Imagine you and your team are in a rowing race.

There’s no way you can lose, you think, as you look at your team. Some members are strong, some are smart and others are as cunning as a fox. 

And the opposition? Just boat filled with scrawny weaklings all in need of a good hot meal—no threat to you.

Or so you think…

When the starting pistol fires, the opposition glides away at blistering speed while yours thrashes around in disarray.

You shout commands at your team in an attempt to reorganise, but it’s already too late.

The strong ones are paddling backwards, the smart ones are trying to go forwards and the cunning ones are merely pretending to work.

You’ve lost to the “weaker” team…

This analogy demonstrates the effectiveness of a united team. An effective team is about collaboration, not strong individuals.

In this article, you’ll learn the common barriers that hinder teamwork and how to resolve them, allowing you to overcome the biggest teamwork obstacles.
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Challenge #1: Your employees don’t trust each other

Trust is the oil that keeps the wheels of your business spinning. Without it, communication dwindles, creativity suffers and productivity plummets.

The tricky thing about trust, however, is you cannot conjure it in the same way you might optimise a workflow or cut bottom-line costs. You need to nurture it over time by giving your employees frequent opportunities to work together.

The more your team encounters and overcomes difficulty, the more they’ll realise they have a robust support network around them.

How to build trust between your employees

• To build trust, you need to relinquish control and give your team recurring opportunities to support one another and overcome challenges. By encouraging them to unite toward common goals and utilise one another's skills, they can start to trust each other.
• If you’re not yet comfortable loosening the reigns on real projects, you can play team-building games specifically designed to build trust between team members.
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Challenge #2: Physical barriers are hindering collaboration

The rise of remote work has been a blessing for companies that work with freelancers and agencies. But for most remote teams, where collaboration remains part and parcel of the daily grind, scattered workforces are a problem.

When teams are unable to come together, they fragment. This distance makes collaboration more difficult which harms company culture and makes employees disengaged. 

Traditional offices, while not faultless, make team bonding easier. Here, employees can work at similar times, come together for meetings, share resources and enjoy chit-chats around the water cooler. But that doesn’t mean you should sit back and relax, because brick-and-mortar offices have their drawbacks too.

How to bridge physical boundaries and unite your team

• It’s easier for your employees to make strong connections when they can meet face to face. 
• ‍Virtual team-building activities and online hangouts have many benefits and help remote employees get to know each other but there’s something about physical presence and body language that’s irreplaceable.
• Therefore, the best way to improve teamwork in remote and traditional teams is to organise regular team-building retreats where your employees can come together and bond over shared experiences. These in-person meetings have several benefits from improved company culture, better employee engagement, bolstered skill sets and much more.
• And don’t rest on your laurels if you have an office already. Team-building retreats are great for strengthening the ties between employees who don’t usually cross paths. Alternatively, you can design a desirable employee breakroom where your staff want to hang out or remodel your floorplan to optimise chance encounters.
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Challenge #3: Managers aren’t providing enough clarity

Clear instructions help your team travel faster from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. 

By clearly communicating expectations, roles and objectives, you give your employees a clear framework within which to work. With this, your staff can keep projects on track by identifying priorities and minimising redundant work. 

How to keep your team on track with clear instructions

• Communication is the key to clarity. 
• Before an assignment begins, you should ensure everybody understands the core objectives and why their roles are important.
• Many managers abandon their team once the starting pistol has gone off, but you should be checking in and appraising your team’s performance throughout the project. This involves holding regular team meetings, answering concerns in one-on-one sessions and sharing project progress and results.
• Maintaining a consistent rapport with your staff ensures everybody understands the core challenges and what they can be doing to help overcome them.
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Challenge #4: Employees don’t have access to important information

It’s impossible to complete a puzzle if you don’t have all the pieces. Your team must have access to all resources and information to complete their tasks effectively.

If your employees withhold information from their colleagues—either for personal gain or because of a communication breakdown—you’ll find them performing unnecessary work or missing key opportunities.

