How could individuals with different backgrounds, perspectives, beliefs and personalities work efficiently and productively in a team? When a team put together to address an issue immediately jumps into action, there is a risk that conflicts, role ambiguity, role conflict and other problems could arise later on as the project progresses.
Some ways to avoid such problems would be:
- Get to know each other’s strengths, backgrounds and perspectives.
- The team as a whole should establish norms that each member should follow, such as punctuality, deadlines, expectations, communication and etc.
- Determine what outcome the team wants to produce.
- Assign a role for each member of the team.
This process may take a lot of time, but it guarantees that things will go smoother for the team later. By getting know each other’s strengths, backgrounds and perspectives members could be assigned roles that suit them and avoid role ambiguity and conflict. Establishing team norms will help the team know what to expect from each other. It is also beneficial if a method of resolving problems, concerns and conflicts is included in the team’s norms, so that when problems do arise there is a framework to solve it.