How do relationship problems arise – behind difficult relationships
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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]
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