7 Reasons Why Teams Don’t Work

Despite the widespread belief that working in teams makes people more creative and productive, research consistently shows that teams underperform or do not work well more often than not. Hereunder are the reasons why:

1. Bad Leadership: Leadership is tentative, inconsistent, or stupid; maybe the team leader is promoted up based on politics rather than skills.

Solution: When forming a team, the very first critical thing to do is to choose the right leader, or else the team has no chance to perform. The leader has to learn to serve the team and keep its vision alive, or leave leadership to someone else.

2. Confused Goals, Cluttered Objectives: People don’t know what they’re supposed to do, or feel what they’re doing makes no sense.

Solution: Set a clear compelling team direction; clarify the reason why the team exists; define its purpose and expected outcomes; and inform team members what is expected of them.

3. Bad Policies, Stupid Procedures: Team is at the mercy of an employee handbook from hell.

Solution: Throw away the book and start making sense of reality; engage team members in designing policies and procedures tailor-made for the team.

4. Personality Conflicts: Team members do not get along due to bad DNA matching.