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Writer's picturePablo Tellaeche

DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAMS

Updated: Mar 22

Multidisciplinary team achieving success
Multidisciplinary team achieving success
 
Extract

To achieve success in a constantly evolving business environment, you must create an environment conducive to the efficiency and long-term success of the organization. By ensuring effective collaboration with transformational leadership, where trust, healthy and constructive conflict, commitment to decision-making, mutual accountability and focus on collective results are priorities; Harmonious collaboration and high performance can be achieved throughout the organization so that you can meet the challenges of your day and day and thrive.


Contents

 

The Importance of Collaboration and the Role of the Leader in the Integration of Multidisciplinary Teams

Collaboration has always been a catalyst for innovation and progress by bringing together people with different experiences, talents and perspectives. They offer a wealth of ideas and solutions that a single individual or homogeneous group simply could not match. These people work toward a common goal by combining their knowledge and talents in fields such as technology, design, sales, marketing, finance, engineering, and more.


The formation of multidisciplinary teams that achieve a continuous and harmonious flow in business operations requires trained leaders. These leaders play a vital role in guiding the team towards excellence through situational, inspiring and transformative leadership that makes everyone on their team feel recognized, valued and involved in the business project; which implies:

  • Don't Take Things Personally to avoid entering psychological games and power dynamics, especially in the context of family businesses.

  • Active Listening the opinions, interests and concerns of your team and fostering a climate of trust, cooperation and growth.

  • Provide Clear Direction and ensure everyone is aligned around a common purpose from the start.

  • Knowing How to See People's Potential and Help Them be the best version of themselves personally and professionally.

  • Recognize achievements in public and Correct inappropriate behavior in private.

  • Be Flexible to adapt to changes.

  • Trust on the capabilities of your team.

  • Boost creativity and innovation.

  • Be Close without losing authority.


In turn, the leader is responsible for managing events and work meetings with a participatory approach in which they collaborate simultaneously in the same space, integrating physical and digital media to solve problems with a clear and shared vision of the situation. To achieve this, leaders must ensure four key points:

  • Planning: You have a clear objective and prepare in advance.

  • Efficiency: There is a prior agenda of the topics to be discussed and it is followed.

  • Effectiveness: The aim is to resolve problems and not just notify them.

  • Transcendents: A backlog with the agreements, dates and responsible parties is generated.



The Five Dysfunctions: A Challenge for Integration

Unfortunately, Achieving genuineness in teamwork within companies and organizations is often elusive due to the challenges of working with people who have different ways of thinking and expressing themselves.. Patrick Lencioni, in his work"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team", highlights the natural but dangerous obstacles that threaten team harmony and effectiveness, highlighting the importance of effective collaboration as a foundation for achieving success. High Performance throughout the organization and promote success throughout your Business development.


In his analysis,Lencioni reminds us that teams are, ultimately, made up of human beings, not interoperable and interchangeable machines at our convenience; and despite existing and documented processes, tools, standards, guides and good practices, The lack of collaboration between people has historically been the biggest obstacle in the growth of organizations. This lack of collaboration is due to five dysfunctions that must be addressed consecutively to achieve harmonious cooperation.


Absence of Trust

Trust is a fundamental component to form a cohesive and efficient team and involves feeling secure in the good intentions of colleagues and allowing mutual vulnerability. The lack of these elements causes waste of time and energy in controlling behavior, apathy and reluctance to assume risks and responsibilities, which keeps morale low and encourages staff turnover (silent or announced).


Stephen M. R. Covey, in his work“The speed of trust”, maintains that trust is the foundation on which solid and productive relationships are built, both in the professional and personal spheres and relates it to two key components:

  • The credibility, composed of integrity in deeds and words, the intention behind the actions, the capabilities of the person, and the results and history of success in delivering results, and,

  • Behavior, which is guided by values, norms and practices that promote or hinder initiative, positive interaction, creativity, integrity and collaboration.


Leaders are those who model these elements and influence (directly or indirectly) their collaborators to adopt them in their daily work. Therefore, they must be the first to demonstrate their own vulnerability and create an environment where it is not punished.


Fear of Conflict

Lack of trust leads to fear of conflict, hindering the open and passionate discussions required for the growth of lasting relationships. Contrary to the belief that conflict wastes time, healthy conflict saves time by addressing problems directly and completely. Unfortunately, this is often avoided, especially in hierarchical work environments to avoid resentment, causing tension and repeating unresolved problems.


