Team dynamics is an essential part of an enterprise’s success. However, conflict among team members can breed hostility and decrease productivity. A great way to reduce this hostility is by implementing structures that help to avoid it. One of these structures is approval workflows of any kind.

This article will explore how automated approval workflows benefit team dynamics and create a more collaborative workplace.

How Does Team Hostility Come Into Play?

Before offering any solutions, it is important to recognize team hostility and how it can negatively impact your team.

• Interpersonal Conflicts: Disagreements that escalate into personal conflicts.
• Poor Communication: Misunderstandings and lack of information sharing.
• Reduced Collaboration: Team members working in silos rather than collaboratively.

The consequences of team hostility include decreased morale, higher turnover rates, and ultimately, diminished performance. Addressing these issues requires proactive strategies, and approval workflows can play a significant role.

Some of the consequences of team hostility are poor performance, decreased morale within the team, and as a result of these two, high turnover rates. Approval workflows can be a proactive strategy for mitigating these negative outcomes. 

The Cost of Team Hostility

According to a Harvard Business Review study, workplace hostility and conflict can lead to an average cost of $359 billion lost annually in the U.S. alone. This is a result of diminished performance, productivity, and morale.

The Institute of Corporate Productivity also highlighted that teams that encounter increased levels of hostility are 50% less collaborative, and productive and experience an increase in turnover by 25% compared to teams with healthy dynamics. Ultimately, this affects the enterprise’s bottom line and causes organizational recruitment expenses to increase rapidly and heavily.

In the Nigerian workforce, where retaining skilled professionals is increasingly daunting, addressing team hostility is critical for maintaining operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

What Are Approval Workflows?

They are structured processes that detail and organize the steps required for approval within an organization. Approval workflows show who is responsible for a particular task. It also itemizes the sequence of approvals and timelines for each stage of approval.

By implementing clear approval workflows, your enterprise can streamline operations better, reduce misunderstanding and, ultimately avoid team hostility.

Duplo takes financial approval workflows a step further by ensuring that your team can automate it once and for all in less than 30 minutes. This way, payments don’t get delayed or go unnoticed. With Duplo’s Approval workflows, your team can get notified or notify you about any pending payments on the Duplo software. 

Benefits of Automated Approval Workflows

1. Clarity and Transparency: Clearly defined workflows ensure everyone knows their roles and responsibilities. When team members understand who needs to approve what and the process involved, it reduces confusion and minimizes friction.
2. Enhanced Accountability: Automated approval workflows assign specific individuals to various stages of the decision-making process. This fosters a sense of ownership among team members, making them more likely to respect others’ time and schedules.
3. Streamlined Communication: An automated approval process reduces unnecessary and tensioned communication. Team members’ time is freed up to discuss, ideate, seek feedback, and engage in other meaningful conversations thus mitigating misunderstandings.
4. Reduced Bottlenecks: By automating the approval process, organizations can identify potential bottlenecks and address them proactively. This reduces frustration and keeps payments processed without delay.

Implementing Automated Approval Workflows to Reduce Hostility

1. Create a Road Map Of Your Processes

Mapping out your existing process is an unskippable step on the road to efficiency with automated approval workflows. By doing this, you easily identify bottlenecks and where conflicts arise in the existing process. It is also important to discuss with team members to understand their experience with the current process and make them an essential part of the changes to be implemented from the beginning.

For example: If your marketing team often faces delays kickstarting campaigns due to payment delays, conduct a sync to map the existing approval process, highlighting pain points and areas of improvement.

2. Define Roles and Responsibilities

Once your existing process has been identified, itemize each stage of the approval workflow and create defined roles and responsibilities for each team member. Make sure that your team becomes familiar with the responsibilities of their fellow team members to avoid any additional friction or delays.

For example: In your project team, you should assign roles such as project manager, financial analyst, and marketing lead, clearly outlining their responsibilities in the approval workflow.

3. Utilize Technology

Deploying financial operations technology like Duplo that automates approval workflows can improve your team’s efficiency. Duplo can automate notifications, track progress, and provide visibility into the approval status. 

For example: Implementing a tool like Duplo that automatically routes payment requests to the appropriate approvers can reduce delays and keep everyone informed about the status of their requests.

4. Set Clear Timelines

Clear timelines need to be stipulated for each stage of the approval process. This is crucial in avoiding misunderstandings. When using automated software like Duplo, both the approver and the team member who puts in the request are notified when the approval window is closing so that payments can be completed on schedule. 

Example: To close out a payment of high consequence, set a timeline for each approval stage, ensuring that the key decision-makers have sufficient time to provide their input without causing delays.

6. Provide Training

Equip your team with the skills needed to navigate automated approval workflows effectively. This investment in skill development can help team members manage disagreements constructively. If you deploy a finance operation software like Duplo, ensure the team is trained on how to use the platform effectively to avoid further hostility or confusion.

7. Gather Feedback and Iterate

After implementing automated approval workflows, regularly gather feedback from your team on their effectiveness. Assess whether the workflows are reducing hostility and improving collaboration. Be open to making adjustments based on team input.

Case Study: How A Nigerian Agriculture Company Used Duplo’s Approval Workflows to Reduce Delays and Team Hostility

To illustrate the impact of approval workflows on team dynamics, consider the experience of Rena Agric, an Agriculture company in Nigeria.

Initial Challenges

Before Duplo, they managed approval within the team in this way:

•  Accountant A and B send payment information to their line manager via WhatsApp or email.
• The line manager goes through all the information when he can
• Both accountants wait until their line manager can review and approve all the payment details.

This workflow prevented Rena Agric from completing crucial payments in time and impacted their business and relationships with their vendors. Delays in approval processes also led to frustration, and team members frequently pointed fingers at one another for missed deadlines.

Implementation of Approval Workflows

The leadership decided to implement structured approval workflows. They mapped out defined roles and introduced Duplo’s software for tracking progress.

Here is how it now works:

• Each accountant on the Rena Agric team is given specific access based on their payment thresholds
• Management is notified about approval requests and payouts made on the Duplo dashboard via email
• Payouts are seamlessly completed according to the approval policies that have been set on Duplo

Results

1. Improved Clarity: Team members now understand their roles and the sequence of approvals, leading to fewer misunderstandings.
2. Enhanced Collaboration: Regular check-ins facilitate open communication, allowing teams to address concerns before they escalate.
3. Reduced Friction: By establishing accountability, team members began to respect each other’s contributions, leading to a more harmonious work environment.

Conclusion

Reducing team hostility is essential for a productive and collaborative workplace. By implementing automated approval workflows, organizations can promote clarity, accountability, and communication. This proactive approach not only minimizes conflicts but also enhances overall team performance.

Embracing these strategies can lead to a more harmonious work environment and ultimately drive organizational success.

To experience seamless financial operations and a less hostile work environment, get started with Duplo today.

References

• “The High Cost of Conflict in the Workplace.” Harvard Business Review.
• “Workplace Conflict and How to Resolve It.” Institute for Corporate Productivity.