problem solving team in organizational behavior

Module 10: Managing Groups and Teams

Types of teams, learning outcomes.

• Discuss the types of teams

Organizations use different types of teams in different ways to accomplish their objectives. Some teams have a very simple and specific focus, and others face complex issues with organization-wide ramifications. We can look at teams and classify them in a variety of ways. Let’s first take a look at them based on their task complexity and team member fluidity.

Task complexity is the extent to which a task is intricate and consists of different, interrelated parts. Membership fluidity is the extent to which membership within a team is stable. Low membership fluidity would mean that people are often entering into and leaving the team, and high membership fluidity means they are quite stable, not changing often at all.

Simple Work Teams

Simple work teams have low task complexity and low team fluidity. Their goal is simple problem solving, and often they are a group that supports day-to-day activities, dealing with issues that require input from more than one person or to generate commitment from employees. Usually these are people from a same team or department, so they generally have a similar focus and tend to work together relatively easily.

Administrative Teams

An example of an administrative team might be a relocation committee that’s dedicated to relocating a plant to a new area. Members of the team might flow in and out, but the complexity of the task is rather high and not at all part of their regular routine. Management level members work for a finite period of time to accomplish the strategic objective of moving the plant—all its machinery, all its people, and so on—to a new address.

Cross-Departmental Teams

A cross-departmental team tends to have a low complexity level but a high team membership fluidity, meaning that the work is fairly simple but the teams are committed and fairly unchanging. Their goal is integration in structure and setting ground rules, and their focus is internal and very specific.

A cross-departmental task force is an example of this type of team. Perhaps an organization is installing a new system that will manage all their data, both at the main office and at their plants, in an entirely different way. The task force might come together from different areas of the organization to identify the types of data their departments generate and how that data will be transferred over to the new system, how people will be trained to use the new system and even how change around the system will be managed.

Process Teams

Process teams deal with high complexity tasks and have high team member fluidity, meaning people are assigned to the team and stay. These folks are creative problem solvers and deal with implementation. Their focus is strategic and broad.

Process teams do not have departmental affiliation and function independently to undertake broad, organizational-level process improvements. For instance, the department store Mervyn’s, the now defunct discount department store chain, had a SWAT team that rushes in to solve a store’s critical issues. They were deployed at any time, whenever they’re needed. They even attempted to solve organizational-wide issues like flextime and insurance.

Self-Managed Teams

Overall self-managed teams include these characteristics:

• The power to manage their work
• Members with different expertise and functional experience
• No outside manager
• The power to implement decisions
• Coordination and cooperation with other teams and individuals impacted by their decisions
• Internal leadership, based on facilitation. This means that a rotating leader focuses on freeing the team from obstacles as they do their work.

Self-managed teams require a change in structure on behalf of the organization and a high level of commitment on behalf of all parties to ensure their success. Most self-managed teams that fail do so because of a lack of commitment on the part of the organization.

Virtual Teams

It’s worth noting that there are now also virtual teams, which are teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal. It is true that these virtual teams might be an administrative, cross-functional, simple work or even a process team, but they are distinctive in that they allow people to collaborate online.

Because virtual teams have limited social interaction – many times they have not met in person – they tend to be more task-oriented and exchange less social information. But they’re able to do their work even if the members of the team are thousands of miles apart, and allows people to work together who may not otherwise be able to collaborate.

Practice Question

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Why Problem-Solving Skills Are Essential for Leaders in Any Industry

• 17 Jan 2023

Any organization offering a product or service is in the business of solving problems.

Whether providing medical care to address health issues or quick convenience to those hungry for dinner, a business’s purpose is to satisfy customer needs .

In addition to solving customers’ problems, you’ll undoubtedly encounter challenges within your organization as it evolves to meet customer needs. You’re likely to experience growing pains in the form of missed targets, unattained goals, and team disagreements.

Yet, the ubiquity of problems doesn’t have to be discouraging; with the right frameworks and tools, you can build the skills to solve consumers' and your organization’s most challenging issues.

Here’s a primer on problem-solving in business, why it’s important, the skills you need, and how to build them.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Problem-Solving in Business?

Problem-solving is the process of systematically removing barriers that prevent you or others from reaching goals.

Your business removes obstacles in customers’ lives through its products or services, just as you can remove obstacles that keep your team from achieving business goals.

Design Thinking

Design thinking , as described by Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar in the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , is a human-centered , solutions-based approach to problem-solving and innovation. Originally created for product design, design thinking’s use case has evolved . It’s now used to solve internal business problems, too.

The design thinking process has four stages :

• Clarify: Clarify a problem through research and feedback from those impacted.
• Ideate: Armed with new insights, generate as many solutions as possible.
• Develop: Combine and cull your ideas into a short list of viable, feasible, and desirable options before building prototypes (if making physical products) and creating a plan of action (if solving an intangible problem).
• Implement: Execute the strongest idea, ensuring clear communication with all stakeholders about its potential value and deliberate reasoning.

Using this framework, you can generate innovative ideas that wouldn’t have surfaced otherwise.

Creative Problem-Solving

Another, less structured approach to challenges is creative problem-solving , which employs a series of exercises to explore open-ended solutions and develop new perspectives. This is especially useful when a problem’s root cause has yet to be defined.

You can use creative problem-solving tools in design thinking’s “ideate” stage, which include:

• Brainstorming: Instruct everyone to develop as many ideas as possible in an allotted time frame without passing judgment.
• Divergent thinking exercises: Rather than arriving at the same conclusion (convergent thinking), instruct everyone to come up with a unique idea for a given prompt (divergent thinking). This type of exercise helps avoid the tendency to agree with others’ ideas without considering alternatives.
• Alternate worlds: Ask your team to consider how various personas would manage the problem. For instance, how would a pilot approach it? What about a young child? What about a seasoned engineer?

It can be tempting to fall back on how problems have been solved before, especially if they worked well. However, if you’re striving for innovation, relying on existing systems can stunt your company’s growth.

Related: How to Be a More Creative Problem-Solver at Work: 8 Tips

Why Is Problem-Solving Important for Leaders?

While obstacles’ specifics vary between industries, strong problem-solving skills are crucial for leaders in any field.

Whether building a new product or dealing with internal issues, you’re bound to come up against challenges. Having frameworks and tools at your disposal when they arise can turn issues into opportunities.

As a leader, it’s rarely your responsibility to solve a problem single-handedly, so it’s crucial to know how to empower employees to work together to find the best solution.

Your job is to guide them through each step of the framework and set the parameters and prompts within which they can be creative. Then, you can develop a list of ideas together, test the best ones, and implement the chosen solution.

Related: 5 Design Thinking Skills for Business Professionals

4 Problem-Solving Skills All Leaders Need

1. problem framing.

One key skill for any leader is framing problems in a way that makes sense for their organization. Problem framing is defined in Design Thinking and Innovation as determining the scope, context, and perspective of the problem you’re trying to solve.

“Before you begin to generate solutions for your problem, you must always think hard about how you’re going to frame that problem,” Datar says in the course.

For instance, imagine you work for a company that sells children’s sneakers, and sales have plummeted. When framing the problem, consider:

• What is the children’s sneaker market like right now?
• Should we improve the quality of our sneakers?
• Should we assess all children’s footwear?
• Is this a marketing issue for children’s sneakers specifically?
• Is this a bigger issue that impacts how we should market or produce all footwear?

While there’s no one right way to frame a problem, how you do can impact the solutions you generate. It’s imperative to accurately frame problems to align with organizational priorities and ensure your team generates useful ideas for your firm.

To solve a problem, you need to empathize with those impacted by it. Empathy is the ability to understand others’ emotions and experiences. While many believe empathy is a fixed trait, it’s a skill you can strengthen through practice.

When confronted with a problem, consider whom it impacts. Returning to the children’s sneaker example, think of who’s affected:

• Your organization’s employees, because sales are down
• The customers who typically buy your sneakers
• The children who typically wear your sneakers

Empathy is required to get to the problem’s root and consider each group’s perspective. Assuming someone’s perspective often isn’t accurate, so the best way to get that information is by collecting user feedback.

For instance, if you asked customers who typically buy your children’s sneakers why they’ve stopped, they could say, “A new brand of children’s sneakers came onto the market that have soles with more traction. I want my child to be as safe as possible, so I bought those instead.”

When someone shares their feelings and experiences, you have an opportunity to empathize with them. This can yield solutions to their problem that directly address its root and shows you care. In this case, you may design a new line of children’s sneakers with extremely grippy soles for added safety, knowing that’s what your customers care most about.

Related: 3 Effective Methods for Assessing Customer Needs

3. Breaking Cognitive Fixedness

Cognitive fixedness is a state of mind in which you examine situations through the lens of past experiences. This locks you into one mindset rather than allowing you to consider alternative possibilities.

For instance, your cognitive fixedness may make you think rubber is the only material for sneaker treads. What else could you use? Is there a grippier alternative you haven’t considered?

Problem-solving is all about overcoming cognitive fixedness. You not only need to foster this skill in yourself but among your team.

4. Creating a Psychologically Safe Environment

As a leader, it’s your job to create an environment conducive to problem-solving. In a psychologically safe environment, all team members feel comfortable bringing ideas to the table, which are likely influenced by their personal opinions and experiences.

If employees are penalized for “bad” ideas or chastised for questioning long-held procedures and systems, innovation has no place to take root.

By employing the design thinking framework and creative problem-solving exercises, you can foster a setting in which your team feels comfortable sharing ideas and new, innovative solutions can grow.

How to Build Problem-Solving Skills

The most obvious answer to how to build your problem-solving skills is perhaps the most intimidating: You must practice.

Again and again, you’ll encounter challenges, use creative problem-solving tools and design thinking frameworks, and assess results to learn what to do differently next time.

While most of your practice will occur within your organization, you can learn in a lower-stakes setting by taking an online course, such as Design Thinking and Innovation . Datar guides you through each tool and framework, presenting real-world business examples to help you envision how you would approach the same types of problems in your organization.

