Bringing Teams Together in Times of Discord

Considering the complexities that teams face in the modern workplace, it’s common to experience discord from time to time. The challenge lies in turning discord into an advantage——a launch pad for improved team cohesion.

Whether the business relationship manager has the luxury of well-established team relationships or not, the following points are helpful when managing difficult group dynamics:

Embrace convergence

Though it’s challenging, learn to be comfortable with friction in the group and encourage others to do the same.

Challenge the vision

Take steps to clarify goals and outcomes as early as possible. Identify a common goal to promote team unity and a collective purpose. Build excitement about the objective and the steps required to get there. Encourage the team to identify and communicate what success looks like to them. Promote dialogue that turns conversations from the negative to the positive.

Connect like-minded thinkers

Conduct team reconnaissance to get a pulse on individual team members to understand perspectives. Then, foster connections between team members who share similar thought processes and point to work that can be tackled in partnership. This is a simple and important way of promoting collaborative action as the way forward.

Quick wins

Identify projects that can be accomplished quickly and easily to gain momentum. Celebrate accomplishments by deliberately identifying the impact of the work, acknowledging the contributors, and encouraging others to get involved accordingly.

As a team leader, it’s critical that you lead by example and contribute wherever possible to drive performance.

Build trust

Be authentic about your commitment to the team and its challenges. This means listening intentionally and asking meaningful questions to achieve understanding.

Remember not to overcommit—be honest about what you can and can’t do, and deliver on the commitments you promise. Reaching out to group members one-on-one can encourage candid conversations, in turn deepening trust-based relationships.

Be patient

Recognize that it takes time to build relationships and restore harmony after a period of discord. Be prepared to make continual and ongoing investments to promote team dialogue and encourage comfort with the uncomfortable.

When that seems difficult, take the time to remind yourself and your team that transformative opportunities lie on the other side of these rough waters. Embrace the journey.

Reflective practice

Take stock of the situation both individually and collectively. Lead dialogue that inspires reflective thinking to obtain a clear understanding of the current situation and the steps that led everyone there. Retrospective reflecting serves to diffuse harboured emotions and sentiments when examined in context, and high performance leaders commonly journal and reflect on past behaviour to improve future action. Challenge each team member to leave behind existing biases or positions and start anew.

Investments in high-performance teams pay dividends that foster total business success, not to mention convergence with the broader business. It’s an investment worthy of the time.