Influencing Team Dynamics

What do you think are the biggest roadblocks to effective teamwork?

From a leader perspective, I think the roadblock is not thinking about team dynamics, and how you play into that. So, for example, I worked at an organization once where I led about five or six different teams, and someone gave me feedback, “Hey, Trier, you show up very differently with different teams.” And I said, “Well, I have to.” Because I understood my dynamics on different teams, and I showed up in a way to fill that gap with something that was needed.
And so, teamwork has a lot to do with dynamics and creating space for authenticity, transparency, real feedback, and pushing back. I’ve mentioned this before, but sometimes to challenge my team, I’ll throw out a bad idea, a terrible idea, and then see how they respond. And if you’ll be like, “Yeah, Trier, that’s a good idea, well, let us do that.” And I’ll be like, “what does someone else think?”... “Yeah, we can do that…” “Okay, let’s… we’ll get right on it. And then I’ll say, so that was a shit idea, what’s going on here? What’s going on that we’re not pushing back on each other? What’s going on that you all don’t feel like you all can come together and say, Trier, that’s awful, what’s going on with you,” right?
And so, team dynamics are things that leaders can influence, and we have to take ownership of that, also when we’re hiring. But we also have to push folks, right? That they have to contribute to that dynamic as well. I’ve had teams where people didn’t get along and didn’t like each other. I don’t care if you don’t like each other, that’s not why we’re here. But they were executing, they were efficient, and they got things done. Is it more fun when everyone likes each other, and there’s some lightness to it? Yeah, but not every team is going to be that. But you’ve got to be thoughtful about it ahead of time.