***Things That Cause Failure

No Trust Between Team Members

When team members don't trust each other or are suspicious of each other, the end result is a team that is not working together. This usually means they are stand offish and not helping each other. It also can be noticed that they do not support each other.

Unproductive Meetings

Have you ever sat in a meeting for an hour or two and when you leave you realize you don't have any new information. Or there was no interaction going on in the meeting at all. Perhaps there are too many meetings or too little. If they are once a week, they need to be short. Once a month an hour and a half. People have short attention spans. And after the meetings it should be checked with individuals if they got the information.

Poor Role Clarity

Team member must know their roles. It is a must in a team situation. When people do not know their roles it can lead to conflict and confusion on tasks. For a small example if we are in a room and there are 3 doors and I say close the door, which door? It can mess up that easily. If reports are to be done at the end of the day, who is to do the report, and when they are out who else does the report? Roles need to be defined.

Losing Focus of Objectives

What are the goals of the team together and individually. If you don't know where you are heading, how can you get there? At times a team fails because the goals are unclear to the team members. How do those goals relate to each member of the team?

Poor Time Management

Things need to get done on time. This should be planned out with completion dates all along the way. Procrastination doesn't really work. Having activities completed early allows a checking of the material with perhaps additions.

No Evident Belief in Team -

This is a big one and I left it for last. If the coach or leader does not believe the team can do it, does not believe the team is the best team, does not trust the team, does not encourage and cheer the team on ---- IT WILL FAIL.