Are you interested in uncovering innovative solutions for your organization’s business problems? Explore Design Thinking and Innovation —one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses —to learn how to leverage proven frameworks and tools to solve challenges. Not sure which course is right for you? Download our free flowchart .

About the Author

10.5 Team Diversity

• How does team diversity enhance decision-making and problem-solving?

Decision-making and problem-solving can be much more dynamic and successful when performed in a diverse team environment. The multiple diverse perspectives can enhance both the understanding of the problem and the quality of the solution. As I reflect on some of the leadership development work that I have done in my career, I can say from experience that the team activities and projects that intentionally brought diverse individuals together created the best environments for problem-solving. Diverse leaders from a variety of functions, from across the globe, at varying stages of their careers and experiences with and outside of the company had the most robust discussions and perspectives. Diversity is a word that is very commonly used today, but the importance of diversity and building diverse teams can sometimes get lost in the normal processes of doing business. Let’s discuss why we need to keep these principles front of mind.

In the Harvard Business Review article “Why Diverse Teams are Smarter” (Nov. 2016), David Rock and Heidi Grant support the idea that increasing workplace diversity is a good business decision. 9 A 2015 McKinsey report on 366 public companies found that those in the top quartile for ethnic and racial diversity in management were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their industry mean, and those in the top quartile for gender diversity were 15% more likely to have returns above the industry mean. Similarly, in a global analysis conducted by Credit Suisse, organizations with at least one female board member yielded a higher return on equity and higher net income growth than those that did not have any women on the board.

Additional research on diversity has shown that diverse teams are better at decision-making and problem-solving because they tend to focus more on facts, per the Rock and Grant article. 10 A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed that people from diverse backgrounds “might actually alter the behavior of a group’s social majority in ways that lead to improved and more accurate group thinking.” It turned out that in the study, the diverse panels raised more facts related to the case than homogenous panels and made fewer factual errors while discussing available evidence. Another study noted in the article showed that diverse teams are “more likely to constantly reexamine facts and remain objective. They may also encourage greater scrutiny of each member’s actions, keeping their joint cognitive resources sharp and vigilant. By breaking up workforce homogeneity, you can allow your employees to become more aware of their own potential biases—entrenched ways of thinking that can otherwise blind them to key information and even lead them to make errors in decision-making processes.” In other words, when people are among homogeneous and like-minded (nondiverse) teammates, the team is susceptible to groupthink and may be reticent to think about opposing viewpoints since all team members are in alignment. In a more diverse team with a variety of backgrounds and experiences, the opposing viewpoints are more likely to come out and the team members feel obligated to research and address the questions that have been raised. Again, this enables a richer discussion and a more in-depth fact-finding and exploration of opposing ideas and viewpoints in order to solve problems.

Diversity in teams also leads to greater innovation. A Boston Consulting Group article entitled “The Mix that Matters: Innovation through Diversity” explains a study in which BCG and the Technical University of Munich conducted an empirical analysis to understand the relationship between diversity in managers (all management levels) and innovation. The key findings of this study show that: 11

• The positive relationship between management diversity and innovation is statistically significant—and thus companies with higher levels of diversity derive more revenue from new products and services.
• The innovation boost isn’t limited to a single type of diversity. The presence of managers who are either female or are from other countries, industries, or companies can cause an increase in innovation.
• Management diversity seems to have a particularly positive effect on innovation at complex companies—those that have multiple product lines or that operate in multiple industry segments.
• To reach its potential, gender diversity needs to go beyond tokenism. In the study, innovation performance only increased significantly when the workforce included more than 20% women in management positions. Having a high percentage of female employees doesn’t increase innovation if only a small number of women are managers.
• At companies with diverse management teams, openness to contributions from lower-level workers and an environment in which employees feel free to speak their minds are crucial for fostering innovation.

When you consider the impact that diverse teams have on decision-making and problem-solving—through the discussion and incorporation of new perspectives, ideas, and data—it is no wonder that the BCG study shows greater innovation. Team leaders need to reflect upon these findings during the early stages of team selection so that they can reap the benefits of having diverse voices and backgrounds.

Concept Check

• Why do diverse teams focus more on data than homogeneous teams?
• How are diversity and innovation related?

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Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/organizational-behavior/pages/1-introduction

• Authors: J. Stewart Black, David S. Bright
• Publisher/website: OpenStax
• Book title: Organizational Behavior
• Publication date: Jun 5, 2019
• Location: Houston, Texas
• Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/organizational-behavior/pages/1-introduction
• Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/organizational-behavior/pages/10-5-team-diversity

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• Turn your team into skilled problem sol ...

Turn your team into skilled problem solvers with these problem-solving strategies

Picture this, you're handling your daily tasks at work and your boss calls you in and says, "We have a problem." 

Unfortunately, we don't live in a world in which problems are instantly resolved with the snap of our fingers. Knowing how to effectively solve problems is an important professional skill to hone. If you have a problem that needs to be solved, what is the right process to use to ensure you get the most effective solution?

In this article we'll break down the problem-solving process and how you can find the most effective solutions for complex problems.

What is problem solving? 

Problem solving is the process of finding a resolution for a specific issue or conflict. There are many possible solutions for solving a problem, which is why it's important to go through a problem-solving process to find the best solution. You could use a flathead screwdriver to unscrew a Phillips head screw, but there is a better tool for the situation. Utilizing common problem-solving techniques helps you find the best solution to fit the needs of the specific situation, much like using the right tools.

Decision-making tools for agile businesses

In this ebook, learn how to equip employees to make better decisions—so your business can pivot, adapt, and tackle challenges more effectively than your competition.

4 steps to better problem solving

While it might be tempting to dive into a problem head first, take the time to move step by step. Here’s how you can effectively break down the problem-solving process with your team:

1. Identify the problem that needs to be solved

One of the easiest ways to identify a problem is to ask questions. A good place to start is to ask journalistic questions, like:

Who : Who is involved with this problem? Who caused the problem? Who is most affected by this issue?

What: What is happening? What is the extent of the issue? What does this problem prevent from moving forward?

Where: Where did this problem take place? Does this problem affect anything else in the immediate area? 

When: When did this problem happen? When does this problem take effect? Is this an urgent issue that needs to be solved within a certain timeframe?

Why: Why is it happening? Why does it impact workflows?

How: How did this problem occur? How is it affecting workflows and team members from being productive?

Asking journalistic questions can help you define a strong problem statement so you can highlight the current situation objectively, and create a plan around that situation.

Here’s an example of how a design team uses journalistic questions to identify their problem:

Overarching problem: Design requests are being missed

Who: Design team, digital marketing team, web development team

What: Design requests are forgotten, lost, or being created ad hoc.

Where: Email requests, design request spreadsheet

When: Missed requests on January 20th, January 31st, February 4th, February 6th

How : Email request was lost in inbox and the intake spreadsheet was not updated correctly. The digital marketing team had to delay launching ads for a few days while design requests were bottlenecked. Designers had to work extra hours to ensure all requests were completed.

In this example, there are many different aspects of this problem that can be solved. Using journalistic questions can help you identify different issues and who you should involve in the process.

2. Brainstorm multiple solutions

If at all possible, bring in a facilitator who doesn't have a major stake in the solution. Bringing an individual who has little-to-no stake in the matter can help keep your team on track and encourage good problem-solving skills.

Here are a few brainstorming techniques to encourage creative thinking:

Brainstorm alone before hand: Before you come together as a group, provide some context to your team on what exactly the issue is that you're brainstorming. This will give time for you and your teammates to have some ideas ready by the time you meet.

Say yes to everything (at first): When you first start brainstorming, don't say no to any ideas just yet—try to get as many ideas down as possible. Having as many ideas as possible ensures that you’ll get a variety of solutions. Save the trimming for the next step of the strategy. 

Talk to team members one-on-one: Some people may be less comfortable sharing their ideas in a group setting. Discuss the issue with team members individually and encourage them to share their opinions without restrictions—you might find some more detailed insights than originally anticipated.

Break out of your routine: If you're used to brainstorming in a conference room or over Zoom calls, do something a little different! Take your brainstorming meeting to a coffee shop or have your Zoom call while you're taking a walk. Getting out of your routine can force your brain out of its usual rut and increase critical thinking.

3. Define the solution

After you brainstorm with team members to get their unique perspectives on a scenario, it's time to look at the different strategies and decide which option is the best solution for the problem at hand. When defining the solution, consider these main two questions: What is the desired outcome of this solution and who stands to benefit from this solution? 

Set a deadline for when this decision needs to be made and update stakeholders accordingly. Sometimes there's too many people who need to make a decision. Use your best judgement based on the limitations provided to do great things fast.

4. Implement the solution

To implement your solution, start by working with the individuals who are as closest to the problem. This can help those most affected by the problem get unblocked. Then move farther out to those who are less affected, and so on and so forth. Some solutions are simple enough that you don’t need to work through multiple teams.

After you prioritize implementation with the right teams, assign out the ongoing work that needs to be completed by the rest of the team. This can prevent people from becoming overburdened during the implementation plan . Once your solution is in place, schedule check-ins to see how the solution is working and course-correct if necessary.

Implement common problem-solving strategies

There are a few ways to go about identifying problems (and solutions). Here are some strategies you can try, as well as common ways to apply them:

Trial and error

Trial and error problem solving doesn't usually require a whole team of people to solve. To use trial and error problem solving, identify the cause of the problem, and then rapidly test possible solutions to see if anything changes. 

This problem-solving method is often used in tech support teams through troubleshooting.

The 5 whys problem-solving method helps get to the root cause of an issue. You start by asking once, “Why did this issue happen?” After answering the first why, ask again, “Why did that happen?” You'll do this five times until you can attribute the problem to a root cause. 

This technique can help you dig in and find the human error that caused something to go wrong. More importantly, it also helps you and your team develop an actionable plan so that you can prevent the issue from happening again.

