How To Manage Employees Who Are Not Part Of The Team

Does your team spirit suffer from a clash of personalities? Find out how to improve the teamwork culture in your organisation.

Teamwork is a valuable asset in any organisation. When a positive team spirit is in place, productivity rates soar as employees are able to learn new skills from each other. Personnel are also happier when there is a good atmosphere amongst their peers. But what is the recipe for creating the perfect team in your company? This is not an easy question to answer. Teams are made up of individuals and not every employee is a natural team player. Managers often struggle to deal with members of the team who do not fit in.

Identifying The Problem Characters

The first step in creating the ideal team is to identify if and where any problem behaviour exists. As a manager, you must keep a close eye on your employees and be aware of anyone who exhibits undesirable characteristics. This might be someone who blames others for their mistakes and is never able to take responsibility for their own actions. Alternatively, it might be someone who is particularly argumentative or is not able to communicate effectively.

Speak To Your Team

An open door policy is vital when you’re trying to create a positive team atmosphere. Allow and encourage your existing team members to offer you feedback on their experiences within the department. This shouldn’t be seen as an opportunity to have a moan but for your employees to provide genuine proof and documentation of how operations are currently working within the organisation.

Reminder Of Responsibilities

Where a problem does exist with a particular individual, it would be wise to organise an initial informal meeting to remind them of their responsibilities as a team player. It’s a good idea to give an overview of what the company requires from the department as a whole and then outline the objectives of each person within it. This might include the ability to meet deadlines and the best outcome for a specific project or daily set of tasks. Many managers like to use the ‘praise sandwich’ technique of offering a positive comment about the work of the employee, then follow up with some issues that need working on and finish up with another piece of encouragement.

Bring The Best Out Of An Employee

There are many excellent and highly skilled workers who are not naturally adept at interacting with the rest of their team. This does not always mean that they have no place within your organisation. Whilst casualties are sometimes a likely outcome if a team member is particularly disruptive, often there may be a better way to bring the best out of an employee that doesn’t fit in. Team building events are a fantastic opportunity to bond and learn more about your staff and the leadership figures in your organisation. The focus is not on getting employees to toe the line. Instead, the exercises that take place during an event are designed to allow managers and employees to understand each other better and improve upon their existing working relationships. For instance, you may discover that an individual is best placed to work on separate tasks such as data gathering, which they can share with the rest of the team. Team building allows managers to be creative with finding the best way for their teams to operate.

A head-in-the-sand approach is not the best way for your organisation to move forward. If you sense that your team could become a stronger operational unit, then invest some time and effort into making it happen.

Charlie Berry is the Event Director for London based Zing Events, a corporate event company that delivers innovative and creative team building activities.