Strategies For Effective Team Problem-Solving In The Workplace

Examples of Team Problem-Solving Strategies

In groups of three (3) or as directed by the instructor, conduct this activity reflecting on your workplace and when you were part of a team.

Consult with the instructor if you wish to conduct this activity using a hypothetical example of a team.

In your team, what do you do really well:

ØTo encourage team members and individuals to participate in and to take responsibility for team activities

• I exceled at communication with my team members, I was able to build confidence in them to achieve their business goals and objectives.
• I was good at motivating the team members, I ensured that none of my team members were having a dull moment at office, and the spirit of joy and fun at work was always pervasive.
• I ensured that as a team we all indulged in plethora of team activities to build the team strength and also to ensure that a strong bond and relationship is imbibed in the team.

In your team, what do you do really well:

ØTo demonstrate areas that affected the overall team results and achievements?

• Overcoming the cultural differences by openness in communication within the team.
• Delivering quality training to train my team members in the new tools of digital marketing used at Amazon.
• Empowering my team members to make them feel important in the organization.
• Providing constructive feedback to my team members to help them in working on their personal development plan.

What area/s did you personally identify that directly impacted on team work performance problems?

Cultural Indifferences- I identified that my team had a lot of conflict and issues due to differences in culture within the team. I sat down with the HR manager and created strategy to reduce the conflict due to cultural diversity.

Low motivation- During the initial days, I figured that the employees in the organization were less motivated due to no clarity of the direction. I gave them clarity of direction by setting their KPI with the HR manager and gave them a direction to proceed further in their role in the company.

Conflict- Few of the team members were senior in my team and others had just joined. All of them were given the same job responsibilities which created conflict between the senior and the junior members.  I reasoned out the rationale about their job responsibilities and made sure that positive synergies prevail in the organization.

What did you personally identify that needs improving so that you can realise your potential as a team member and maximise your performance?

I personally realized that I need to work on my communication skills. I had good product knowledge and even was confident; however I had the stage fear in dealing with the clients, this was hampering my promotion in the company. I was unable to speak in front of the management and the clients, which reduced my KPI rating and I was unable to bring business for the company.

In order to work on my shortcoming, I spoke to my manager and he created an improvement plan for me. I was enrolled into training on communication and soft skills. This would help me in overcoming my shortcomings and maximize my productivity towards the organization.

Every member is responsible to achieve the goals of the organization.

Can you and do you measure progress against specific goals?

This helps me in evaluating my performances against the set goals, also pushes me to set new milestones.

Do all members feel responsible for all measures?

I guess, every team members feel that it is the joint responsibility of every member to achieve organizational goals.

Are the members clear on what they are individually responsible for and what they are jointly responsible for?

The Individual goals are set by the line managers and so are the organizational goals. The individual goals are communicated one to one and the team goals in team meetings.

Measuring Progress and Enhancing Team Accountability

Are you a reliable team member who gets work done and does a fair share of the work to meet commitments?

I always ensure that I complete my work on time, and I am available to do extra tasks to help the team in achieving the goals.

Is there a sense that “only the team can fail”?

The true meaning of team is that  they fail and succeed together, and yes, the sense is quite evident.

Do you consider these examples to be qualities to serve as a role model for others?

Explain: Yes, in my opinion all these qualities are highly essential in becoming the role model. Taking responsibility and accountability not only for one’s own goal, but also towards the team goal is the quality of a good leader and a role model.

What do you consider the advantages or disadvantages of these examples to be in achieving qualities to serve as a role model for others?

Discuss or complete the following according to the instructor

• Building high trust among the team member and with the managers.
• Be reliable member of the team.

Do you speak up and express your thoughts and ideas clearly, directly, honestly, and with respect for others and for the work of the team?

I believe in openness in communication as it helps to bring out transparency in the system and also to point out the lacunae or gaps In the system.

Are you a good listener?

Are good listeners essential for teams to function effectively? Yes

Good listeners are better able to comprehend and understand the instruction being passed on to them. Also good listening helps in paying attention to details which can be further leveraged in the work.

Do you participate and fully engage in the work of the team rather than sit passively on the sidelines?

I do sit and participate in any of the team activity or engage with them. I believe that it is very important for all the group members to engage in the team activity to build positive synergies and achieve the goals.

Is your approach a “can-do” attitude?

Do you demonstrate that you can help the team achieve success?

My approach is more of a can –do attitude, and towards Sure-Will do attitude. I have demonstrated in many a times to solve complex issues by learning about the problem through Google and solve it to help my team.

Do you share information, knowledge, and experience and take the initiative to keep other team members informed?

I believe that sharing wisdom and knowledge with the team members build the culture of learning and development. It also motivates and influences non sharing team members to come in front and share their knowledge for the overall development of the team.