Here’s an example:

Problem: The email marketing campaign was accidentally sent to the wrong audience.

“Why did this happen?” Because the audience name was not updated in our email platform.

“Why were the audience names not changed?” Because the audience segment was not renamed after editing. 

“Why was the audience segment not renamed?” Because everybody has an individual way of creating an audience segment.

“Why does everybody have an individual way of creating an audience segment?” Because there is no standardized process for creating audience segments. 

“Why is there no standardized process for creating audience segments?” Because the team hasn't decided on a way to standardize the process as the team introduced new members. 

In this example, we can see a few areas that could be optimized to prevent this mistake from happening again. When working through these questions, make sure that everyone who was involved in the situation is present so that you can co-create next steps to avoid the same problem. 

A SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis can help you highlight the strengths and weaknesses of a specific solution. SWOT stands for:

Strength: Why is this specific solution a good fit for this problem? 

Weaknesses: What are the weak points of this solution? Is there anything that you can do to strengthen those weaknesses?

Opportunities: What other benefits could arise from implementing this solution?

Threats: Is there anything about this decision that can detrimentally impact your team?

As you identify specific solutions, you can highlight the different strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of each solution. 

This particular problem-solving strategy is good to use when you're narrowing down the answers and need to compare and contrast the differences between different solutions. 

Even more successful problem solving

After you’ve worked through a tough problem, don't forget to celebrate how far you've come. Not only is this important for your team of problem solvers to see their work in action, but this can also help you become a more efficient, effective , and flexible team. The more problems you tackle together, the more you’ll achieve. 

Looking for a tool to help solve problems on your team? Track project implementation with a work management tool like Asana .

Related resources

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10 tips to improve nonverbal communication

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4 types of teams you’ll find in organisations

Chances are you’re reading this because you are part of a team. You could be in a workplace team, a sports team or maybe you’re just getting started in management and want to understand the different types of teams. Whatever reason you’re here, we’re glad you snuck over to this side of the internet.

By definition, a team is a group of individuals who collaborate on related tasks to achieve a common goal . Whether it’s reaching a sales target, reducing safety incidences or reaching a team goal, collaboration and teamwork are essential. Teams generally have a list of set activities to take part in that can define their team in relation to the organisation – think ‘design team’, ‘sales team’ and ‘operations team’.

Learning about how different teams operate is useful for just about everyone. Science shows us that social interaction and teamwork contributed to our evolutio n as well as the size of our human brains. Isn’t that fascinating?

Read on to find out more about the different types of teams you’ll come across throughout your career and your life.

4 Different Types of Teams

#1: functional teams.

Functional teams are permanent and include members of the same department with different responsibilities. A manager is responsible for everything and everyone reports to them. This is the typical top-down management approach that you’ll see in most organisations. Across all organisational teams, it’s important to prioritise workplace culture; the foundations of which are communication and trust.

To take your functional team to the next level, consider running a program in-house to improve communication by giving your team the tools to give feedback without causing offense. Additionally, it may be worthwhile getting clear on each individual teams’ goals, identity and preferred support methods to boost productivity and individual employee engagement.

#2: Cross-Functional Teams

Cross-functional teams are made up of individuals from various departments. These teams tackle specific tasks that require different inputs and expertise. This can happen when various teams need to work on a project together to get the best outcome. This can be a difficult dynamic to navigate if teams have been operating in a ‘silo’ approach up until the point of collaboration. It’s crucial that the different personalities and perspectives are embraced, and that everyone in the cross-functional team are working to their strengths .

#3: Self-Managed Teams

Generally, individuals in self-managed teams are employees of the same organisation who work together. Even though they may have a wide array of objectives, their aim is to reach a common goal. They operate without managers and are relatively autonomous, sharing responsibility and leadership. High-performing teams can often fall into this category.

People working in startups or small businesses may also find themselves in this type of team dynamic. It can be difficult for people who have worked in other types of teams for most of their career to adjust to this way of working, so there will likely be an adjustment period of sorts. It’s crucial that self-managed teams know how to deliver feedback and have tough conversations with tact. Without high levels of communication, trust, autonomy and mutual respect, self-managed teams will find it difficult to thrive.

#4: Virtual Teams

Virtual teams are made up of individuals who work in different physical locations and who use technology and collaboration tools to achieve a common goal.

With more employees looking for work from home opportunities, virtual teams will become much more common in the future of work . You may even have a few remote team members in your organisation right now who need to collaborate within a functional or cross-functional team.

It’s important for virtual team members to be involved from a cultural perspective within your organisation. Having face to face video calls and giving your team members the opportunity to connect on a personal relationship level will help to improve rapport and moral. We’ve already shared a bunch of info on creating a strong remote team culture , so give that a look when you have a moment.

Did you find this article useful? Be sure to share it with a fellow manager directly or better yet, give it a share on LinkedIn.

If you’d like to explore the topic of team dynamics further, we’d recommend taking a look at our article on how to turn your dysfunctional team into an effective team , it’s a real good read.

Pragmatic Thinking

What is locus of control : Psychology concepts for the workplace

The Art of Mentoring

Work Teams in Organizational Behavior

Concept of work teams .

Teams are getting popular in modern organizations. More and more organizations are restructuring themselves around teams to better utilize employee talents.

Work group and work teams are not the same thing. The following figure shows the comparing Work group and work teams:

A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and make decisions to help each member perform. Its performance is summation of what its members perform as individuals.

A   work team is a cooperative group whose individual efforts result in positive synergy through coordinated efforts.

Its performance is greater than the summation of what its members perform as individuals. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Types of Work Teams

The work teams can be of the following types:

• Problem-solving teams
• Self-managed teams
• Cross-functional teams
• Virtual teams

1. Problem-solving teams:

These teams discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency and the work environment. They consist of 8 to 10 members from the same department. The team meets for a few hours each week.

• Quality circle is an example of problem-solving team which is concerned with solving problems related to quality, efficiency and safety at work place.
• Problem-solving teams share ideas and offer suggestions. However, they lack authority to make and implement decisions.

2. Self-managed work teams:

They are autonomous teams who take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. They solve problems, implement solutions and take full responsibility for outcomes. They are empowered.

• Typically, Self-managed teams are group of 10 to 15 employees who perform related or interdependent jobs. They select their own members and evaluate each other’s performance. The following figure shows the Self-managed work teams:

The responsibilities self-managed work teams take on are:

• Planning and scheduling of team work
• Assigning tasks to members
• Collective control over the pace of work through performance evaluation and quality control.
• Making operating decisions
• Taking corrective actions to solve problems
• Training of group members for multi-skilling.

3. Cross-functional teams:

These teams are made up of employees of the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who came together to accomplish a specific task. The membership cuts across departments and functions. Members are experts in various specialties.

• Committee and task force are examples of cross-functional teams.
• Cross-functional teams are effective to:
• Coordinate complex projects
• Exchange information
• Develop new ideas and solve problems

However, these teams take time to build trust and team work. Members need to learn to work with diversity and complexity.

• Effectiveness of cross-functional team depends on:
• Establishment of clear and specific goals
• Careful selection and appraisal of members
• Equity in rewarding efforts of members

4. Virtual teams:

These teams use information technology and computers to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal. Members collaborate on-line through communication links such as:

• Wide area networks (WAN)
• Video conferencing
• E-mail, Voice-mail, etc.

Virtual teams lack face-to-face communication. They have limited social interaction. But they overcome time and space constraints. They allow people to work together who are miles apart.

Building Effective Work Teams (Factors in Managing Teams)

Effectiveness is doing the right thing. It is concerned with attaining goals. The components needed for building effective work teams are:

• Work Design
• Composition

1. Work Design:

The following characteristics of work design help build effective teams:

• Autonomy: Responsibility for work and freedom in doing work to the team.
• Skill variety: Opportunity for use of different skills and abilities by the team.
• Task identity: Doing the whole piece of work by the team.
• Task significance: Doing work should be worthwhile to the team.

Team should work together with collective responsibility to complete significant tasks.

2.  Team Composition:

The following variables in team composition help build effective teams:

• Ability: Variety in abilities of team members. The members should have right technical, decision making and interpersonal skills.
• Personality: Team members should have traits, such as extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience.
• Roles: Team members should have diversity to fulfill various roles.
• Size: The size of the team should be neither too small and nor too big. Between 6 to 10 members is a good number.
• Flexibility: The team members should be adaptable to each other’s tasks.
• Member Preference: Team members should have preference for team work.

3. Context:

The following contextual factors help build effective teams:

• Adequate Resources: The members should have access to adequate resources outside the team. Management must support teams.
• Leadership: Team members should agree on who is to do what. Leadership roles are shared.
• Evaluation and Reward: Team members should be individually and collectively accountable for performance. Reward should be based on team performance.

4. Process:

The following process variables help build effective teams:

• Common purpose: It provides direction and guidance. It should be accepted by the team. It is a broad vision.
• Specific Goals: The purpose should be translated into specific goals. They help teams maintain focus on getting results. Goals should be specific, measurable, realistic, challenging and time bound.
• Team Efficacy: Team should believe in success. Members should have collective confidence in themselves. Training should be provided.
• Conflict: Functional conflict should be encouraged to improve team effectiveness.
• Social Loafing: Teams should discourage the tendency of social loafing. There should be accountability at both the individual and team levels.

Group Decision Making

Decisions are taken either by an individual or by a group. When a decision is taken by an individual in the organization, it is known as individual decision. Group decision refers to the decisions which are taken by a group of organizational members.

There are many situations which suddenly come up as ill-structured problems which are unlikely to be solved by a single individual.

In such situation, the manager may assign the problem to a group of experts for recommendations. It is often argued that group can make higher quality decisions than individuals.

Issues in Managing Work Teams

The key issues in managing work teams are:

1. Issue of Total Quality Management (TQM) in Teams:

The issue is how to make the work teams effective for total quality management.

