People Management: To Build A Team Dynamics
We all must have been in a group project where we work with many people with different perspectives and backgrounds. Sometimes all we can do is deal with it, and well it’s work indeed, but to build a work environment, is it all we can do? Dealing with different kinds of people is something we’ve been through, so maybe it’s not that hard to do that. But when it comes to a team, to people you’ll see and work with daily, not just we do have to deal with them, we have to build empathy, establish a relation, and more than just dealing, we have to understand our team. But, why? Doing a project, especially software development, would sometimes lead us to burnout and stress. Imagine you’re stressed out because so many things to do in development, and you still have to deal with some personal issues in your team. I couldn’t imagine worse!
Building team dynamics is as essential as building code, in this case, for software development.
According to Team Technology UK, “Team dynamics are the unconscious, psychological forces that influence the direction of a team’s behavior and performance. They are like undercurrents in the sea, which can carry boats in a different direction to the one they intend to sail.” So, when we build team dynamics, we also create a catalyst for our team to work faster and better.
How is it feel like to have a dynamic team in software development?
I can proudly say my team has its team dynamics during this project. Not just do we code daily, we build chemistry one each other as well. As time goes by, we establish our communication to be even better than before, so every meeting can go quickly yet clearly. Not only those, as our communication gets better, I feel like my team can help each other better as well! And the more we build our team dynamics, the more we can see how much we grow to be better developers and work more productive. Team dynamics truly brought us into a better team!
How do we build team dynamics?
First, Trust the Team. When assigning some work to a person, we have to trust them. Because once the trust is built, the person is more likely to have a sense of responsibility. This sense will lead that person to be a better substantial for the team, both in teamwork and technical skill. In my team, we usually let every individual pick the task they mastered or enjoyed doing. Though sometimes there will be a moment where we can’t avoid tasks we don’t like or master, we always give our hands to each other to help, and hopefully, it can help us build our trust.
Second, Motivate as an Individual. Speaking of motivation is kind of related to the first point. There will be a moment when a person doesn’t trust themselves that they actually can do the things assigned to them. Here’s where a team should motivate each other as an individual. Not only to encourage others, to build team dynamics, we also have to get ourselves encouraged. We always motivate each other not just in words of affirmation, but we also motivate each other by giving some learning material to help us solve the tasks we face now. Not only those, sometimes we motivate each other by let everyone raise their problems and complaints during the scrum meeting, and that’s kinda motivate us because we can see that we are in this together.
Third, Friendly workplace and supportive system. We have to make sure that we are in a good mood and happy while working to deliver our best self. That’s why the importance of a friendly workplace matters to us. Besides, a support system is truly needed in teamwork as we will find a lot of obstacles ahead. In La Casa De PPL, we believe that to be each other’s support system is a must. Everyone gradually raised their problems, and everyone can help to solve them. These things really make us a dynamic team in the project, and a good friend as well outside of the project.
Every team has their own goals to deliver their best product, best software, and some other deliverables. But we have to keep in mind that it’s us, the people who have done that. So, don’t forget to build your team dynamics while building your product!
