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Impact of Team Dynamics on performance

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Team dynamics can make a significant different to team performance though unproductive conflict, mistrust, demotivation, the loss of skilled staff, and the loss of revenue. Here are some real (anonymised) examples:

There was an incompatibility between the personalities of the senior management of a customer and supplier. This was leading to a deteriorating perception of the service provided by the whole team. The customer decided to put the contract out for tender (worth �8m per annum).
Solution: when the client recognised the cause of the dynamics, they changed how they managed the relationship. As a result, within three months the customer’s view of the service had changed so much that they decided to allow the current supplier to continue running the contract.
Poor team dynamics in a multi-cultural team based in Paris was caused employee dissatisfaction. As a result, 4 people from a 25-strong team resigned, and several more were looking for other jobs.
Solution: a Team Health Check, run by an independent person, stemmed the tide of resignations in the short term, as it showed management recognised the issue and were taking action to resolve it. The organisational structure of the team was redesigned, which created better dynamics and a more motivating working environment.
Relationships between the partners in an SME were deteriorating, due to a feeling that some partners were not ‘pulling their weight’ - e.g. failing to bring in many sales, and/or having a lighter workload.
Solution: during a Team Health Check, each partner was encouraged to think more deeply about their own role. They realised that there are more ways of ‘pulling weight’ than bringing in new sales, which led to them viewing the (non-sales) contribution of other partners in a positive rather than negative light.

Strategies to improve team dynamics