TQM is continuously improving quality through everyone’s commitment and involvement to satisfy customers. Quality is everyone’s responsibility. TQM requires encouragement to employees by management for quality improvements. Work teams are the vehicles for improving quality.

2. Issue of Workforce Diversity in Teams:

The issues are:

• How to manage diversity in work team?
• How to develop cohesiveness in work team?
• How to minimize conflicts?
• How to turn individuals into team players?

Work teams tend to be high in diversity. Such teams take time to develop cohesiveness.

3. Issue of Mature Teams:

The issue is how to reinvigorate mature teams.

The effectiveness of work team can diminish over time. Maturity can retard team creativity. Mature teams suffer from group think. Members assume that they know what everyone is thinking.

4. Issue of Effectiveness of Teams:

The issue is how to increase and maintain team effectiveness in terms of:

• Common goals and norms: For the team
• Work design: Autonomy, skill variety, task identity and task significance.
• Team composition: Team members should be cooperating, coordinating, communicating, comforting and conflict resolving (5Cs).
• Team context: Team leadership and rewards.
• Team process: Norms, cohesion, trust and team development.

22 Working in Diverse Teams

Learning Objectives

• Describe how diversity can enhance decision-making and problem-solving
• Identify challenges and best practices for working with multicultural teams
• Discuss divergent cultural characteristics and list several examples of such characteristics in the culture(s) you identify with

Decision-making and problem-solving can be much more dynamic and successful when performed in a diverse team environment. The multiple diverse perspectives can enhance both the understanding of the problem and the quality of the solution. Yet, working in diverse teams can be challenging given different identities, cultures, beliefs, and experiences. In this chapter, we will discuss the effects of team diversity on group decision-making and problem-solving, identify best practices and challenges for working in and with multicultural teams, and dig deeper into divergent cultural characteristics that teams may need to navigate.

Does Team Diversity Enhance Decision Making and Problem Solving?

In the Harvard Business Review article “Why Diverse Teams are Smarter,” David Rock and Heidi Grant (2016) support the idea that increasing workplace diversity is a good business decision. A 2015 McKinsey report on 366 public companies found that those in the top quartile for ethnic and racial diversity in management were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their industry mean, and those in the top quartile for gender diversity were 15% more likely to have returns above the industry mean. Similarly, in a global analysis conducted by Credit Suisse, organizations with at least one female board member yielded a higher return on equity and higher net income growth than those that did not have any women on the board.

Additional research on diversity has shown that diverse teams are better at decision-making and problem-solving because they tend to focus more on facts, per the Rock and Grant article. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed that people from diverse backgrounds “might actually alter the behavior of a group’s social majority in ways that lead to improved and more accurate group thinking.” It turned out that in the study, the diverse panels raised more facts related to the case than homogeneous panels and made fewer factual errors while discussing available evidence. Another study noted in the article showed that diverse teams are “more likely to constantly reexamine facts and remain objective. They may also encourage greater scrutiny of each member’s actions, keeping their joint cognitive resources sharp and vigilant. By breaking up workforce homogeneity, you can allow your employees to become more aware of their own potential biases—entrenched ways of thinking that can otherwise blind them to key information and even lead them to make errors in decision-making processes.” In other words, when people are among homogeneous and like-minded (non-diverse) teammates, the team is susceptible to groupthink and may be reticent to think about opposing viewpoints since all team members are in alignment. In a more diverse team with a variety of backgrounds and experiences, the opposing viewpoints are more likely to come out and the team members feel obligated to research and address the questions that have been raised. Again, this enables a richer discussion and a more in-depth fact-finding and exploration of opposing ideas and viewpoints in order to solve problems.

Diversity in teams also leads to greater innovation. A Boston Consulting Group article entitled “The Mix that Matters: Innovation through Diversity” explains a study in which they sought to understand the relationship between diversity in managers (all management levels) and innovation (Lorenzo et al., 2017). The key findings of this study show that:

• The positive relationship between management diversity and innovation is statistically significant—and thus companies with higher levels of diversity derive more revenue from new products and services.
• The innovation boost isn’t limited to a single type of diversity. The presence of managers who are either female or are from other countries, industries, or companies can cause an increase in innovation.
• Management diversity seems to have a particularly positive effect on innovation at complex companies—those that have multiple product lines or that operate in multiple industry segments.
• To reach its potential, gender diversity needs to go beyond tokenism. In the study, innovation performance only increased significantly when the workforce included more than 20% women in management positions. Having a high percentage of female employees doesn’t increase innovation if only a small number of women are managers.
• At companies with diverse management teams, openness to contributions from lower-level workers and an environment in which employees feel free to speak their minds are crucial for fostering innovation.

When you consider the impact that diverse teams have on decision-making and problem-solving—through the discussion and incorporation of new perspectives, ideas, and data—it is no wonder that the BCG study shows greater innovation. Team leaders need to reflect upon these findings during the early stages of team selection so that they can reap the benefits of having diverse voices and backgrounds.

Challenges and Best Practices for Working with Multicultural Teams

As globalization has increased over the last decades, workplaces have felt the impact of working within multicultural teams. The earlier section on team diversity outlined some of the highlights and benefits of working on diverse teams, and a multicultural group certainly qualifies as diverse. However, there are some key practices that are recommended to those who are leading multicultural teams so that they can parlay the diversity into an advantage and not be derailed by it.

People may assume that communication is the key factor that can derail multicultural teams, as participants may have different languages and communication styles. In the Harvard Business Review article “Managing Multicultural Teams,” Brett et al. (2006) outline four key cultural differences that can cause destructive conflicts in a team. The first difference is direct versus indirect communication, also known as high-context vs. low-context communication . Some cultures are very direct and explicit in their communication, while others are more indirect and ask questions rather than pointing our problems. This difference can cause conflict because, at the extreme, the direct style may be considered offensive by some, while the indirect style may be perceived as unproductive and passive-aggressive in team interactions.

The second difference that multicultural teams may face is trouble with accents and fluency. When team members don’t speak the same language, there may be one language that dominates the group interaction—and those who don’t speak it may feel left out. The speakers of the primary language may feel that those members don’t contribute as much or are less competent. The next challenge is when there are differing attitudes toward hierarchy. Some cultures are very respectful of the hierarchy and will treat team members based on that hierarchy. Other cultures are more egalitarian and don’t observe hierarchical differences to the same degree. This may lead to clashes if some people feel that they are being disrespected and not treated according to their status. The final difference that may challenge multicultural teams is conflicting decision-making norms. Different cultures make decisions differently, and some will apply a great deal of analysis and preparation beforehand. Those cultures that make decisions more quickly (and need just enough information to make a decision) may be frustrated with the slow response and relatively longer thought process.

These cultural differences are good examples of how everyday team activities (decision-making, communication, interaction among team members) may become points of contention for a multicultural team if there isn’t adequate understanding of everyone’s culture. The authors propose that there are several potential interventions to try if these conflicts arise. One simple intervention is adaptation , which is working with or around differences. This is best used when team members are willing to acknowledge the cultural differences and learn how to work with them. The next intervention technique is structural intervention , or reorganizing to reduce friction on the team. This technique is best used if there are unproductive subgroups or cliques within the team that need to be moved around. Managerial intervention is the technique of making decisions by management and without team involvement. This technique is one that should be used sparingly, as it essentially shows that the team needs guidance and can’t move forward without management getting involved. Finally, exit is an intervention of last resort, and is the voluntary or involuntary removal of a team member. If the differences and challenges have proven to be so great that an individual on the team can no longer work with the team productively, then it may be necessary to remove the team member in question.

Developing Cultural Intelligence

There are some people who seem to be innately aware of and able to work with cultural differences on teams and in their organizations. These individuals might be said to have cultural intelligence . Cultural intelligence  is a competency and a skill that enables individuals to function effectively in cross-cultural environments. It develops as people become more aware of the influence of culture and more capable of adapting their behavior to the norms of other cultures. In the IESE Insight article entitled “Cultural Competence: Why It Matters and How You Can Acquire It,” Lee and Liao (2015) assert that “multicultural leaders may relate better to team members from different cultures and resolve conflicts more easily. Their multiple talents can also be put to good use in international negotiations.” Multicultural leaders don’t have a lot of “baggage” from any one culture, and so are sometimes perceived as being culturally neutral. They are very good at handling diversity, which gives them a great advantage in their relationships with teammates.

In order to help people become better team members in a world that is increasingly multicultural, there are a few best practices that the authors recommend for honing cross-cultural skills. The first is to “broaden your mind”—expand your own cultural channels (travel, movies, books) and surround yourself with people from other cultures. This helps to raise your own awareness of the cultural differences and norms that you may encounter. Another best practice is to “develop your cross-cultural skills through practice” and experiential learning. You may have the opportunity to work or travel abroad—but if you don’t, then getting to know some of your company’s cross-cultural colleagues or foreign visitors will help you to practice your skills. Serving on a cross-cultural project team and taking the time to get to know and bond with your global colleagues is an excellent way to develop skills.

Once you have a sense of the different cultures and have started to work on developing your cross-cultural skills, another good practice is to “boost your cultural metacognition” and monitor your own behavior in multicultural situations. When you are in a situation in which you are interacting with multicultural individuals, you should test yourself and be aware of how you act and feel. Observe both your positive and negative interactions with people, and learn from them. Developing “ cognitive complexity ” is the final best practice for boosting multicultural skills. This is the most advanced, and it requires being able to view situations from more than one cultural framework. In order to see things from another perspective, you need to have a strong sense of emotional intelligence, empathy, and sympathy, and be willing to engage in honest communications.

