TEAM LEADERSHIP Flashcards
Team Leadership
• A lot of leadership material focus on one-to-one interaction
• Team leadership focuses on the unique aspect of leading in a team
• Move into functional perspective of leadership
More applied than theoretical
More functional
team leadership & culture + ethics leadership are more of applied leaderships rather than theories
Historical Perspective of Team Leadership
Humanism: having trust,being ethical, have compassion, participating as a collective whole
Ilgen, Hollenbeck Johnson & Jundt (2005)
• Focus on team variables
• Role of affective, behavioural, and cognitive processes in team success
• Team performance and viability
• Role of mediating processes such as :
• Trusting, bonding, planning, adapting, structuring, and learning
More cognitive compared to interpersonal
How to decide who is own your team, who can do something and who cannot → strength and weakness of each person
what is the cognitive component in
e.g. how do u think abt the development of the team as a unit?
• Function of leadership in teams
• Focus on leader-team interactions
• Focus on process by which teams develop critical capabilities
• Role of leadership to ensure team success
• Distributed leadership = team leadership capacity
More on the team dynamics than individual ability
shared leadership
Team Leadership Model
• Model provides leader or designated team member with a mental road map to help
• Diagnose team problems, and
• Take appropriate action to correct team problems
u may have good individual players but when they come tgt as a team, they may not be able to function well.
so, as a leader, how do you help them work tgt as a team & still producing efficiency & effectiveness?
• Effective team performance begins with leader’s mental model of the situation
• Mental model reflects:
• Components of the problem
• Environmental and organisational contingencies
• A model of decision making for team, not whole organisation
i.e. finding out how culture plays a role in the way the team work tgt as a unit
- as a leader, u need to find out which environment works best for ur team to perform well.
Hill’s Model for Team Leadership
• Based on a functional model for leadership action and decision (Zaccaro et. al., 2001)
this team leadership model gives central importance to team leadership capacity in achieving team effectiveness.
leadership here refers to team leadership capacity.
external here refers to the organization external to the team &/ the environment external to the org of which the team is part of.
Good guide for inexperienced team leaders + will become more useful as leaders gain experience that allows them to internalize the model to the pt where it becomes almost tacit - i.e. leaders respond to situations without even thinking abt the model.
effective team leadership in teams assumes behavioural flexibility, prob-solving skills applicable to teams & using discretion when determining if leader intervention is necessary.
- offers a way of thinking for leaders who share the team leadership role & shd be used to determine team issues & probs + several alteratives to resolve these issues & probs.
- while being cognizant of the team’s resources & capabilities & the external challlenges & opportunities.
leadership decisions affect team effectiveness directly & through internal & external actions that leaders can decide whether to take or not.
Leadership Decision 1: Should I monitor the team or take action?
Leaders can:
• Diagnose, analyse, or forecast problems (monitoring), or take immediate action to solve a problem (action)
• Focus on problems within the group (internal), or which problems need intervention
• Make choices about which solutions are the most appropriate
Sometimes leaders think they have to do everything
How can we make the team self-sufficient
Too much intervention is not good
Neurotic → micromanage
When to intervene, bad leaders intervene everything
3 leadership decisions: 1. shd i cont to monitor or do i need to take action? 2. if i need to take action, is it task or r/s focused, or both? 3. if i need to take action, do i need to intervene inside the team or in the team’s external environment (i.e. the org of the environment external to the org)? leaders need info to determine this by scanning & monitoring internal & external factors of the team. formal leaders need to share this task with the informal leaders + be open with these leaders sharing with them the internal team probs & external environmental issues that cld help/hinder the team. formal leader: power appointed by the org informal leader: power appointed by followers as a leader, how do u frame the prob so that the team uds the prob this skill develops through experience in working in a team setting; the ability to get it right will improve. poor leaders will intervene at every level. work as a team
• Effective leaders have the ability to determine what interventions are needed, if any, and when to intervene.
• All members of the team can engage in monitoring.
• Leaders differ in timing of taking action.
McGrath’s Critical Leadership Functions
this is how working in a board looks like - i.e. the board leaders are the ones above the leaders, they aren’t involved in the ops; they are high level leaders.
e.g. as a board director, u want to know what are the ops like to determine whether u shd take action or shd the executive take action instead.
Internal operations
- 1st quadrant: leader is diagnosing group deficiencies
- 2nd quadrant: to repair or remedy the observed problem
-3rd quadrant: scanning the environment to determine & forecast any external changes that will affect the group
4th quadrant: prevent any negative changes in the environment from hurting the team
Leadership Decision 2: Should I intervene to meet task or relational needs?
Intervene task for relationship?
Create a positive environment
To be the bright sunshine
When do I allow them to have some freedom
effective team leadership focuses on both task & relational issues - bcuz a high level of task productivity combined with superior intrateam (within team) r/s leads to best team performance & development.
determine whether intervention is necessary to improve prbs & issues related to task/structure &/ those related to interpersonal relations among team members (including team leaders).
- Even more challenging in virtual teams
may be necessary to focus on intrateam r/s 1st -> then work on fixing issues related to getting the task done.
- bcuz fixing task-related probs 1st may exacerbate intrateam r/s probs to such a degree that it may make fixing both more difficult.
Task
- Getting the job done
- Making decisions
- Solving problems
- Adapting to change
- Making plans
- Achieving goals
Maintenance functions
- Develop positive climate
- Solving interpersonal problems
- Satisfying member’s needs
- Developing cohesion
ur job as a leader of the team is to drive the team & create a positive environment for the team to function well.
