You're leading a team with conflicting work styles. How can you unite them for successful collaboration?

First thing to assess is working culture and environment. People tend to follow what supposed to be “right” here, so don’t expect openness and creativity in enterprise culture. Second to see how leaders behave in the company - people follow the leader. And last, your own leadership style is what the team will use as example. So be the change you want to see in others!

Leading a team with conflicting work styles can be challenging, but with the right approach, you can unite them for successful collaboration. Start by understanding each team member's preferences and communication styles. Identify common ground and shared goals that everyone can rally behind. Then, establish clear guidelines and expectations for how the team will work together, emphasizing the importance of flexibility and mutual respect. Encourage open dialogue and active listening to address any tensions or misunderstandings. Leverage the diversity of work styles by assigning tasks that play to each person's strengths. Finally, celebrate small wins and recognize individual contributions to foster a sense of unity and shared purpose.

Uniting a team with conflicting work styles can be challenging, but it’s definitely achievable with the right strategies. Here are some effective approaches: 1. Encourage open communication. Create a safe environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns. Regular team meetings and one-on-one check-ins can help facilitate this. 2. Embrace diversity. Recognize that diverse perspectives can lead to innovative solutions. Encourage team members to share their unique viewpoints and use these differences to foster creativity. 3. Focus on common goals. Align the team around shared objectives. When everyone is working towards the same goal, it can help reduce conflicts and promote collaboration.

In my one of the leadership assignments, I faced the similar situation wherein five of my team members were having totally different work styles. For example, one was very detail oriented but lacking leadership, another one was superficial but with excellent leadership, third was highly risk taking, fourth was highly methodical and fifth was highly visionary. Although, we had different work styles and diverse views for even a small thing, we worked complementarily, our respect for each other was excellent, we always listened each other and communicated very clearly which resulted in excellent collaboration and great teamwork. During our team meetings, we fought many times but at the end of the day, all of us were One Team.

In order to bring a team with disparate work styles together for productive collaboration, I would: Recognize Differences: Determine and accept the working styles of all members of the team. Establish Common Objectives: Decide on shared goals that all parties can support. Promote Open Communication: Create a setting where team members feel comfortable sharing their opinions and worries. Utilize Your abilities: Give each team member a task that plays to their abilities. Foster Team Building: Plan events that foster unity and trust.

Promova uma comunicação aberta, incentivando os membros a expressarem suas preferências e preocupações. Utilize as forças individuais de cada membro, delegando tarefas de acordo com suas habilidades e estilos. Fomente a empatia e o respeito mútuo, realizando atividades de team building que reforcem a coesão. Celebre as conquistas coletivas para reforçar o senso de propósito e unidade dentro da equipe.

One way to change how group works together is to set common goals that are not achievable alone. And the more challenging the goal the more likely people start collaborating. In the end it doesn’t matter if they achieve or fail, but how they work together.

But also remember that the team is committed to focus on "positive intent" in all interactions. Establishing norms and principles might be wiser that place people in boxes of styles when actually most of us have flexible and fluid styles depending on the context in which we are working.

This can't be overestimated. Maintaining clear communications means building an environment where clarity is the number one priority in relationships, expectations and working goals.

Comunicação Verbal, não Verbal, comunicação Violenta; todos esses temas ajudam para melhorar nossa narrativa nas comunicações com os membros da equipe. Lembrar sempre de respeitar o estilo e perfil comportamental de cada um. Alguns a mensagem tem que ser direta, sem rodeos, outro precisa vir acompanhada de numeros e dados para comprovar a fala, outros tem que ter um grande apelo emocional para o engajamento. Conhecimento é a principal informação.

In order to communicate openly, you first have to create a vocabulary expressed through visual tools that allows you to create a common language. What do I mean by this? Let’s take one example on how we transmit and receive messages. Using something like “The Communication Code”, which defines 5 vocabularies (Care, Critique, Collaborate, Celebrate, Clarify) helps people to understand intent behind transmission and receiving of messages. So often I see there is a misalignment where messages are transmitted and not received in the way intended, thus causing frustration. Imagine you want to communicate something of celebration, but the person receiving skips the celebration and goes straight into critique. One common example.

Recognizing and valuing the diversity of work styles within your team is crucial for fostering a collaborative and innovative environment. It’s important to shift the perspective from merely tolerating differences to deeply understanding and utilizing them. Encourage your team to appreciate diverse viewpoints as a means to achieving a shared objective. This can be facilitated by setting clear, common goals that require collective effort and input from various perspectives. By doing so, you not only enhance teamwork but also drive your team towards more creative and effective solutions, showcasing how their unique strengths contribute to overall success.

Diversity is not only what makes us unique but it keeps things interesting. Encouraging team members to learn about and identify their own personality traits and work styles can be helpful. In addition, encouraging team members to then learn one another’s personality traits and work style is equally beneficial. The Meyer-Briggs personality assessment is the perfect tool to shine light on what everyone on the team needs. The assessment can be an interesting and fun way for your team to appreciate not only what they bring to the table, but what their colleagues bring as well. Self-awareness is key to blending well with others.

I love creating a matrix of work styles and showing where each team member lands so that others get a sense of how to optimize communication and partnership with that individual. It's also helpful to establish group norms and systems for collaborative work so that no one style is honored over others. Empower them to utilize their style and build flexibility to work with other styles as well.

To unite a team with conflicting work styles, start by promoting a culture of mutual respect. There's no need to complicate things; we need to keep it simple: Hold meetings where each member shares their work style and preferences. Promote active listening and understanding of differences. Establish common goals that everyone can support, and create a collaborative environment where all contributions are valued, even when they differ. Use team-building activities to strengthen bonds and improve communication. This will help create an environment where everyone feels valued and motivated to work together.

1. Promote active listening. Ensure that team members practice active listening by giving full attention to the speaker, paraphrasing what they’ve heard and asking clarifying questions. This helps everyone feel heard and understood. 2. Identify underlying issues. Sometimes conflicts arise from deeper issues. Take the time to understand the root causes of conflicts and address them directly. 3. Set clear expectations. Clearly define roles, responsibilities, and expectations. This helps prevent misunderstandings and ensures that everyone is on the same page. 4. Provide conflict resolution training. Equip your team with the skills to resolve conflicts constructively. This can include training on communication, negotiation and problem-solving.

Fomentar la multiculturalidad en las organizaciones es fundamental, es necesario tener inmigrantes digitales (los que no crecieron con internet) y nativos digitales (los que nacieron con internet). Estas generaciones son elementales dentro de las corporaciones. La colaboración entre estos inicia cuando desde la gerencia general se promueven espacios colaborativos de igualdad y trabajo en equipo, para esto es importante tener en cuenta; 📌 Fomentar espacios de construcción y trabajo colaborativo. 📌 Apoyar el proceso de mentoring inverso (los empleados más jóvenes asesoran y capacitan a los inmigrantes digitales y tecnológicos). 📌 Evitar la competencia, fomentando el crecimiento y logro de resultados colectivos.

Please indulge my nerdy analogy here... Every superhero team is made up of different personalities and superpowers. The Ninja Turtles, The Justice League, The Avengers... These hero teams must unite and use their combined powers to defeat the single uber-boss. Work teams are no different. The Uber Boss might be "the competition" or some new undefined space. To conquer that space, a variety of skills and superpowers must be leveraged! Now... what does each hero team have in common? A Leader. Master Splinter Professor X Nick Fury The leader has a way of making each person feel important. Also, they show (to the team) how each member contributes to the larger team. Be like Master Splinter. Be like Professor X. Assemble your team.