How to make incompatible people work together
Posted on July 25, 2007
Filed Under Coaching
It’s not easy, but doable.
Sometimes people do not work well together. The fact that each of them is a nice (smart, good, reliable, etc.) person does not matter for their collaboration because they are too different to a level where they cannot establish productive relationships.
Here’s what could help: make the people collaborate.
1. Setup a common goal. The goal must be short term and realistic but not trivial. It should ideally take them up to a couple of days to accomplish the goal. It’s critical that skills of all of the guys need to be required for successful completion of the task.
2. Explain importance of the task and the required delivery date. Agreeing the timeline and scope, make sure to consult with all of the folks who will be doing the work. Individual commitment to a doable timeline is necessary.
3. Lavish positive feedback on the folks whenever you see anything you like.
4. Be specific, constructive and timely when it comes to adjusting feedback.
5. Show interest in progress of the work and address the folks as “you all” when checking about status (make sure your look at each of them when you talk with them so they felt on equal terms).
Keep assigning common tasks for a while (for a few days). Then assign the guys to separate tasks. In a few days again throw them together on a next critical job. The varying and dynamic situation in professional area will make people concentrate on the goals and relieve the interpersonal stress.
And don’t forget to take the team out from time to time. Being a great way to grow relationships, it’s also an opportunity for a spontaneous retrospection about the work done together, helping your team learn and jell.
Have a productive time!
Comments
Leave a Reply
