What is a team? — A group of high-performing, powerful individuals merging all efforts and interests to get things done and to gain some sort of mutual benefits. It’s like an undeniable, unwritten understanding — or as Reid Hoffman said: “We are allies.”

But is this alliance invincible? What happens when there is bad blood between teammates?

Well, it’s not and that’s the biggest problem.

In a team, each member is autonomous — everyone voluntarily comes together to work towards a shared vision. They don’t know much about each other, which makes the team vulnerable. People start struggling with “letting go”. They hold grudges against each other — and at the end, even the smallest incident turns team members into foes and tears the team apart.

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Forget about working together on a project, the team isn’t even able to sit together in one room once they fall victim to the culture of unforgiveness and workplace toxicity.

Obviously, the critical question is: “Now what?”

Why “Forgiveness” is often a challenge at work

The health of an organization is measured by the health of its team — the way they feel about each other, the way they discuss important matters, and most importantly, the way they unify their skills and interests to meet the organization’s objectives.

But here’s the catch, people don’t trust each other that easy. It’s a kind of human thing.

In the workplace, it all starts with small instances and conflicts not being addressed at the right time. Negative emotions lead to magnified perceptions, giving people a hard time looking at each other into the eye while working together. It encourages disagreement, aggression, lack of commitment, poor communication, hostility, and the desire for revenge. Wondering what’s the final outcome? Teamwork and productivity go out of the room as people don’t trust each other and the scope of forgiveness or talking about the solution becomes more and more difficult as time goes by.

For a minute, people often get skeptical about the power of forgiveness and how exactly does it work in the workplace. As Michael Stone explains — many organizations and executives see forgiveness as an abstract or religious concept that has no place in a workplace environment. He also mentions how people are afraid that encourages the concept of forgiveness could promote a more permissive work culture.

But that’s not true. There are studies that show how forgiveness could improve well-being and productivity in the workplace. It’s an effective coping tool that repairs and restores relationships in a workplace before internal conflicts and resentments cause any harm to the team.

For a project manager, promoting a culture of “forgive and forget” in the team not necessarily mean lowering the bar. What it really means is that you’re creating a workspace where excellence goes hand in hand and the team always prefers to communicate instead of holding grudges towards one another.

Building a culture of forgiveness

According to research by The University of Michigan, leaders need to fulfill some really simple requirements to foster and enable forgiveness.

• They provide meaning and vision

A leader associates the outcomes of the organization with a higher objective that provides personal meaning for each member of the organization. This way, he/she replaces the focus on self (e.g. retribution) and gives organization members an opportunity to move forward.

• They provide legitimacy and support

A Leader understands the fact that when individuals experience legitimacy and support in the workplace, they catch sight of the big picture i.e. effective teamwork and productivity. This way, leaders facilitate excellence and improvement rather than inhibiting them in the midst of conflicts and lost trust.

The research also suggests a few strategies of best organizational practices that facilitate forgiveness and the ability of the organization to move forward. These best practices include:

1. Clarify vision and reinforce concern

A leader must maintain complete visibility of what needs to be achieved and how teams should go about it. Also, he/she should ensure accessibility to those who need clarity or confidence by reinforcing their concerns in time.

Gantt chart, Kanban boards, and project reports in ProofHub allow project managers to keep a bird’s eye view on the project and team progress. It gives a clear view of all the roles and responsibilities and keeps every confusion out of the room.

2. Provide opportunities for interaction and conversation

Verbal expressions, empathetic listening, and human support — these are the practices that contribute towards the smooth and successful operation of a team or an organization. That’s why a leader should always provide opportunities for interaction and conversation.

ProofHub is a platform where team, clients, and stakeholders can collaborate on common topics effortlessly in one centralized place. It eliminates all those lengthy email threads and makes it easier for everyone to loop each other in the conversation whenever needed.

3. Foster an optimistic climate and a sense of hope

A leader should always provide reinforcement and resources for activities that will help teams progress toward meaningful, instrumental objectives without any conflict or confusion. He/she should foster an optimistic work environment where people work with hope to achieve greatness, not regret or resentment.

With ProofHub Timesheets, managers and team get the by-minute details of the time spent on tasks and projects. It brings clarity to project progress and overdue tasks, allowing managers to reallocate resources and provide reinforcements as needed.

4. Celebrate the best of the past, and move on

A leader always focuses on creating positive memories along the way. They celebrate every achievement you’ve made today, recognize and appreciate every individual’s efforts, think about all the challenges they’ve faced, and finally, move on.

In ProofHub, you get features like announcements and email notifications that allow you to celebrate every achievement you and your team have made, together.

In conclusion

A successful team demands effective teamwork, or what we call here at ProofHub — The Power of We. Holding grudges against a colleague or having the feeling of vengeance isn’t going to help you achieve it. All it does is harm people and their productivity at work.

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Research by the Stanford Forgiveness Project shows that the act of forgiveness boosts good mood and elevate optimism. When practiced in the workplace, it creates a team that is more open to learning from the present and showing improvement in the near future — not holding on to what happened in the past. Moreover, the process of forgiveness helps teams to improve skills linked to problem-solving, morality, empathy, and cognitive control of emotions.

So what do you think? Do you believe that forgiveness is the key to successful teamwork? Tell us in the comments!

If you enjoyed this…

Read the other articles:

1. How to make teamwork work for your team?
2. 6 impeccable reasons why teamwork matters!
3. Effective tips on how to improve teamwork at workplace
4. Top 11 Benefits of Teamwork in Workplace
5. 11 Strategies to Improve Teamwork in your Startup

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