One phenomenon that unfortunately occurs quite frequently in teams is situations in which team members fall back into emotional, simple and undifferentiated patterns of behavior. Group dynamics call this “regression”.
Examples:
1️⃣ Withdrawal: Individual group members withdraw and avoid contact with others. This can lead to important information not being exchanged and cooperation being hindered.
2️⃣ Dependence on a leader: Group members leave all decisions and responsibilities to a single person and behave passively and dependently. This can lead to the group not being able to develop its full potential and the leader being overwhelmed.
3️⃣ Conflicts and power struggles: Group members get into conflicts and power struggles that are driven by emotional reactions rather than objective arguments. This can lead to negative group dynamics and make collaboration more difficult.
4️⃣ Groupthink: Group members adapt their opinions and behavior to the majority in order to belong and be accepted. This can lead to important critical voices not being heard and poor decisions being made.
5️⃣ Excessive optimism or pessimism: Group members tend to be either overly optimistic or pessimistic, which can lead to a distorted perception of reality. This can lead to the group not planning and making decisions realistically.
Regressions in teams can lead to conflicts, a lack of productivity and negative group dynamics. As team coaches, we try to recognize regressions at an early stage and intervene in a targeted manner in order to promote positive group development.
We will explain how we do this in another article.