Leadership Decision 3 Should I intervene internally or externally?
effective team leaders are able to balance the internal & external demands placed on their teams & are able to know if & when to intervene in 1 or in both.
Argue for pay raise
CEO are supposed to be front facing
* Leader must determine what level of team process needs leadership attention
* Internal task or relational team dynamics if:
* Conflict between group members
* Team goals unclear
Team based issues
* External environment dynamics if:
* Organisation not providing proper support to team
Problem not in the team itself
when u are intervening matters for the whole org in general, not just for ur own team.
external: within the larger org or external to org
i.e. not ur team being affected but other teams not under ur leadership
Internal Task Leadership Actions
Set of skills or actions leader might perform to improve task performance
* Goal focusing – clarifying, gaining agreement
* Structuring for results – planning, visioning, organising, clarifying roles,delegating
* Facilitating decision making – informing, controlling, coordinating, mediating, synthesising, issue focusing
* Training team members in task skills – educating, developing * Maintaining standards of excellence – assessing team and individual performance, confronting inadequate performance
Internal Relational Leadership Actions
- Coaching team members in interpersonal skills
- Collaborating – including, involving , encouraging collaboration among team members
- Managing conflict and power issues – avoiding confrontation, questioning ideas
managing conflict to allow intellectual conflict but no personal conflict - Building commitment and esprit de corps – being optimistic, innovating, envisioning, socialising, rewarding, recognising
- Satisfying individual member needs – trusting, supporting, advocating
have senior management speak to team at the start of a difficult project -> shows that he supports the project -> much appreciated by team members
- Modelling ethical and principled practices – fair, consistent, normative
External Environmental Leadership Actions
Set of skills or behaviour leaders need to implement to improve environmental interface with team
* Networking and forming alliances in environment – gather information, increase influence
* Advocating and representing team to environment
* Negotiating upward to secure necessary resources, support, and recognition for team
* Buffering team members from environmental distractions
* Assessing environmental indicators of team’s effectiveness – surveys, evaluations, performance indicators
* Sharing relevant environmental information with team
Characteristics of Team Excellence
Clear, elevating goal
* Clear so that one can tell if performance objective has been met
* Motivating or involving so that members believe it is worthwhile and important
the leader has to remind his followers abt the goal DAILY; to ensure that the team is working towards a common goal & not sth else. - the e.g. of products -> if u add an unnecessary button to the product, it will morph into sth weird & not what the team originally intended the product to be.
- Results-driven structure
- Need to find the best structure to achieve goals
- Clear team member roles
- Good communication system
- Methods to assess individual performance
- An emphasis on fact-based judgment
- Competent team members
- Core competencies
- Ability to do the job well, problem solving ability
- Components
- Right number and mix of members
- Members must be provided with sufficient information, and education and training
- Requisite technical skills
- Interpersonal and teamwork skills
- Team factors
- Openness, supportiveness, action orientation, positive personal style
Do selection on who is supposed to be in the team
→ need to know how to select good workers
- Openness, supportiveness, action orientation, positive personal style
- Core competencies
- Unified Commitment
- Teams need a carefully designed and developed sense of unity or identification (team spirit)
Start up…this is important…drive of commitment is important other than operational
Buying them drinks or dinner, make them feel welcomed and valued
→ worth it to have them in the team vibes
–> leaders need to unify commitment of the team - e.g. “this is what we are fighting for” - as a leader u need ur team to have the drive for commitment, besides the ops performance
- Teams need a carefully designed and developed sense of unity or identification (team spirit)
- Collaborative climate
- Trust based on openness, honesty, consistency and respect
- Integration of individual actions
- Teams contribute to collective success by:
- Coordinating individual contributions
- Team leaders making communication safe
- Team leaders demanding and rewarding collaborative behaviour
- Team leaders guiding the team’s problem-solving efforts
- Team leaders managing their own control needs
- Standards of excellence
- Regulated performance
- Facilitates task completion and coordinated action
- Stimulates a positive pressure for members to perform at highest levels
- How accomplished
- Requiring results – clear expectations
- Reviewing results – feedback/resolve issues
- Rewarding results – acknowledge superior performance
- Regulated performance
- External support and recognition
- Regulated performance
- Teams supported by external support are:
- Given the material resources needed to do their jobs
- Recognised for team accomplishments
- Rewarded by tying those rewards to team members performance, not individual achievement
external role; making sure the team has what they need; getting the team recognized globally or in the org.
Principled Leadership (Zaccaro et. al., 2001)
- Influences team effectiveness through four sets of processes
- Cognitive – Facilitates team’s understanding of problems confronting them
- Motivational – Helps team become cohesive and capable by setting high performance standards and helping team to achieve them
- Affective – Assists team in handling stressful circumstances by providing clear goals, assignments, and strategies
- Integrative – Helps coordinate team’s activities through matching member roles, clear performance strategies, feedback, and adapting to environmental changes
Provide us with maps on how to plan…to know what u wanna achieve…intervene or not
this is a team leadership model too
How does Team Leadership work
- Model provides a cognitive map to identify group needs and offers suggestions on appropriate corrective actions.
- Model assists leaders in making sense of the complexity of groups and provides suggested actions to improve group effectiveness.
there is a need for a constant evaluation of the team in order for continous team improvement.
can use these team leadership models to bring them to the macro level (the bigger pic) - e.g. do they intervene in this prob or do they let the executives or managers handle it; i.e. help leaders determine when to intervene in micro matters.
