Proactive Planning

Being a good team manager is a fundamental aspect because it defines the relevance of prosperity in the organization. During the meeting on matters associated with building self-directed and high-performing teams, some managers have succeeded in this task, while others have failed. The rationale for the latter is the lack of inter-team communication, collaboration, help from managers and trust among team members. Therefore, this paper analyzes in detail characteristics that lead to a failure and success of building self-directed and high-performing teams. Furthermore, recommendations are offered to help team managers on how to incorporate the right steps to generate significant results.

Difficulties in Establishing Self-Directed, High-Performing Teams

Difficulties that managers may be going through while trying to establish self-directed and high-performing teams include the lack of inter-team communication, collaboration, help from managers and trust among team members. The absence of collaboration within a team is a hindrance to its prosperity because there is misunderstanding among members. In cases whereby inter-team interaction fails, it means that team members cannot differentiate what needs to be done and what should be left out of account. The outcome of the lack of interaction is that work will not be attained (Miller, 2009). When managers fail to support team members, the team will collapse because they are not guided on what needs to be done and in what manner for significant results to be attained. Such a circumstance derails the effectiveness of the team and leads to its collapse. Lastly, the absence of trust also hinders the proper initiation of the team because knowing members perceive that others are aware of what they are doing.  Fundamentally, the outcome is often evident in case of a failure in business operations, because members do not agree on the same objective (Limbley, 2009).

Characteristics of Successful Teams

As for the establishment of successful self-directed and high-performance teams, a group has to have characteristics of motivation to participate, joint responsibility, interdependence, common objective, and empowerment. Motivation is significant because it assures each member in the team that his or her efforts are recognized based on how the one is encouraged and rewarded. When teams follow a joint responsibility approach, successful results are bound to be attained (Miller, 2009). The rationale is the fact that each member is aware of his or her task; hence, everything is done in the right manner to contribute towards the attainment of the set objective. Interdependence is another condition needed to ensure that the team will reach significant results, because its members trust each other and work as a team because they believe each employee will deliver his or her assigned task on time and effectively. A common objective is another necessity that defines a prospering team. It indicates that each member is aware of what he or she is meant to contribute to attain the group’s objective. Thus, this characteristic often generates significant results within organizations (Limbley, 2009). Another feature is the empowerment of a team, which apparently indicates that those involved can proceed with the project at hand because they are aware of what they are required to undertake.

Recommendations for Success

For success to be attained, members of the team have to understand what is a common objective, what strategies have to be incorporated and communication to be utilized. Each employee has to be accountable for his or her task. Being aware of the objective of the team assures members that what they are doing is the right thing because they are aware of the steps that need to be put into consideration to attain their goal. Educating and training team members on how to incorporate that proposed strategies is a fundamental requirement because they are made aware of how they are supposed to undertake their task with ease and professionalism for a successful outcome (Miller, 2009).

Communication is another important aspect because it assures members that they are on the right track. Furthermore, it permits persons in the team to consult on areas that they do not understand for clarification. Hence, it is an indication that communication is necessary to attain significant results. Determining responsibilities of each member during team meetings ensures that things are done well and with ease because everything has been explained to them. Significantly, the recommendations mentioned above need to be followed because they assure users of the importance of attaining set objectives (Horine, 2012).

A Plan for Struggling Managers

For managers to improve negotiation and conflict resolution skills effectively, they need to focus on the following aspects:

• Communicating with team members or employees;
• Teaching and training employees on how to improve negotiation and conflict resolution skills;
• Drafting strategies that can be followed to fully comprehend the relevance of conflict resolution skills and how to improve negotiation approaches;
• Reviewing the proposed approach to ensure that everything is on the right track;
• Implementing recommended strategies to attain positive results in the area of improving negotiation and conflict resolution skills.

Conclusion

Establishing self-directed and high-performing teams is not an easy task for managers. The rationale is the fact that some teams attain significant results, and others often end up failing. In the first case, the reason is that team members are motivated to participate, as well as have joint responsibility, interdependence, common objective and empowerment. On the other hand, some teams fail to be self-directed and high-performing due to the lack of inter-team communication, collaboration, help from the managers and trust among team members. Thus, it is appropriate for managers to undertake the right steps within their teams to assure that positive results are achieved. Some of the proposed strategies that need to be utilized are focus on communication, as well as teaching and training members on how to undertake a task in the right way for positive results.