In the Harvard Business Review article “Cultural Intelligence,” Earley and Mosakowski (2004) describe three sources of cultural intelligence that teams should consider if they are serious about becoming more adept in their cross-cultural skills and understanding. These sources, very simply, are head, body, and heart . One first learns about the beliefs, customs, and taboos of foreign cultures via the head . Training programs are based on providing this type of overview information—which is helpful, but obviously isn’t experiential. This is the cognitive component of cultural intelligence. The second source, the body , involves more commitment and experimentation with the new culture. It is this physical component (demeanor, eye contact, posture, accent) that shows a deeper level of understanding of the new culture and its physical manifestations. The final source, the heart , deals with a person’s own confidence in their ability to adapt to and deal well with cultures outside of their own. Heart really speaks to one’s own level of emotional commitment and motivation to understand the new culture.

The authors have created a quick assessment to diagnose cultural intelligence, based on these cognitive, physical, and emotional/motivational measures (i.e., head, body, heart). Please refer to the table below for a short diagnostic that allows you to assess your cultural intelligence.

Cultural intelligence is an extension of emotional intelligence. An individual must have a level of awareness and understanding of the new culture so that he or she can adapt to the style, pace, language, nonverbal communication, etc. and work together successfully with the new culture. A multicultural team can only find success if its members take the time to understand each other and ensure that everyone feels included. Multiculturalism and cultural intelligence are traits that are taking on increasing importance in the business world today. By following best practices and avoiding the challenges and pitfalls that can derail a multicultural team, a team can find great success and personal fulfillment well beyond the boundaries of the project or work engagement.

Digging in Deeper: Divergent Cultural Dimensions

Let’s dig in deeper by examining several points of divergence across cultures and consider how these dimensions might play out in organizations and in groups or teams.

Low-Power versus High-Power Distance

How comfortable are you with critiquing your boss’s decisions? If you are from a low-power distance culture, your answer might be “no problem.” In low-power distance cultures , according to Dutch researcher Geert Hofstede, people relate to one another more as equals and less as a reflection of dominant or subordinate roles, regardless of their actual formal roles as employee and manager, for example.

In a high-power distance culture , you would probably be much less likely to challenge the decision, to provide an alternative, or to give input. If you are working with people from a high-power distance culture, you may need to take extra care to elicit feedback and involve them in the discussion because their cultural framework may preclude their participation. They may have learned that less powerful people must accept decisions without comment, even if they have a concern or know there is a significant problem. Unless you are sensitive to cultural orientation and power distance, you may lose valuable information.

Individualistic versus Collectivist Cultures

People in individualistic cultures  value individual freedom and personal independence, and cultures always have stories to reflect their values. You may recall the story of Superman, or John McLean in the Diehard series, and note how one person overcomes all obstacles. Through personal ingenuity, in spite of challenges, one person rises successfully to conquer or vanquish those obstacles. Sometimes there is an assist, as in basketball or football, where another person lends a hand, but still the story repeats itself again and again, reflecting the cultural viewpoint.

When Hofstede explored the concepts of individualism and collectivism across diverse cultures (Hofstede, 1982, 2001, 2005), he found that in individualistic cultures like the United States, people perceived their world primarily from their own viewpoint. They perceived themselves as empowered individuals, capable of making their own decisions, and able to make an impact on their own lives.

Cultural viewpoint is not an either/or dichotomy, but rather a continuum or range. You may belong to some communities that express individualistic cultural values, while others place the focus on a collective viewpoint. Collectivist cultures  (Hofstede, 1982), including many in Asia and South America, focus on the needs of the nation, community, family, or group of workers. Ownership and private property is one way to examine this difference. In some cultures, property is almost exclusively private, while others tend toward community ownership. The collectively owned resource returns benefits to the community. Water, for example, has long been viewed as a community resource, much like air, but that has been changing as business and organizations have purchased water rights and gained control over resources. Public lands, such as parks, are often considered public, and individual exploitation of them is restricted. Copper, a metal with a variety of industrial applications, is collectively owned in Chile, with profits deposited in the general government fund. While public and private initiatives exist, the cultural viewpoint is our topic. How does someone raised in a culture that emphasizes the community interact with someone raised in a primarily individualistic culture? How could tensions be expressed and how might interactions be influenced by this point of divergence?

Masculine versus Feminine Orientation

There was a time when many cultures and religions valued a female figurehead, and with the rise of Western cultures we have observed a shift toward a masculine ideal. Each carries with it a set of cultural expectations and norms for gender behavior and gender roles across life, including business.

Hofstede describes the masculine-feminine dichotomy not in terms of whether men or women hold the power in a given culture, but rather the extent to which that culture values certain traits that may be considered masculine or feminine . Thus, “the assertive pole has been called ‘masculine’ and the modest, caring pole ‘feminine.’ The women in feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are somewhat assertive and competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between men’s values and women’s values” (Hofstede, 2009).

We can observe this difference in where people gather, how they interact, and how they dress. We can see it during business negotiations, where it may make an important difference in the success of the organizations involved. Cultural expectations precede the interaction, so someone who doesn’t match those expectations may experience tension. Business in the United States has a masculine orientation—assertiveness and competition are highly valued. In other cultures, such as Sweden, business values are more attuned to modesty (lack of self-promotion) and taking care of society’s weaker members. This range of difference is one aspect of intercultural communication that requires significant attention when the business communicator enters a new environment.

Uncertainty-Accepting Cultures versus Uncertainty-Rejecting Cultures

When we meet each other for the first time, we often use what we have previously learned to understand our current context. We also do this to reduce our uncertainty. Some cultures, such as the United States and Britain, are highly tolerant of uncertainty , while others go to great lengths to reduce the element of surprise. Cultures in the Arab world, for example, are high in uncertainty avoidance ; they tend to be resistant to change and reluctant to take risks. Whereas a U.S. business negotiator might enthusiastically agree to try a new procedure, the Egyptian counterpart would likely refuse to get involved until all the details are worked out.

Short-Term versus Long-Term Orientation

Do you want your reward right now or can you dedicate yourself to a long-term goal? You may work in a culture whose people value immediate results and grow impatient when those results do not materialize. Geert Hofstede discusses this relationship of time orientation to a culture as a “time horizon,” and it underscores the perspective of the individual within a cultural context. Many countries in Asia, influenced by the teachings of Confucius, value a long-term orientation, whereas other countries, including the United States, have a more short-term approach to life and results. Native American cultures are known for holding a long-term orientation, as illustrated by the proverb attributed to the Iroquois that decisions require contemplation of their impact seven generations removed.

If you work within a culture that has a short-term orientation ,  you may need to place greater emphasis on reciprocation of greetings, gifts, and rewards. For example, if you send a thank-you note the morning after being treated to a business dinner, your host will appreciate your promptness. While there may be a respect for tradition, there is also an emphasis on personal representation and honor, a reflection of identity and integrity. Personal stability and consistency are also valued in a short-term oriented culture, contributing to an overall sense of predictability and familiarity.

Long-term orientation  is often marked by persistence, thrift and frugality, and an order to relationships based on age and status. A sense of shame for the family and community is also observed across generations. What an individual does reflects on the family and is carried by immediate and extended family members.

Time Orientation

Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall (1987) state that monochronic time-oriented cultures consider one thing at a time, whereas polychronic time-oriented cultures schedule many things at one time, and time is considered in a more fluid sense. In monochromatic time , time is thought of as very linear, interruptions are to be avoided, and everything has its own specific time. Even the multitasker from a monochromatic culture will, for example, recognize the value of work first before play or personal time. The United States, Germany, and Switzerland are often noted as countries that value a monochromatic time orientation.

Polychromatic time  looks a little more complicated, with business and family mixing with dinner and dancing. Greece, Italy, Chile, and Saudi Arabia are countries where one can observe this perception of time; business meetings may be scheduled at a fixed time, but when they actually begin may be another story. Also note that the dinner invitation for 8 p.m. may in reality be more like 9 p.m. If you were to show up on time, you might be the first person to arrive and find that the hosts are not quite ready to receive you.

When in doubt, always ask before the event; many people from polychromatic cultures will be used to foreigner’s tendency to be punctual, even compulsive, about respecting established times for events. The skilled business communicator is aware of this difference and takes steps to anticipate it. The value of time in different cultures is expressed in many ways, and your understanding can help you communicate more effectively.

Review & Reflection Questions

• Why are diverse teams better at decision-making and problem-solving?
• What are some of the challenges that multicultural teams face?
• How might you further cultivate your own cultural intelligence?
• What are some potential points of divergence between cultures?
• Brett, J., Behfar, K., Kern, M. (2006, November). Managing multicultural teams. Harvard Business Review . https://hbr.org/2006/11/managing-multicultural-teams
• Dodd, C. (1998). Dynamics of intercultural communication (5th ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row.
• Earley, P.C., & Mosakowski, E. (2004, October). Cultural intelligence. Harvard Business Review . https://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-intelligence
• Hall, M. R., & Hall, E. T. (1987). Hidden differences: Doing business with the Japanese . New York, NY: Doubleday.
• Hofstede, G. (1982). Culture’s consequences (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Hofstede, G. (2005). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
• Lee, Y-T., & Liao, Y. (2015). Cultural competence: Why it matters and how you can acquire it. IESE Insight . https://www.ieseinsight.com/doc.aspx?id=1733&ar=20
• Lorenzo, R., Yoigt, N., Schetelig, K., Zawadzki, A., Welpe, I., & Brosi, P. (2017). The mix that matters: Innovation through diversity. Boston Consulting Group. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2017/people-organization-leadership-talent-innovation-through-diversity-mix-that-matters.aspx
• Rock, D., & Grant, H. (2016, November 4). Why diverse teams are smarter . Harvard Business Review . https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter

Author & Attribution

This remix comes from Dr. Jasmine Linabary at Emporia State University. This chapter is also available in her book:  Small Group Communication: Forming and Sustaining Teams.

The sections “How Does Team Diversity Enhance Decision Making and Problem Solving?” and “Challenges and Best Practices for Working with Multicultural Teams” are adapted from Black, J.S., & Bright, D.S. (2019). Organizational behavior. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/organizational-behavior/ . Access the full chapter for free here . The content is available under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 license .

