Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Improving Team Communication

Q. We have a team environment where people criticize, blame, and judge others. How can we improve this?

A. Dysfunctional behaviors where people (management and employees) criticize, blame, and judge others is not healthy for the staff or for the business. Why and how do these workplace behaviors begin or persist? 

When the organization or a team isn’t achieving the results it wants or what the customers need, there are fundamental root causes. It will take new knowledge that leaders and teams apply to improve this situation. If not, the team and organization will continue to struggle and decline (either slowly or fast) over time. 

A quick intervention is necessary. An organization or “team” full of poor behavior will only infiltrate more bad behaviors.

Clear communication and direction from leadership is necessary. Answer, “what are we trying to accomplish together?” Systems, processes, and healthy, respectful two-way communication are your foundation. People need to work in a healthy work environment. They are also responsible for communicating with respect, with asking good questions, and contributing ideas for accomplishing good work. 

Focus on learning and working well together, not judging, criticizing, or blaming others. If you’re not getting the results you want, look at your work process, your resources and training, and your communication. What do you need to improve together?