At this point, the leader must anticipate potential conflict and promote healthy conflict by allowing and encouraging open, passionate and informed discussions to facilitate the decision-making process and conflict resolution by addressing disagreements in a constructive (win-win), assertive (with data) and empathetic manner (showing willingness and openness to negotiate). Al Switzler, in his work “crucial conversations'', addresses the importance of effective communication and conflict management through the principles of effective dialogue: focus on what you really want, observe the content and perceive the atmosphere, seek security during the conversation, and move on to action. positive and transformative way.


Recognition that high-stakes discussions can come as unpleasant surprises is relevant. Preparation and care in handling these situations are crucial to avoid negative outcomes, such as violence or silence. The importance of establishing trust and security at the beginning of the conflict and clarifying the conclusions at the end to avoid confusion opens the door to decision-making and actions that promote the true achievement of results.


Lack of Compromise

The absence of healthy conflicts results in a lack of commitment since there is no consensus on decision-making, in which the opinions of all participants are often not taken into account, and their concerns are not addressed and resolved, which ultimately affects the effectiveness and cohesion of the team and the organization in general.


The leader must guide the establishment of a common purpose that is clear, challenging, meaningful and accepted by all so that team members know what their role and importance are, and can apply standards according to that purpose. The organization must value, recognize and celebrate the contributions of members to foster personal satisfaction, sense of belonging and commitment; At the same time, the organization must identify, address and correct inappropriate behavior to foster a positive work environment.


In establishing these commitments we must seek to specify exactly the actions that will lead to the results you have in mind, and assign them to a specific person at a specific time to avoid ambiguity, ensuring that the time and effort invested in decision-making translates into concrete and successful actions.


Evasion of Responsibilities

The lack of clear and unequivocal commitment causes a low level of accountability that must be resolved by holding each other accountable, strengthening relationships and maintaining high expectations. Peer pressure becomes an effective means of motivating improvement and reducing the need for bureaucracy in the business performance management.


The leader must allow the same team to serve as the primary accountability mechanism with a culture of open feedback and continuous learning that takes into consideration strengths, weaknesses, successes and errors for the sharing of responsibilities, and the development of leadership among members; thus promoting mutual support, an environment where hard work is combined with fun and well-being in a balanced and positive dynamic.


Jim Collins, in his work“From good to great”, describes how successful companies follow a "circle of virtue," where open feedback, continuous learning and shared development contribute to a strong and cohesive organizational culture and to a positive cycle of sustained success that allows a team to evolve from good to great.


Lack of Attention to Results

The inability to hold each other accountable creates an environment where individual and/or departmental needs take precedence over the team's collective goals. Is essential to maintain a constant focus on defined collective objectives as a lack of attention to results can lead the team to drift, focusing on status and business politics rather than meaningful goals.


The leader keeps the team focused on consistently producing meaningful results, successfully achieving their goals and objectives, seeing mistakes not as failures but as valuable opportunities to learn and improve. Flexibility and adaptability are key to overcoming challenges that may arise over time.



Conclusion: Developing Discipline and Perseverance

Although this approach seems simple in theory, in practice, achieving these levels of collaboration requires discipline and perseverance, but the long-term benefits in terms of efficiency, creativity and job satisfaction are significant. Before addressing each dysfunction individually, it is crucial to evaluate the equipment and identify opportunities for improvement.


In the pursuit of excellence, effective collaboration is key. Maintaining transformative leadership that overcomes dysfunctions with discipline and perseverance is essential to creating efficient and cohesive multidisciplinary teams. By adopting this approach, organizations not only improve their processes but also prepare to meet the dynamic challenges of the current and future business environment.


The future belongs to those teams that not only face challenges, but transform them into opportunities. In every challenge and every achievement, the collaboration revolution is underway. Multidisciplinary teams, guided by transformational leaders, are writing new success stories. Remember that effective collaboration is not just a goal, it is the path that defines the journey to lasting success.


Go Team!


 

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About Pablo Tellaeche (Author):

Owner and main consultant of TACs Consultores, Speaker and University Professor; seeks to bring a true and positive Lean Culture and Digital Transformation to every company with which he has the pleasure of collaborating.

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