The section “Digging in Deeper: Divergent Cultural Dimensions” is adapted from “ Divergent Cultural Characteristics ” in Business Communication for Success from the University of Minnesota. The book was adapted from a work produced and distributed under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA) by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution. This work is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license .

A set of negative group-level processes, including illusions of invulnerability, self-censorship, and pressures to conform, that occur when highly cohesive groups seek concurrence when making a decision.

a culture that emphasize nonverbal communication and indirect communication styles

a culture that emphasizes verbal expression and direct communication styles

a competency and a skill that enables individuals to function effectively in cross-cultural environments

cultures in which people relate to one another more as equals and less as a reflection of dominant or subordinate roles, regardless of their actual formal roles

culture tends to accept power differences, encourage hierarchy, and show respect for rank and authority

cultures that place greater importance on individual freedom and personal independence

cultures that place more value on the needs and goals of the group, family, community or nation

cultures that tend to value assertiveness, and concentrate on material achievements and wealth-building

cultures that tend to value nurturing, care and emotion, and are concerned with the quality of life

cultures with a high tolerance for uncertainty, ambiguity, and risk-taking. The unknown is more openly accepted, and rules and regulations tend to be more lax

cultures with a low tolerance for uncertainty, ambiguity, and risk-taking. The unknown is minimized through strict rules and regulations

focus on the near future, involves delivering short-term success or gratification and places a stronger emphasis on the present than the future

cultures that focus on the future and delaying short-term success or gratification in order to achieve long-term success

an orientation to time is considered highly linear, where interruptions are to be avoided, and everything has its own specific time

an orientation to time where multiple things can be done at once and time is viewed more fluidly

Working in Diverse Teams Copyright © 2021 by Cameron W. Piercy, Ph.D. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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A conversation with researchers Thomas Keil and Marianna Zangrillo about the dynamics at the top of organizations.

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CEOs get a ton of credit or blame for a company’s performance. But the entire leadership team is vital to success, and any dysfunction is often overlooked. Sometimes the CEOs leading them don’t even see that they’re not working. Thomas Keil, management professor at the University of Zurich, and Marianna Zangrillo, a partner at The Next Advisors, have interviewed more than 100 CEOs and senior executives. Their research identifies three main types of failing leadership teams:  shark tanks ,  petting zoos , and  mediocracies . And they identify the pitfalls of each pattern and how to turn those teams around. Keil and Zangrillo wrote the HBR article “ Why Leadership Teams Fail .”

CURT NICKISCH: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Curt Nickisch.

Break any company down and at the core is the team, people working together with the team manager to achieve outcomes. A high performing team can drive success and inspire others. A dysfunctional one can stack up losses, run up costs, drain morale, and send team members running away. That dynamic is strongest at the top in the leadership team of the organization. When that team is dysfunctional, it puts an immensely disproportionate drag on strategy execution and organizational success.

Today’s guests have studied this and find that when the leadership team is dysfunctional, it’s usually in one of three ways and they have advice for changing those common types. Our guests today are Thomas Keil, Management Professor at the University of Zurich and Mariana Zangrillo, a partner at the Next Advisors. They wrote the HBR article, Why Leadership Teams Fail, and they join me now. Thomas and Mariana, thanks for joining me.

THOMAS KEIL: Thanks for having us.

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO:

Thank you for having us.

CURT NICKISCH: I guess we should start by defining exactly what you studied. You spoke to people in leadership teams.

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: That’s correct. So we know that basically the health of the leadership team is quite crucial and very often is underestimated. And to learn about what kind of problems might affect these teams, we have interviewed more than 100 CEOs and senior executives while pursuing a multi-year research program of about 10 years. And in our study, while of course there are differences across different companies and situations, we noticed that leadership teams tend to exhibit one or three main patterns of dysfunction.

The first being very competitive, lot of infighting and considerable political maneuvering. We do know that some competition is necessary, but when that gets taken to the extreme, problems basically start. The second pattern we observed is the one of extreme conflict avoidance where team members just pursue collaboration, don’t challenge anymore each other because there is also a guarantee of not being challenged back. And then the third pattern that we notice is too much complacency, lack of competence, and fundamentally, focus on past performance, which is probably one of the most complicated of the patterns that we identified.

CURT NICKISCH: I’m curious how common this is to have a leadership team that is dysfunctional.

THOMAS KEIL: Initially when we started our study, we were not really looking at failing leadership teams. But as we spoke with people and as they often talked in more detail and often also asking to stay anonymous, they opened up that they had a lot of issues with the leadership team and it was surprisingly common in fact. You don’t often hear about that. You don’t often read about that because of course we all try to project a picture of success and of a strong team. But when you really go beyond that surface, it is very common in the top leadership teams. And it is very interesting that in some instances, CEOs were not really aware of the dysfunctions in their team, that they thought they had a well-working team. And when we spoke with some of the executives reporting to them, they portrayed a very different picture.

CURT NICKISCH: It sounds like the strength of a leadership team can make or break the job of the CEO, and they’re also the person who probably has the most control over shaping that team. But if they’re not aware of it themselves, what can they do to assess the effectiveness of their own team?

THOMAS KEIL: In our view, one of the first things is to watch out very carefully for telltale signals for each of these dysfunctions that we identified. There are signs, sometimes small signs that you need to be very carefully attuned to where you have to watch out very carefully, listen carefully what people say, what different people say. Those often signal that there is a problem well before it deteriorates to the extent that it really drives down the performance.

For instance, if people are starting to be too emotional when you have shouting matches in the meetings or when people are decidedly not communicating in the meeting, but try to take you aside afterwards, these are very strong signals that your team is starting to become too political.

If you have the other extreme that you have no emotion in the team, people don’t challenge each other. They rather play to each other’s proposals. That’s a sign that you’re lacking the level of ambition. You’re lacking the level of energy. You are ending up in what we call a petting zoo.

Or if people are fundamentally backward oriented, have no ideas, then you don’t have the right caliber in your team and you are in a mediocracy. So it’s really about monitoring very clearly what’s going on both inside the meetings but also outside of the meeting to get a sense of where your team is at.

CURT NICKISCH: Often CEOs will inherit that team. They may bring certain people in, they’re not always building it from scratch. Is part of the problem just the fact that it could take a long time to actually switch the team over or have the people in place that you think are optimal?

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: We see a lot of differences depending also on the current situation that the CEO find. But we do see that in situations like a shark tank, it is often just one or two team members, which may be the problem. And if the CEO pays attention to how the individuals behave, they may quickly identify the one who might be the problem, have conversations with him and her. And if the person can get back on track and work with the rest of the team, it may even be possible that no change is needed. But if the person is really not adjusting the behaviors and keeps being self-serving, then a different situation is at hand and more changes are needed. The other extreme we typically see instead in the third type of dysfunction. So when we are looking at a team where we have a mediocracy, then basically we see the situation where the CEO may have to carry out many more changes.

CURT NICKISCH: There’s a famous story of Howard Schultz, the Starbucks CEO, going to Steve Jobs and complaining about his team. And apparently Steve Jobs said fire everybody and Schultz didn’t. But he said within a year, everybody had left anyway. So sometimes these are, do you want the pain now or do you want the pain later?

THOMAS KEIL: And we have a number of instances where we actually had CEOs that changed anything from 80% to a hundred percent of the team simply because they needed to transform the organization so radically that this wasn’t possible with the existing team.

CURT NICKISCH: So it sounds like a lot of judgment calls here to turn their teams into better performing ones. Let’s spend a little bit of time on each of these three main types and how to navigate those. The shark tank analogy is pretty vivid. This is one where there is a lot of in-fighting, whether outright or clandestine. How does this dynamic come about and what influence does the CEO have on that?

THOMAS KEIL: In the shark tank, you really have a competition taken to the extreme. When you start to say, “Okay, winning is more important than paying fair.” Then what you find is that where you would need cooperation, it no longer happens. And that is where the organization becomes political, where people only drive their own agenda, and no longer the agenda of the company. And that’s really a place where you need a very strong leader that actually reins in these behaviors, that sets limits very clearly, that sets a very clear direction.

Defines where competition is acceptable, defines what behaviors are acceptable, and also very clearly shuts down when behaviors escalate into a political domain, which is unfortunately even may mean that you have to lose a high performer because in a shark tank, you often have many high performers, but when you perform at the expense of the organization, it’s no longer in the interest of the organization. And you may have to in the short run, accept that you are losing a high performing individual, but then the team as a whole becomes stronger.

CURT NICKISCH: Well, let’s get to maybe the opposite problem, which is the petting zoo. What does that look like in practice at an organization?

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: Well, when we have petting zoo, basically we have-

CURT NICKISCH: I love that name by the way. It’s great

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: When we have the petting zoo, we have executives which tend to be extremely collaborative. Sometimes, they’ve been with organization for a very long time, tend to support each other to protect each other. Disagreement doesn’t happen. And in the executive meetings, when one executive speaks, everybody else nods and that is a clear sign the team is not basically doing their job because they are not constructively criticizing each other, pushing a little bit the boundaries, and ultimately breaking or going against the nature of what leadership teams really need to do.

We had one case where a CEO told us people just did not want to talk openly. They all were supporting each other, were not speaking up, conversations were not happening. And then he basically decided to shift the focus of executive meetings from questions of policy and procedures to interpretation and purpose and principles.

And during the various meeting, he carefully followed up on how much discussion was happening, who was speaking, who was raising issues and challenging colleagues, and who was simply nodding. And then from there, it was basically testing the temperature to see how well the team was functioning. So more debate is always necessary in these cases and that’s the CEO’s job to try to push each of the executives to participate more actively to the conversation, contribute with new perspectives to come to more optimal outcome.

CURT NICKISCH: Some people will hear that description of that team and think it’s maybe okay. It might be calming to the rest of the organization too to see there’s no apparent disagreement at the top. Why is the petting zoo so damaging?

