You may or may not be responsible for a high level of tension among your team, but you will surely be blamed for it if it is unacceptably high to your team members. Managing the tension level in your team is a balancing act that requires finesse and constant awareness on your part. If the tension level is too high, the team will be focused more on that tension, its causes, ways to fix it, new job potentials, etc., than on doing their work. If the tension level is too low, however, team members may be happy but performance may be lackadaisical. There is a “sweet spot” for tension level that you can think of “enthusiastic engagement,” where people are challenged and productive while also being fully engaged with their jobs.
Several sets of conditions may affect the tension level of your group. First, consider any unresolved conflicts, either between team members or between the team and yourself. If these are festering, they will need to be addressed straightforwardly and resolved satisfactorily in order for the tension level to be reduced. Second, look at your own behavior. If you are overly critical of people, fail to pass information along to your team members, or in some other way create obstacles for people that get in the way of their performing their jobs, then you need to work on fixing these problems. Finally, consider the organizational environment. If layoffs are threatened, for example, tension level will be high. It will be up to you to do the best you can to mitigate the effects of tension within the organization.
If the high tension level in your team is caused by organizational policies beyond your control, you could look at assuring your team that you will keep them informed as things change. Ultimately, successful management comes down to communication. Even if you can’t change the things around you, you can change the way you communicate about them to your team.