It is easy to compare team members to cogs of a machine, but in real life situations, not all these ‘cogs’ get along well. People from different backgrounds make for different personalities and these personalities can clash…a scenario that tends to spoil the working atmosphere.
To make sure there is a good working relationship between team members there are some ice breakers that can help the cause along. Team discussions can help and so can tools such as Johari. The tool helps map personalities with a fixed list of adjectives.
Each individual can map his own personality and others can map the characteristics they see in that person as well. While seemingly simplistic, the tool tells us a lot about how others see us along with giving team members some feedback about them as well. It can be a tool for self realization, and one that can help people gauge how to improve their outlook as well as better understand colleagues.
