Why Teams Succeed and Fail
The different kinds of team found at work, the main reasons teams fail, and what an intermediate team leader is expected to do differently.
11 min
Activities: 0 of 2
Who this course is for
This course is for people who lead teams or work closely within them: team leaders, supervisors, project managers and specialists who coordinate others. You probably already know that trust, clear goals and good communication matter. The course asks you to diagnose what a specific team needs, choose the right intervention, and adapt when the first attempt does not work.
Team problems rarely have one cause. A team that misses deadlines may lack clear roles, may have a trust problem, may be overloaded, or may be motivated by individual targets that pull members apart. Choosing the wrong fix wastes effort and can make things worse.
Kinds of team at work
A stable team doing continuing work together, such as a maintenance crew, a customer service team or an accounts team.
Common reasons teams fail
Research and experience point to a small number of recurring causes. The purpose is unclear or not shared. Roles overlap or leave gaps. The team is too large to coordinate. Members are rewarded for individual results that conflict with team results. Trust is low, so people hide problems. Conflict is either avoided or becomes personal. The leader either controls everything or is absent. And the organisation around the team does not give it the information, resources or authority it needs.
Notice that only some of these are about the people. Many are about how the team is designed and the context it works in. Leaders often try to fix design problems with motivation, and that rarely works.
Two teams
Match the problem to its likely type
- Members are paid bonuses on individual sales only
- Two members avoid speaking to each other after an argument
- Nobody can say what the team is for
- The team has no budget authority for its own tools
Project team members have full normal workloads and attend few meetings. What is the most likely fix?