How do relationship problems arise – behind difficult relationships

How do relationship problems arise?

We all know from bitter experience how relationships in a team can become sour. Two people not getting on can completely block other members from working together. As team leader, you’re not immune from blame! Difficult relationships can also arise between the team or individual members and its leader.

What’s behind these difficult relationships?

The diagram below shows, in an idealised way, how openness leads to trust, which in turn encourages participation and co-operation. It also shows the types of relationship problems which emerge when the team atmosphere is less healthy.

[Figure 2.2] Healthy and unhealthy team atmospheres
 
 In a healthy team atmosphere:   An unhealthy team atmosphere leads to:   
Openness ……………..
encourages Members share their feelings and views   Members not valuing or respecting each other
Misunderstandings
Talking at cross purposes   
Trust …………………….
encourages
 Members air their differences   Arguments
Destructive conflict   
Participation  ………..
encourages
 Members contribute and participate fully   Poor participation
Members opting out   
Co-operation ………… Members work together for the good of the team   Members not even trying to work together
Members sabotaging each other    
Gets the work done!     
If you find there’s a lot of conflict in your team, it could be because:
the team has not yet developed sufficient trust for members to feel comfortable expressing their differences
the team doesn’t know how to cope with conflict.
If there’s not enough trust, you probably need to go back to developing openness within the team.

Now do this
Make a list of the relationship problems your team experiences.
[space to write about 4 lines]
Consider how these problems are affecting your team.
[space to write about 4 lines]