Team Building Question:

A team is full of animosity, pretended interpersonal relationship, fear of bosses, mistrust and endless infighting what can I do as a team building facilitator?

The Team Doc Says:

Well, youve got your work cut out for you. Plan on this being a long term intervention. You can bet the team didnt get this way overnight and there is more than likely some deep seated history and company cultural issues that have helped them get into this mess.

Id start with a survey to determine some of the underlying issues that are the cause of all the discord on this team. Conduct this survey at the team level and then once your results are compiled, use that data to formulate additional questions to ask at the individual team member level. Meet with each team member one on one to further dig into the root cause of the team building problem.

Then start from scratch. Just like kicking off a new team. Make sure you identify the company sponsor someone at the leadership level who takes responsibility for this team and that you have the scope and boundaries for the team identified. If possible, identify the teams stakeholders before you move forward also.

Next youll want to go through the team chartering process. Identify mission, values, goals and operating procedures and autonomy level for the team. If the sponsor is not involved, make sure you get some buy in with him / her along the way.

Thats all there is to it! Seriously though, this is going to take you a long time of intense work with this team. Plan on it. Youve got to take them back to step one in the team building process to the forming stage and start anew. And along the way youll need to overcome the obstacles that have caused them to get to this point.

Let me know your progress as you go along. You can send me a message via the Team Doc form by clicking on the link in the right hand column or by leaving a comment right here on my blog.

Denise O'Berry

With more than two decades of operational and management experience, Denise O'Berry has developed a sharp eye for how businesses get bloated with inefficiencies, cross-purposes and miscommunication -- and how they can retool for a sleeker, smoother, strategically focused organization.

An entrepreneur who quickly built her own successful consulting business, she helps other small business owners set priorities, take action to grow their business and create the balance they want between life and work. Her clients have ranged from telecommunications giants like Verizon to Mom-and-Pop retail shops with a primary focus on those having 10 or fewer employees and up to $2.5 million in annual sales.

Denise frequently speaks to professional organizations, is the author of three booklets, and several "how-to" manuals. She writes a weekly small business column, hosts an online small business owners forum and is called upon regularly by publications such as Entrepreneur, Bank Rate Small Business, Florida Trend, Inc., various newspapers, radio and television to provide expert comments on small business issues.