If you’re a leader, I’m sure you’ve found that building a team is one of the most challenging tasks you could have. Building a team is a tough job that every leader must face sooner or later.

In today’s environment where more people are working remotely, where more companies have offices around the globe it is a greater challenge for leaders to build a cohesive team, and one that works well together.  This makes it more important than ever to focus on what brings a team together, and what interferes with it’s effectiveness. 

You’ll find that one of the most frustrating things you can experience during this whole process is to keep trying to achieve a team that works well together, and as a unit.  You’ll experience several difficulties in human relationships that prevent your team from working efficiently. Human relationships are everything in a team, that’s what teams are founded upon after all.

For teams to work together successfully, they need to overcome a number of barriers. A successful team is able to take advantage of the unique expertise and perspectives of each member. However, it’s overcoming the differences that matter.

Here are some of the biggest barriers that a team may encounter, preventing great teamwork:

• Poor communication:  Poor communication is a barrier to developing a productive working environment. Team members who do not communicate or aren’t aware of the proper communication channels to use can inhibit development. As a leader, you need to be aware of the double-edged sword that is team communication, and know how to identify when poor communication is hindering great teamwork.  When some or all of the team members are remote communicating, over communicating and communicating some more becomes increasingly important to eliminate misunderstandings and ensure everyone feels connected to the the team and the team goals.
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• Unclear goals: A team is assembled so it could achieve certain goals. Those goals can be for a specific project or perhaps ongoing goals that define a department’s responsibilities. If those goals are not presented clearly by management, then a team can’t work effectively. If members don’t quite understand what it is they are doing and what they are supposed to accomplish, the idea of working together gets lost in the shuffle. It’s a good idea to periodically revisit the goals with the team, to keep them top of mind, and help them continue to feel connected.
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• Poor leadership: Managers create teams in order to complete certain tasks or projects. But if the manager can’t find the time to be involved in the team’s execution of its duties, the atmosphere of effective teamwork may be threatened. Every team needs a leader and if the leader isn’t present to delegate responsibility, act as a resource and supervise the team, the team will not be able to properly develop. Part of leadership includes connecting with each team member at a human level, as mentoring, guiding and coaching them as needed.
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• Ego: A team is a group of people striving for a common goal. If a team contains a member who is not working for the general benefit of the whole, the group will have a difficult time working as a unit. Yes, individuals are assigned specific roles within a team, but if an individual feels like they can take on other duties and step on the toes of his teammates, then the group dynamic is threatened. Team members need to keep their egos in check.  Leaders to be on the lookout for problems related to egos and nip it in the bud.  Otherwise you will spend more time handling conflict and dealing with poor performance than developing and supporting the team’s individual and collective growth.
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Building a cohesive team is what ever leader wants.  It doesn’t simply happen though and teams take nurturing and continual attention to grow and develop.  When you can’t walk down the hall to have a quick chat with a team member or pull the entire team into a conference room to brainstorm, reevaluate the direction of the project and more it makes team building more challenging.  This is the case when managing remote teams.  

Take extra time to work with your remote team.  They need the attention.

Want to know more ideas on what makes extraordinary and poor teams?  Download Functioning Together:  Characteristics of Extraordinary and Poor Teams.