Do you share open communication with the team not just at formal meetings?

I try to create a family at my work environment and my team members as my family. We meet outside the office and talk freely, this helps in building trust and sheds out any inhibition between the team members.

Are you flexible in your approach and thinking as teams often deal with changing conditions?

Being a Reliable Team Member and Role Model

The prime facia of a good role model and a leader is to be flexible and dynamic and adapt himself to the changing circumstances. It helps in better assessing the situation and coming up with the idea to resolve the problem at hand.

What other areas do you consider important to serve as a role model for others and enhance the organisation’s image for all stakeholders?

Discuss or detail below – according to the instructo

It ensures that the employees has high integrity towards his job responsibility and also shows his loyalty towards the team and the organization.

Ethics Ethics are must and should in an employee; it helps him to become not only a better individual but also helps the company in being ethical.

I believe that feedback is must and should for development of the team and the organization

Suggest your views and detail examples on the following process examples for effective communication with stakeholders.

Process Your views and examples

Set your vision, objectives, communication need

Setting up of vision, objectives helps the organization in moving in a direction as conveyed by the management. It helps in setting the tone of the organization.

Determine your communication strategy as each approach and circumstance will be different

Openness and transparency in communication will help the organization to experience less resistance to change from the employees.

Plan for any organisational changes that may occur when communicating with stakeholders

Planning for change is important to reduce the resistance in the organization. The plan should be to involve employees in the change management process and appoint a change agent to carry out the process.

Create your communication implementation plan

A communication implementation plan can be created by taking feedback form the employees in an open forum and work towards the plan of implementation.

Implement/initiate your process

In order to implement and initiate the process the following steps are necessary:

• Communicate the plan via email and in open forum.
• Take feedback from the employees on the progress and the plan.
• Evaluate the plan by monitoring the change.
• Establish the change management process with least resistance.

ØAs required by the organisation

ØIn a format that complies with the legal requirements for your organisation

ØWhere appropriate statements may also be recorded from stakeholders as part of open communication.

ØSuch as audiotape or audiovisual (video) devices

• The effectiveness of the change management and productivity of the organization
• Compliances are essential to follow in order to not get into trouble by the regulatory bodies.
• This is important as recorded feedback helps to follow up on the points given by the employees and use them to track the progress of the compa

Other such measures which will help in establish a communication plan for the employees and the stakeholders to communicate change management in the system.

Suggested area Your comments and suggestions

Is there a culture of open communication from appropriate workplace senior management to teams Yes, a policy of open communication is established in the workplace with communication flowing both from bottom to top and vice versa.

What are the existing lines of communication with line managers  The lines of communication with the managers are through:

• Mail
• Community group on social media.
• Facebook for Business.
• Phone calls.
• Official watsapp group

Are there an open lines of communication with your work colleagues

Yes, the open lines of communication exist also between the colleagues.

Are all forms of communications answered or followed promptly and appropriately Yes, a team of communication specialist ensures that the proper channels of communication are used while communicating with the senior members or the managers.

Does your workplace have in place a similar team communication plan to that above, or do you have another format that you can share with the class?

The communication plan at my workplace is more of formal communication plan with less usage of social media to communicate.

To communicate with the management, it is always advised to keep the managers in loop and not to break the hierarchy

The communication between the team members is highly informal and is through the use of social media and watsapp group

I believe that social media can also be used to communicate by forming team groups and communities.

In my opinion it is perfectly fine as the senior management is always thinking on the strategic moves to ensure sustainability for the company

I would like to bring some formal attitude in the communication approach, as there are certain matters which require formal means of communication. For example notifying the team member on some gap in his work and many more. Depending on the criticality of the issues communication channels have to be used

Using an example from your workplace, complete this suggested communication check list and discuss its findings.

Discuss with the instructor if this activity is to be based on a hypothetical situation

Nature of the unresolved issues, concerns and problems raised by team member

The unresolved issue in this case is:

• Some of the team members not communicating the % of task completion and do not use proper documentation to convey the progress on the task.
• This is brining concern to the team as the task is getting mismanaged due to lack of documentation and improper use of communication channel

The responsibility was assigned to the team leade

Team leader was asked to ensure that a proper channel of communication is followed between the team member Action was taken against the employee because of whom the group suffered. He was issues a warning letter by the HR and put in a communication training programMake the presentation and a detailed training on the importance of communication between the team members on the matters of strategic importance, also to lay down the importance and value of formal channels of communication

Describe the follow-up action/s undertaken with line manager/management and other relevant stakeholder

• The line manager was informed on the missed deadline of the project due to communication challenges.
• Line manager was requested to hold a one to one meeting with the concerned person.
• A Google document sheet was created to upload on the Daily work done, percentage of task completion and comments for the team members.
• Creating a training plan to implement the formal channels of communication in the organization