You're facing conflicting work styles within your team. How can you bridge the gap and foster collaboration?

As a Software Development Engineer, I’ve often encountered varying approaches to coding, problem-solving, and project management within a team. For instance, some team members might prefer agile methodologies, while others lean towards waterfall. Acknowledging and respecting these differences is crucial. I start by conducting a meeting where everyone can share their preferred working styles and past experiences. This helps in understanding where each team member is coming from and sets the stage for finding a middle ground.

In the team, there are many skill conflicts. For example, if one person can do it, why can't I? At some phases, determined newbies always want to do everything. I was like that too. However, this can lead to conflict within the team and slow down learning. Slow learning is good, but taking on all the work ourselves is very stressful.The leader should explain this to colleagues and distribute work by understanding each person's strengths. This approach can be very helpful. Additionally, motivating team members to help each other and making them understand that helping each other can increase knowledge and understanding, which will skyrocket.

When I had joined as a team leader, in my team I had to maintain synergy for all people and myself. What I have found helpful is, once we understand the differences and unique style each person brings to the table, we can use it for teams advantage. By encouraging knowledge sharing, using different approaches for different types of work fostering strong work relationships, applauding for great work done, different work styles will actually be great benefit for the team.

In one of my projects, we had a diverse team working on a tight deadline. We set clear, common objectives that everyone could rally behind, such as delivering a critical feature by a specific date. By focusing on shared goals rather than individual methods, we aligned our efforts and minimized friction. I used tools like Jira to track progress and ensure everyone was on the same page regarding our milestones.

Despite varied working styles, common goals can unite a team like no other. I have experienced if a common goal is there, people with different approach as well can contribute and achieve the common goal making it as a team's success.

In one of my precious companies, there were people from different backgrounds. Sometimes, open and honest communication could be an issue. My team leader used to have one on one regular feedback sessions with team members as well as team meetings and he used to understand the problems of each and every team member. Then he would have feedback sessions of two people together to bridge the gap. After a while, team communication improved and people felt comfortable sharing their opinions as they felt heard and understood.

Transparent communication is key. I encourage open discussions during daily stand-ups or weekly meetings. For example, during a sprint, if a particular approach isn't working, I foster an environment where team members feel comfortable voicing their concerns and suggesting alternatives. I also use collaboration tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams for continuous dialogue.

Every team member has unique strengths. I make it a point to identify these strengths early on by reviewing past projects or conducting technical assessments. Then, I assign tasks that play to these strengths. For instance, if someone excels at front-end development, they’ll focus on UI components, while another team member might handle backend integration.

In my team, we had people with different strengths as does every team. As a team lead, I used to divide work load and tasks according to everyone's strong skillset. What this did was, it increased productivity like no other. Also, it increased the morale of the person working on the task as it used to be completed very much within the timeframe, efficiently. By leveraging individual strengths , we can increase productivity by tenfolds.

Flexibility in processes can help accommodate different work styles. In one project, we allowed team members to choose their preferred development tools or frameworks, provided they adhered to the overarching project guidelines. This flexibility improved job satisfaction and productivity.

A great way to foster understanding is to complete a personality assessment and then review and discuss personality types as a team. Most of these types of assessments will discuss how to communicate with and work with each personality type. It's an informative and fun way to bring your team together and foster more understanding and collaboration.

Prepárate para el error, en ocasiones no todo saldra como se planeo, habrá quien no es se adecuada al estilo del equipo y/o de la empresa y que puede boicotear el trabajo en equipo, por ello y aunque lo hayas intentado aveces es importante dejar ir aquellos que no están dispuestos a cambiar.