Case Study #2: Teamwork Stopped Working When A New Colleague Joined

Communication and feedback help teams work better.

Do you sometimes wish to work alone?

Working in a team can be exhausting. It was the case when a new colleague joined my team years ago. The group started to fall apart.

My team needed a new hand. We found Cleo during hiring, who smashed all the case studies and was soon welcomed to our team.

Cleo passed his probation in the blink of an eye. But then it stopped working. The quality dipped. Some deadlines were missed. Something was off.

I asked his supervisor Monica what was going on. She said Cleo became unattentive and sloppy. She was frustrated since she had to check everything after him. I asked Cleo about his cooperation with Monica. He said Monica did not have time to explain the agenda properly, and that was why he was making mistakes. He was apparently annoyed.

The rest of the team felt the tension between Monica and Cleo. Stress was rising. Lunch breaks were no longer easy. Common projects were on standby.

What would you do?

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