How to ensure information is widely accessible

• Making information sharing straightforward is the best place to start.
• Online collaboration tools like Trello, Motion and Asana, centralise information and make it accessible to whoever needs it. These tools are equally useful for both office-based and remote teams.
• Serious issues occur, however, when employees intentionally withhold information to get one up on their peers or buy themselves more time. 
• To prevent this, divert attention away from the individual by emphasising the overarching goals. You can do this by regularly voicing your long-term objectives at meetings and organising one-on-one feedback sessions.
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Challenge #5: Your team isn’t communicating effectively

Poor communication is a common workplace issue that causes many teams to break down. 

Imagine if team members start acting alone and making decisions without consulting the group—a project would quickly descend into chaos.

For your team to function well, transparent and streamlined communication needs to be in place. This means resolving conflict quickly, giving and receiving regular feedback, maintaining multiple communication channels and ensuring transparency between departments.

How to facilitate effective communication

• Many communication and workflow automation tools have come onto the market in recent years, making it easier to centralise processes. Now, remote and asynchronous teams can stay up to date on project progress and tasks without having to send a message or jump on a call.
• But opening more communication channels doesn't guarantee good communication.
• For your team to work efficiently, communication needs to be compassionate, concise and open-minded. You can achieve this by playing team-building games and hosting communication workshops where employees can learn to share opinions and debate topics in a controlled environment.
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Challenge #6: Employees are unsure of their role

When employees are confused about the scope and limitations of their duties it can threaten your team’s functionality. Like the parts of a finely-tuned engine, every employee performs a specific job.

A well-defined role is not only good for project efficiency but also job satisfaction. When your employees understand their roles and responsibilities (and how these contribute to the company’s objectives) it gives a sense of purpose, improves focus and reduces stress.

How to clarify roles and responsibilities

• The defining of roles begins at the recruitment stage and continues throughout employment. Be clear when writing a job description, pinpoint exactly why the position needs filling and what it will entail.
• Also, be transparent with your existing team members by updating them about potential newcomers. Explain why you’re advertising the position and how, if at all, it could affect their roles.
• Once you’ve employed somebody, monitor their progress frequently while reaffirming daily tasks and responsibilities.
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Challenge #7: Employee habits and behaviours are causing conflict

Idiosyncratic behaviour can be a blessing if well managed, but it can also cause big problems when left unchecked. It would be far easier to manage a team if they had matching habits but this is rarely the case.

Therefore, you must find ways to indulge and restrict your employees’ habits while respecting individuality.

How to regulate employee habits and behaviours

• An employee code of conduct is the standard way of maintaining order at the office. This is a set of rules designed to balance personal freedoms with what’s best for the team.
• John, for example, might be most productive when blasting Metalica through his loudspeakers at 120 decibels. But while that might be best for John, it’ll probably harm the rest of the team. Therefore, you might implement a code of conduct that states employees can listen to music provided it’s played through headphones.
• When stipulating rules, consider the type of culture you want to create and what’s best for long-term productivity.
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Challenge #8: You’ve noticed a drop in employee performance

As your team expands, it becomes harder to monitor input. And the worst part is, one badly performing employee can drag the rest of the team down with them. Therefore, it’s critical to resolve performance issues before they fester.

How to stay on top of employee performance

• The key to stamping out lacklustre performance is vigilance. You need to have a keen eye for underperforming employees, then act quickly before it gets worse.
• But you won’t get the performance you want by acting like a tyrant. After all, there’s a reason why your employees aren’t working as hard as you’d like them to and it’s your job to find out why.
• So, meet with your employees and ask for their feedback. Do they feel disconnected from the company mission? Are they feeling overworked? Whatever it is, finding the root of the problem will give you an actionable roadmap to follow.
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Challenge #9: Employees don’t have the right tools for their job

As a manager, it’s vital to give your employees the tools they need to fulfil their roles. Without them, your team will lose faith in their employers and become frustrated by the lack of support.

It’s your responsibility, then, to determine what your employees are missing and what you can give them to make their jobs easier.

How to ensure your team have the tools they need

• Your employees are the only ones who truly understand what they need to complete their daily tasks. 
• So, to ensure you’re supporting your employees in every way possible, start communicating with them and asking what you can provide to make them more efficient. 
• These might be better hardware devices, more comfortable furniture or more efficient communication tools.
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Challenge #10: Managers are overbearing and restrict autonomy

As a team leader, it can be hard to let go of control. But excessive dominance can hold your team back, just like an overbearing mother can leave her child vulnerable to the trials of adulthood.

