’ roles and responsibilities were clarified and agreed.
A team member had an affair with the team boss. This destroyed trust and communication.
Solution: A Team Health Check allowed everyone to express their feelings confidentiality to someone independent. Then, a series of workshops gradually enabled them to express their concerns to each other, come to terms with what had happened, and agree how they could overcome the problems of distrust.