Synergy and team cooperation: Understanding the dynamics of teams

A simple and irrefutable fact is that all of us working together can do more than any one of us working alone. Perhaps the greatest hindrance to teamwork is in the limitations of team leadership. When engineers gather to address an issue that crosses several disciplines, leaders of such groups are often selected for their technical and inventive approaches to problem-solving. Rarely are individuals selected for the leadership role based on their understanding and abilities in team dynamics. Understanding the individual and group behaviors are critical for the leader to create and environment for positive synergy to improve team performance.