THOMAS KEIL: What the petting zoo fundamentally misses is the level of ambition and the level of challenging each other that is needed, that people get out of their comfort zone. If we want to drive performance in a modern organization, we need to step out of the comfort zone and we need to work together on creating novel solutions. But if I’m just accepting my peers’ solutions, that’s just not happening. So we are essentially taking it too easy.

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: The petting zoo sometime is the outcome of many years working together. So we see teams which are work together for 5, 10, 15 years, and whoever knew was brought in was someone who had to be fitting into that ways of working and not really the type of person who would challenge. And as we know very well, when there is no change, no novelty, no diversity, no new thinking, then it’s very difficult to make progress. So they favor stability and calmness over progress, which sometime can be also a choice, but certainly the overall performance and profitability in the long run tends to suffer.

THOMAS KEIL: And it may in fact be a sign of a lack of trust in the team. Because to really engage each other constructively, critically, you do need to trust that people will not attack you on the person, that it’s about the issues. It’s about the idea. It’s about building on each other. And when that trust isn’t there, you often find people acting nicely because it feels safe. But fundamentally, not trusting that any debate is actually meant to help me rather than to hurt my position in the organization.

CURT NICKISCH: Can a CEO in that petting zoo then replace one or two people? Can they simply try to change the culture of the team by challenging them more, by changing the budgets more so that there’s more competition over new projects? Any other tactics that a CEO can do in that situation?

THOMAS KEIL: In our view, it often depends on what is the underlying root cause of this behavior. If it’s a matter of trust, then you need to start with building the trust in the team. If it’s a matter of some degree of complacency in the team, then you need to start to change the behavior by processes, by for instance, forcing numbers onto the table by debating numbers. If it is a matter of people having been too long in a role, then one of the things a CEO can do is for instance also switching around roles so that nobody feels they are the absolute expert in their domain, and therefore you get some more of this challenging into the team.

CURT NICKISCH: Let me ask about the mediocracy. It sounds like this is a team where you could have people who are appropriately competitive, who are appropriately collaborative, but just not excellent in their work and what they’re doing. Is that the issue?

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: Well, in the mediocracy, we typically find leaders that are ill-suited for the roles and they’re not up to the task. And these are the situations where we have seen CEOs carrying out the highest amount of executive changes. In this situation, we typically find teams where some people are competing excessively, some people are collaborating excessively, they can be different groups which are created, and they’re not really working with each other. So we have seen a number of CEOs which had basically to significantly remake the team, if not entirely. Typically, much more than 50% gets changed in these situations.

CURT NICKISCH: I’m just going to underline something that you said that these teams, they can look almost like shark tanks. They can also look like petting zoos or they can look like good teams, but they’re just still made up of people who aren’t up to the task.

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: It is true, but actually in the mediocracy, what we actually see is people which are not fundamentally capable or suitable for the job. So it’s not anymore an interpersonal issue the way people deal with each other, but there is an objective issues with the capability and the fit of the individual or many individuals within that organization. And that’s probably what makes the role of the CEOs most difficult in these cases because it’s not anymore enough to address the behaviors, but you fundamentally have an issue also with the individual, many individuals independently of how they interact with each other.

CURT NICKISCH: What else can you do to right the ship in this case?

THOMAS KEIL: Changing people is always just the first step. You need to be very careful, of course, in this case with the selection of people so that you get then the right mix of skills. And again, the ability to compete, collaborate as is needed for the mandate of the CEO. But then also you need to very clearly define how you’re going to run this team. So because you’re essentially rebuilding the team, you really need to start from thinking about what is your purpose? What is your mandate as a CEO? How do you align a team around that? What kind of people will serve that best? What are the kind of mixes of responsibilities and where do you then design collaboration, competition around that? So it is really in the end more or less a complete rebuild of the top team.

CURT NICKISCH: Where do CEOs most often go wrong or what are the biggest stumbling blocks for CEOs when they’re trying to change these teams into more functional ones?

THOMAS KEIL: We see two important stumbling blocks. The first one, and you mentioned that already yourself earlier, is to actually recognize what are the issues in your team, because the team members will interact differently with the CEO than they interact as a team. Then they interact with each other when the CEO is not in the room. So it’s not always easy for a CEO to really understand what dynamic is going on. But the next, and even if you have recognized and you want to institute change, is the fact that the CEO needs to be very controlled in instituting the change. How the CEO acts himself or herself as a leader, how he or she interacts with the individual team members, interacts in those meetings is such an important driver. And often CEOs talk one game and then themselves behave differently, and that completely derails any kind of change that they may try to institute.

CURT NICKISCH: You study these teams, you advise these teams. I’m curious if you can just share some additional general advice for CEOs and leadership teams. How can they become more effective?

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: Well, this basically goes back to the steps to high-performing teams. Very often is the lack of clarity, whether strategic, operational or behavioral, which causes this leadership team dysfunction. So if the CEOs go back to developing a clear vision and purpose so that they articulate a compelling vision, then we always tell the next step would be to focus on alignment. The team members have to have skills and behaviors that align with the vision and the purpose of the CEO and the organization, and on top of that, clearly need to have backgrounds, experiences, and strengths that will contribute to organizational performance.

It is very important to outline responsibilities as clearly as possible, defining goals and roles, and also how the decision making will happen, and finally, establish behavioral norms. If it is clear what are the norms that are expected from the team and the team members are encouraged through coaching and role modeling, then it is more likely that the organization will function in the way the CEO basically envisions that to drive ultimate performance.

CURT NICKISCH: I bet a lot of people listening to this episode, if they’re not in leadership teams too, they’re going to be wondering about their own and wondering about how well they perform, and they probably just don’t have enough insight into that. It’s the CEO, the manager of that team who has the best idea of whether or not an outwardly effective team is actually effective.

THOMAS KEIL: Let me challenge what you just said a little bit. I think very often the people in the teams have a very clear understanding what is working and what is not working, and I think teams also can take charge of changing this and of engaging as a group in change. It’s not only top down. We believe that there is a very important role for the executives in a top leadership team or then for team members to create the type of environment that the team as a whole can perform.

CURT NICKISCH: That’s really interesting. You don’t have to wait for the CEO to try to make a positive change and try to build trust.

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: It’s very important that every individual takes ownership of own behavior, own future, and also organizational success. If everybody thinks that it’s only the CEO or the leader job to do the correct things, then the likelihood that the organization takes a good direction is much smaller. And if we are letting things happen to us or to our organization, then basically we are in the hand of fate and not in the hand of our competence.

CURT NICKISCH: Thomas and Mariana, thank you for coming on the show to talk about this.

MARIANNA ZANGRILLO: Thank you very much for having us.

THOMAS KEIL: It’s been a real pleasure.

CURT NICKISCH: That’s Thomas Keil, Management Professor at the University of Zurich and Mariana Zangrillo, a partner at the Next Advisors. They wrote the HBR article, Why Leadership Teams Fail.

And we have nearly 1000 episodes plus more podcasts to help you manage your team, your organization, and your career. Find them at HBR.org/podcasts or search HBR in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Thanks to our team, Senior Producer Mary Dooe, Associate Producer Hannah Bates, Audio Product Manager Ian Fox, and Senior Production Specialist Rob Eckhardt. Thank you for listening to the HBR IdeaCast. We’ll be back on Tuesday with our next episode. I’m Curt Nickisch.

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The Best Soft Skills Training Strategies to Boost Team Performance

Soft skills are key non-technical abilities like leadership, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. Investing in soft skills training for your team can lead to better collaboration, employee satisfaction, and productivity.

Soft skills are key non-technical abilities like leadership, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. These skills are crucial for enhancing workplace relationships and improving overall team performance.

While these skills may come naturally to some individuals, offering soft skills training on an organizational level can give employees and the overall business an edge. Investing in soft skills training for your team can lead to better collaboration, employee satisfaction, and productivity.

This article explores effective soft skills training strategies to boost your team’s performance. Looking for more tactics? Read our e-book: Top 3 Soft Skills Your Employees Need In the New World of Work .

Key Takeaways

• Soft skills are non-technical abilities such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence, which are essential for enhancing workplace relationships and overall performance.
• On an organizational level, investing in soft skills training is key for improving business outcomes.
• Effective and engaging methods for teaching soft skills include role-playing exercises, story-based learning, and gamification.
• To implement successful soft skills training programs, be sure to assess skill gaps, select appropriate delivery methods, and leverage technology appropriately.

What is soft skills training?

Soft skills training is designed to develop essential non-technical abilities like:

• Communication
• Problem-solving
• Leadership 
• Emotional intelligence

These skills are vital for building stronger workplace relationships and boosting collaboration. Unlike hard skills, which are specific to certain job functions and can be easily measured through exams or certifications, soft skills are more personal and often harder to quantify.

However, just because soft skills are hard to quantify doesn’t mean they can’t be developed. Employees’ personal and professional growth relies on an organization’s investment in soft skills training programs.

When effectively leveraged, this type of training can help individuals improve their social interactions, adaptability, and behavior, which in turn enhances their overall performance. In fact, soft skills significantly contribute to career success, accounting for roughly 85% of an individual’s achievement over their career span.

Developing soft skills is an ongoing process that involves continuous effort, experience, practice, and self-reflection. It’s about cultivating transferable abilities across various roles and industries, making them some of the most valuable assets in today’s workforce.

Differentiating soft skills from hard skills

Before discussing key soft skills strategies for your organization, it’s important to understand the differences between soft skills and hard skills.

Hard skills, also known as technical skills, are job-related competencies that are often a prerequisite for employment in certain fields. They’re critical for performing specific job functions and can be acquired through degrees, courses, or on-the-job training. Examples of hard skills, also known as technical skills, include graphic design, data analysis, and search engine optimization.

However, hard skills alone are not enough to ensure success in the workplace. This is where soft skills come into play. Unlike hard skills, soft skills are non-technical and relate to interactions and work performance. They include personal qualities and traits like teamwork, adaptability, and emotional intelligence, all of which impact how individuals work and collaborate with others.

