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Team Leader

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About this lesson

Team Leaders adapt to the business and team environment to ensure the team creates the performance or implements the change for which it was chartered.

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Quick reference

Team Leader

Team Leaders adapt to the business and team environment to ensure the team creates the performance or implements the change for which it was chartered.

When to use

Teams need leaders.  Someone who provides the “glue” to keep the team moving towards the team goal or objective.  Because today’s business environment involves new technology, new products, new competitors, and new people, leaders are needed to navigate through these changes.  The speed of business creates and urgency for teams to achieve new levels of performance in real-time which further adds to the need for strong leaders.

Instructions

Team leaders need to be willing to take on many roles within the team.  A strong team leader assesses what the team needs and provides that type of interaction, which could include facilitator, coach, communicator, integrator, archivist, motivator, disciplinarian, or even just team member.

Leader or Manager

Most teams need both management and leadership.  Managers are normally focused on controlling team performance to achieve stability and predictability.  Leaders are focused on changing the team or organization to achieve new levels of performance.  These are not mutually exclusive, but there are normally different actions associated with each.

Leadership traits

Harvard Business Review published a list of leadership traits that apply to team leaders as well as business leaders:

  • Industry and organizational knowledge.
  • Relationships in the firm and industry.
  • Reputation and track record.
  • Abilities and skills.
  • Personal values.
  • Motivation.
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  • 00:04 Hello, I'm Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 Let's look at the role of the team leader.
  • 00:08 This entire course is devoted to helping you become an effective team leader.
  • 00:13 We'll start by understanding some of the leader's attributes.
  • 00:19 So what is the role of a team leader?
  • 00:22 Well in a nutshell, it is whatever the team needs him to be.
  • 00:25 At various times in life cycle of a team,
  • 00:28 a team leader may take on the role of facilitator, coach, communicator,
  • 00:32 integrator, archivist, motivator, disciplinarian or even team member.
  • 00:37 The role varies based upon the experience, maturity and needs of the team members and
  • 00:41 what is happening in the business around them.
  • 00:44 Weak team leaders, often do only a few of these things.
  • 00:47 They may do them well, and if that is all that is needed on that team,
  • 00:50 it may appear that they are good team leaders.
  • 00:53 But put them on a different team and they fail badly.
  • 00:57 That is because strong team leaders understand
  • 00:59 that they need to adapt to what is happening on the team.
  • 01:02 The team leader serves the team, not the other way around.
  • 01:05 The team leader needs to provide whatever is necessary to keep the team engaged and
  • 01:09 moving forward towards the team goals.
  • 01:13 Let's take a moment to discuss the difference between a team leader or
  • 01:16 a team manager.
  • 01:17 But first let me emphasize that these are not mutually exclusive.
  • 01:21 A team manager can lead a team and
  • 01:24 a team leader may need to manage some team activities.
  • 01:27 The difference is in the focus of the activities.
  • 01:30 Generally, managers are about control and leaders about change.
  • 01:34 Managers are trying to ensure that the team stays on track
  • 01:38 to achieve team performance goals.
  • 01:40 And leaders are changing the performance or behavior of the team or organization.
  • 01:45 Again both of those may be needed for a team to be succesful.
  • 01:49 Management strives for stability and
  • 01:50 predictability, leadership strives to achieve a new level of performance.
  • 01:55 In most cases, teams need both management and leadership and
  • 01:59 these may be coming from the same individual or different team members.
  • 02:03 Let's look at some of the actions that managers perform and
  • 02:06 some that leaders perform.
  • 02:08 Leaders create the vision of the desired change, help to develop a change strategy,
  • 02:13 build relationships with team members to ensure they understand and
  • 02:16 buy in to the strategy, keep the team motivated while implementing the strategy,
  • 02:20 and finally, solve problems that will inevitably arise.
  • 02:25 The goal of a team is to create or
  • 02:26 implement change, the leadership role is paramount.
  • 02:30 Managers plan, budget, and
  • 02:32 organize the activities of the team to ensure the team objectives can be met.
  • 02:36 And they then monitor and
  • 02:38 control team activities to ensure the results are going according to plan.
  • 02:42 Inevitably, something will go wrong and
  • 02:44 just like leaders, managers need to be able to solve problems.
  • 02:48 When the goal of the team is to provide stability and
  • 02:50 process excellent, the management role is paramount.
  • 02:55 A long standing question is whether leaders are made or born.
  • 02:59 A few years ago, the Harvard Business Review published a list of
  • 03:02 traits of successful leaders in business.
  • 03:04 These traits apply to team leadership in addition to business leadership.
  • 03:08 As you will see, some are traits you may be born with,
  • 03:11 but others are clearly traits you establish and grow.
  • 03:14 So the answer to whether leaders are made or born is, yes.
  • 03:18 So let's look at the traits.
  • 03:20 Industry and organizational knowledge.
  • 03:22 You need to understand the environment where you're working.
  • 03:25 Take the time to learn your organization, its history and culture.
  • 03:29 And read up on the issues effecting your industry.
  • 03:32 Relationships in the firm and
  • 03:33 industry, develop a network of people who you trust and who trust you.
  • 03:38 Reputation and track record.
  • 03:40 Team members need to have confidence in the leaders before they will follow them.
  • 03:44 Build a track record deep and wide to gain credibility in the organization.
  • 03:49 Abilities and skills.
  • 03:51 This trade includes both the interpersonal abilities and
  • 03:53 skills such as communication and
  • 03:55 facilitation, along with business skills such as analytics and decision making.
  • 04:00 Personal values, this one was interesting.
  • 04:03 Some values were obvious, such as integrity and respect.
  • 04:06 But, in some cases, it didn't matter as much what the personal values were, as it
  • 04:10 did that the team members knew your values and that you acted consistently with them.
  • 04:14 This includes values such as work life balance, or timeliness.
  • 04:19 Finally motivation, leaders want to see the changes occur.
  • 04:22 They devote energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to the goal.
  • 04:27 So why do we need leaders?
  • 04:29 The business environment of today has created a demand for
  • 04:32 leadership, often more so than for managers.
  • 04:36 The pressures of business today of innovation, product proliferation,
  • 04:39 competition, and personnel turnover means that the recipe for
  • 04:43 success is constantly changing.
  • 04:45 Leaders are needed when change is required.
  • 04:48 In addition, the business environment is increasingly complex.
  • 04:52 Organizational complexity, cultural complexity and technical complexity.
  • 04:56 With the constant change in teams and
  • 04:58 businesses, leaders are needed to navigate this complexity.
  • 05:02 Add to that the element of urgency.
  • 05:05 Teams must react to the changes in real time.
  • 05:08 Strong leaders are needed to help them keep up with all that is going
  • 05:11 on around them.
  • 05:12 Leaders are an essential element of successful teams.
  • 05:18 Throughout the rest of this program I want to help you develop your leadership
  • 05:22 skills and abilities.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

Teams Versus Groups
03m:50s
Team Member
04m:16s
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