Barriers to an Innovative Team Culture

Name: Barriers to an Innovative Team Culture
Author: Donna Van Dusen

Learn how to overcome barriers to team innovation.

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 3 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

(soft music) Even those who have the best intentions and superb insight may not recognize behaviors that stifle innovation. Being able to identify those barriers can help leaders pick up on subtle cues and discover assumptions that stifle innovation and creativity. In these lessons, you will learn about the major barriers that you and your team may encounter when trying to create an innovative team culture. Generally, people from individualistic cultures prioritize individuals over groups often without being aware that they're doing so. Culture tends to be invisible and although team leaders and members have good intentions and want to be team players, they all may contribute to team dynamics that value individual behavior over group behavior. Prioritizing individual performance over team performance, stifles innovation and creativity. But what prompts teams to focus too much on individuals? For starters, people want to be successful. The drive for success can be diminished by a fear of failure and reducing the willingness to take risks. Team members who are afraid to share ideas can create a team dynamic that's undercut by this fear. If ideas that seem too radical are dismissed, the willingness to contribute fades, this can possibly create a dynamic where it's the norm to keep your ideas to yourself. Also, people have a need to project and maintain a positive image of themselves. When that image is threatened, they attempt to save face. Although that's a natural response to perceived threats, having too much concern for how you appear to others shifts the focus from the team to yourself. Also team members who feel threatened, may seek support from individual team members instead of addressing the issue with the entire team. People also want to be recognized for their accomplishments and contributions. When it looks like individual contributions count more than group accomplishments, unhealthy in-group competition can occur and decrease morale. For example, if outspoken team members get more recognition for their contributions than their quieter teammates, a norm may develop. Where the number of contributions is valued more than the quality of the contributions. When patterns of behavior form over time and create norms that value individual accomplishment more than team accomplishment, individuals tend to focus on themselves by defending their own actions. They lose their feelings of team membership. While leaders are recommended to be sensitive to the individual needs of their team members becoming too involved might make it look like they're playing favorites, reducing the overall sense of team cohesion. Team leaders may also want to pay attention to their team members' emotional and psychological wellbeing. Expressing emotions in a business setting is often viewed as a negative behavior that interferes with accomplishing a task and achieving a goal. Worse, expressing emotions might be considered a weakness. Concern for the emotional and psychological wellbeing of team members may be perceived as beyond the scope of business. Also, you and your team may not feel comfortable with emotional expression or feel capable of dealing with emotionally charged issues. If a pattern of communication emerges in which psychological needs are discounted and emotional expression is suppressed or ignored, an unspoken rule prohibiting communication about feelings and psychological needs might crop up. To save face, you or your team might avoid discussing any topics that are emotionally charged and introduce needs related to your individual wellbeing.

Intermediate Provider : Donna Van Dusen 3 Lessons · 7m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

It’s important to look out for certain behaviors and habits among your team that can potentially disrupt an innovative team culture. In these lessons, we’ll look at taking a personalized approach to innovation, along with the benefits of disrupting open communication.

What You'll Learn

Identify behaviors and habits among team members that can disrupt an innovative team culture
Learn how a team culture can be affected by focusing on individuals
Foster an innovative, open team environment
Discover how to best work with introverts and extroverts
Recognize the benefits of disrupting open communication

Key Takeaways

Certain behaviors and habits among team members can potentially disrupt an innovative team culture.
Taking a personalized approach to innovation is part of building an innovative team.
A team culture can be affected by focusing on individuals.
Working effectively with both introverts and extroverts supports an innovative, open team environment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how a team culture can be affected by focusing on individuals, how to foster an innovative and open team environment, and how to best work with introverts and extroverts.

What topics does this course cover?

The course covers taking a personal approach to innovation, encouraging behaviors that disrupt open communication, and includes a Test Your Knowledge section.

What skills does this course help develop?

It helps develop skills in Innovation, Team Building, Disruptive Innovation, Innovation Management, Organizational Culture Change, and Team Processes.

Why is it important to watch for certain team behaviors?

Because certain behaviors and habits among your team can potentially disrupt an innovative team culture.