Managing Your Team (Part 2) - Encouraging Reluctant Team Members

The next few articles will look at different traits and characteristics that individuals bring into the team environment. For those that are less than productive, they must be dealt with as soon as possible.

Before we go much further, I agree that the overall responsibility lies with the team leader BUT as team members we all have a duty of care, we all carry the responsibility to succeed.

No brainer, but I'll ask it anyway - do you want your team to fail or be successful?

Quick point about the team leader. Although the clues and tips in these articles are aimed at how the team leader can act in a positive way, if you recognise a given trait in yourself, recognise that there is something that can be done positively to help improve the productivity of the team.

Let's meet the first of these characters - The Reluctant Team Member

Even just one can significantly impact the team dynamic, cause distraction and delay progress.

I cannot over emphasise that if any other team member discounts or under values the inputs a reluctant team member makes, the team leader runs a huge risk of increasing the reluctance, not minimising it.

Why is an individual team member struggling, reluctant to participate? Can we determine the root cause(s)?

Does he or she actually believe they are reluctant, maybe not!

"Listen when I have something to contribute, I will."

Remember, we don't all have the same values and these values can drive our beliefs and actions. Also we are not talking about rights and wrongs here, just differences.

Also, in the context of being a team player, we may have differing needs...

  • I normally work on my own, so I'm not comfortable in a team setting
  • I need to understand why I am here, what's my role?
  • I'm not comfortable speaking in a group
  • I'm not as extroverted as some of the others
  • I'm happy to participate but not to take the initiative

    • So, the issue is not that we can be different with different needs. The problems arise when either as team leaders or team members we do not encourage the so-called reluctant team members to participate more (and, perhaps encourage the more extrovert of us, to listen more - see part 3, coming next).

    What Can The Team Leader Do Constructively?

  • In our job role, we all have clearly defined and measurable objectives (hopefully). If the 'reluctant' team member is part of a project team, it may be possible to allocate specific project tasks to individual members much in the same way, with each assignment being measurable, timed and reported back to the team.
  • Delegate don't dump. Make sure the team member is ready and able. Prepare to succeed, not fail!
  • Maximise strengths, eliminate or, at least, minimize weaknesses. Through individual job role appraisals and team feedback, there should be enough data to formulate an effective training needs analysis, through which team related opportunities can be identified.
  • The use of problem solving/decision making tools such as brainstorming are a very effective way of involving the reluctant participant as long as the rules are followed correctly. For an example of conducting a successful brainstorming session see article: How To Conduct a Successful Brainstorming Session ID: 83873
  • As confidence grows, as involvement increases, encourage even more participation by asking the erstwhile 'reluctant' team member directly, in the team setting, for their opinion or ideas.

    • The next article will look at Team Members Who Dominate

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