Interestingly, when soft skills are effectively developed, they can help employees apply and prove their hard skills even more powerfully. They can also improve the strength of an overall team and organization by boosting collaborative potential.

What are the benefits of soft skills training?

Soft skills training programs offer numerous benefits with the power to transform individual performance and overall organizational success. Notably, these programs can greatly improve employee performance. For example, one study found that a 12-month soft skills training program across five factories improved return on investment by roughly 250 percent .

Another key benefit of soft skills training is its ability to improve interpersonal relationships. This, in turn, leads to better teamwork and a stronger sense of community within the workplace. When employees communicate effectively and empathize with one another, it creates a more positive work environment and enhances collaboration. This can even lead to benefits such as improved employee retention, as participants feel more valued and motivated in their roles.

Soft skills training is particularly crucial for specific industries and job functions, especially those that interact with customers regularly. By training employees to respond empathetically in their communication, businesses can improve the strength of their customer service and respond to customer needs more effectively. This can improve brand reputation and lead to increased customer loyalty and satisfaction.

3 essential soft skills to develop

Now, let’s focus on three crucial soft skills: communication, collaboration, and time management. Each plays a pivotal role in ensuring efficient operations, effective teamwork, and a positive work culture.

1. Communication skills

Effective communication is the cornerstone of successful teamwork and client relations. Strong communication skills enable employees to:

• Interact efficiently with clients, partners, and each other
• Build rapport
• Practice active listening skills
• Speak confidently and concisely
• Provide constructive feedback more effectively

Bolstering interpersonal communication in these ways can also lead to increased client satisfaction and loyalty. Being able to deliver information clearly and concisely can help keep things clear, expedite conversations, and resolve potential conflicts.

Presentation skills are another vital aspect of communication, involving the ability to:

• Deliver information in a structured and engaging manner
• Use visual aids effectively to enhance an audience’s understanding
• Adapt the presentation style to suit the audience’s needs and preferences

With opportunities to polish their presentation skills, employees can communicate more effectively—both within their teams and with external stakeholders.

2. Teamwork and collaboration

Like communication skills, strong collaboration skills are essential for effective teamwork, innovation, and achieving collective goals. Teamwork skills allow employees to gain insight into their strengths and weaknesses within a team, and provide an opportunity to improve communication with others for better outcomes.

Collaboration skills also involve:

• The ability to take accountability for errors, and communicate any plans for resolving them
• Conflict mediation skills
• A shared commitment to working in a group
• The ability to foster creativity and innovation

3. Time management

Efficient time management is crucial for meeting deadlines, avoiding stress, and enhancing reliability. Good time management skills help individuals prioritize tasks, allocate time effectively, and maintain a positive approach to challenges, thereby increasing efficiency.

One helpful technique for improving time management skills is time blocking, which involves allocating specific blocks of time for different tasks. This approach can help employees stay focused, avoid procrastination, and ensure that all tasks are completed on time, ultimately improving personal productivity and overall team performance.

Because it is often impacted by external factors, time management can be one of the most challenging to train on. However, fostering a work culture where employees receive training to learn to prioritize tasks, set boundaries, and manage their time more efficiently can pay dividends in the long run.

Effective methods for teaching soft skills

Effective soft skills training requires an engaging approach encouraging active participation and real-world application. Below, we’ll cover three of the most effective methods: role-playing exercises, story-based learning, and gamification.

Role-playing exercises

Role-playing exercises allow employees to participate in scenarios to practice and enhance specific soft skills. These exercises help employees understand different perspectives and improve their problem-solving abilities by working through realistic workplace situations.

Scenarios used in role-playing can be tailored to address specific challenges employees face in their roles, providing immediate feedback and opportunities for improvement. For example, a customer service team might act out common scenarios from the perspective of both the service agent and the client to form a deeper understanding of how these interactions might play out.

Using role-playing in e-learning can be a very effective way to work through scenarios with employees at scale. With the right e-learning software, you can set up simulations and branching logic to help employees understand cause and effect while also aiding in knowledge retention.

Story-based learning

Story-based learning uses narratives or storytelling methods to convey essential lessons and concepts. This can be a highly valuable tool in soft skills training. By reflecting on their personal experiences or envisioning scenarios with fictional characters, employees can extract valuable insights and apply them to real-life situations.

Narratives in story-based learning often mirror the challenges of the job, making lessons more relatable and memorable. This method helps illustrate the consequences of different actions and decisions, enhancing employees’ critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Gamification

To make your soft skills courses more engaging and motivating, try incorporating game design elements like point scoring, leaderboards, and rewards. These gamification elements encourage participation and make the training experience more enjoyable for participants.

Interactive games can simulate real-life scenarios your employees might encounter, allowing them to practice and refine their soft skills in a controlled, low-risk environment. Be sure to offer opportunities for constructive feedback in your gamified training to allow participants to hone their skills over time.

How to implement soft skills training programs

To implement a soft skills program effectively and at scale, it’s important to follow a framework. Below, we’ll cover the key steps to doing so, including assessing skill gaps, choosing the right delivery method, and promoting continuous learning and feedback.

By following these steps, you can ensure that your training is tailored to meet the specific needs of your organization and employees.

1. Assess skill gaps

Identifying existing skill gaps among employees is a crucial first step for tailoring training programs efficiently. Organizations can pinpoint opportunities for soft skills development by speaking with employees at all levels and consulting with managers.

Assessing skill gaps helps ensure that your training addresses specific needs and enhances your team’s overall performance. This is essential for creating targeted and impactful training programs.

2. Choose the right delivery method

To ensure your employees can effectively engage with and retain material, it’s key to select the appropriate delivery method for your soft skills training. This may vary depending on the needs of your organization or team.

For example, you may want to create a dedicated soft skills course that allows employees to access training regularly in bite-size chunks without interfering with their day-to-day work. You can also use micro-learning, which breaks down training into small and actionable segments, to allow for immediate application of soft skills.

3. Encourage continuous learning and feedback

Encouraging regular feedback and self-reflection helps employees identify areas for improvement and fosters a learning mindset. This culture of continual learning is essential for addressing mistakes and setting new goals.

Utilizing an e-learning platform like Articulate 360 can help you provide consistent and personalized learning experiences with opportunities for feedback.

Leveraging technology in soft skills training

Technology—specifically online learning platforms—is a key way to enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of soft skills training. These platforms provide flexible and engaging training environments that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of employees.

Below, we’ll explore how platforms like Articulate 360 can be used to develop soft skills.

E-learning platforms for soft skill development

When it comes to soft skills training, e-learning platforms offer the following benefits:

• Access to training regardless of an employee’s geographical location or time constraints
• Interactive multimedia modules for an engaging learning experience
• Videos for visual and auditory learning
• Multi-device access

These platforms provide learners with a flexible and convenient way to develop their soft skills, making it easier for employees to fit training into their schedules.

Articulate 360 capabilities

Articulate 360, the leading e-learning platform, offers a platform designed to help you create engaging, interactive courses tailored to specific soft skills. Some key capabilities include:

• Engaging learner experiences : Articulate 360 lets you build interactive, effective, and engaging sales training that can include branching scenarios, interactive activities, knowledge checks, and a wide range of assessments.
• Intuitive authoring for ALL course creators : With Articulate 360’s intuitive UI and integrated AI Assistant, you and your cross-functional collaborators can easily create effective sales training to boost sales performance.
• Quizzes and knowledge checks : Provide your learners with immediate feedback, helping them identify areas for improvement and track their progress.
• Helpful Templates: Get a head start on course creation with a library of templates on key sales topics such as prospecting, pipeline management, objection handling, and deal negotiation.
• Seamless collaboration and reviews: Collaborate on course creation by inviting colleagues to create and edit content, improving the quality of your sales training. Collect and approve in-context feedback, simplifying and accelerating the entire course review and approval process.

By leveraging the capabilities of platforms like Articulate 360, organizations can ensure continuous development and a more dynamic approach to soft skills training.

Measuring the impact of soft skills training

To ensure the effectiveness of your soft skills training, b e sure to close the loop by evaluating its impact. This can be done through performance metrics, employee feedback, and observed behavioral changes. Pre- and post-assessments can gauge initial and post-training performance levels, providing a clear picture of the training’s impact.

You can also provide employees with opportunities for self-assessment, peer feedback, and supervisor feedback, or track improvements in key areas like productivity, collaboration, and communication after training. Including 360-degree feedback allows for assessment from multiple perspectives, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation.

Evaluation methods for soft skills training programs include:

• Knowledge checks and quiz results from online training programs
• Surveys to gather subjective insights into the effectiveness of the training
• Observing real-life applications of the skills learned
• Assessing knowledge retention rates to measure the long-term impact of the training

These evaluation methods help organizations refine and improve their soft skills training programs by utilizing various soft skills training methods.

Real-life examples of successful soft skills training

Real-life soft skills training examples can provide valuable insights into the implementation and positive results of soft skills training programs. For instance, Google’s Project Oxygen program demonstrated that managers who effectively communicated and supported employee well-being were key to maintaining high-performing teams.

IBM’s Leadership Development Program focuses on enhancing soft skills such as emotional intelligence, collaboration, and communication among its leaders.

Zappos invested in training programs prioritizing customer service skills, which enhanced employee communication and problem-solving abilities, leading to higher customer satisfaction. These case studies highlight the common benefits of soft skills training programs, such as:

• Improved communication
• Better leadership
• Enhanced problem-solving abilities
• Increased employee engagement and satisfaction.

The impact of employee soft skills training

Investing in soft skills training programs is essential for enhancing employee performance, fostering better workplace relationships, and driving overall organizational success. By understanding the key benefits, differentiating between soft and hard skills, and focusing on developing essential soft skills like communication, teamwork, and time management, organizations can create a more dynamic and effective workforce.

Looking for more strategies to improve employee soft skills? Read our e-book: Top 3 Soft Skills Your Employees Need In the New World of Work .

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