The best managers can take a step back and oversee processes from afar. They’re not caught up in minor details, but rather keep a bird’s eye view of the process while improving workflow efficiency.

How to inspire your employees to take more responsibility

• The key to employee autonomy is empowerment.
• One of your roles as a manager is to delegate tasks and identify when a person is ready to take on more responsibility. When employees see their peers ascending the ranks, they become inspired and motivated to achieve more.
• Team-building games, particularly those designed to improve leadership skills, are useful for promoting employee autonomy.
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Challenge #11: Opposing personalities are causing conflicts

Sadly, you can’t place a bunch of talented individuals in a room and expect them to work well as a group. For your team to perform well, you need to teach your employees to consider different perspectives and resolve disagreements.

However, opposing personalities and ideas can cause conflict which will only get worse if left unattended. Therefore, the best time to act is now, before minor conflicts become major disputes.

How to manage interpersonal conflict

• No matter how long you spend nurturing employee relationships, there will always be things people disagree on. So your goal shouldn’t be to achieve a unanimous vote on everything but to teach your employees to engage in healthy, respectful debate.
• Office Debates, for example, is a team-building game that develops debating and communication skills. The goal is to improve your employees’ abilities to understand different points of view and find a solution that best serves the business’ long-term mission.
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Challenge #12: Employees appear disengaged with their roles

Disengaged employees tend to be less productive and more likely to take time off work. And in worse cases, they might seek employment elsewhere.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to fixing low engagement. To identify the route course, you need to take a deep dive into the overall employee experience.

How to keep your employees engaged at work

• Because low engagement is caused by a variety of issues, the difficulty often lies in identifying the source of the problem.
• The best way to gain reliable insight from your employees is by sending out anonymous surveys, as you’re more likely to receive honest feedback when employees aren’t giving critique face to face with their manager.
• Once you’ve uncovered the core issues, you can go about snuffing them out.
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Challenge #13: Departments and individuals have opposing goals

Your team should all be tugging from the same end of the rope, not fighting against each other. But as teams grow and new departments form, it can be easy for your company to develop a silo mentality. 

When your employees are chasing opposing outcomes, they become concerned only with their internal challenges and ignore the overarching goals of the company. This can lead to a host of issues from dissatisfied customers to redundant and duplicate work. 

How to unite your team towards a shared goal

• To prevent your company from working in silos, you need to place your company mission at the front and centre of everything you do and maximise interaction between departments.
• ‍Company offsite retreats provide an ideal opportunity for your employees to interact while giving you a chance to communicate the goals of the company.
• You can read more about how to avoid organisational silos.
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Challenge #14: There’s a skill overlap in your team

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your team members is key when delegating roles for a project. Assigning employees inappropriate roles or building a team that’s too similar can result in inefficiencies and team conflict.

How to build a well-rounded team

• Before you can build a well-rounded team, you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of each employee. From there, you can start to pick the right employees for the right roles and avoid excessive skill overlap.
• Knowing where your team’s skills lie is also a prerequisite for identifying areas for improvement. Only by spotting gaps in your team’s skill sets can you start organising training programmes or hiring employees to fill vacant roles.
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Challenge #15: The team is too big for the task

When too many people get involved with a project, processes can become unnecessarily complicated. So avoid assigning more employees to a team than necessary because this can lead to more tensions, more conflicts and duplicate work.

How to manage staff numbers

• As a project trundles towards competition, the size of the team will ebb and flow. For example, a project that needed 20 people on day one may only need 12 people on day 14.
• Therefore, it might be necessary to reallocate roles as the team progresses. Pay close attention to the size of your team and the tasks that need to be carried out. Consistent management is the key to optimising project efficiency.
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Resolve your challenges in person at an offsite retreat

Amidst the hubbub of the office, it can be difficult to identify precisely where your team is falling short.

By planning a company offsite retreat, you can dedicate time to fixing your teamwork problems without distractions. Whether you’re looking to improve company culture or develop soft skills, an offsite retreat offers you the flexibility to achieve your goals.

If you’re ready to extract the full potential of your team, reach out to Surf Office and we’ll organise your team-building retreat for you!