TEAM BUILDING AND LEADERSHIP TRUST
TEAM BUILDING AND LEADERSHIP TRUST
Team Focus
The focus on teams in an organization is both important and
recommended for successful output.
There are many variables when dealing
with a team that can be both beneficial
as well as a hindrance if the teams do
not have a strong leader. Effective
leadership requires strong authentic
leadership qualities. There are several
renditions of Team Leadership models. Hill’s Model for Team
Leadership requires the leader to “monitor the team…take whatever
action necessary to ensure team
effectiveness” (Northouse, 2013).
McGrath’s Critical Leadership
Functions stipulated that “two
dimensions of leadership behavior:
monitoring versus taking action and
internal group issues versus external group issues” (Northouse, 2013).
TEAM BUILDING AND LEADERSHIP TRUST
Leadership Effectiveness
The differences in a team impact the effectiveness of the team. A
leaders has the responsibility to impact both the behavior of the team
as a whole as well as instruct the team in a manner that they a
learning unit. The team’s
performance will have a
direct correlation back to the effectiveness of the leader. This
performance will be built upon the leaders ability to play a mediator
role within the team and if the team has built a trusting group unit
together. The leader should have a close pulse on the team’s
interactions, what their strengths and weaknesses are and ability to
distribute work appropriately for successful output.
An effective leader will recognize quickly if there are problems
within the team and make recommendations to remediate these
issues. This falls within the second set of internal leadership items,
“coaching team members in interpersonal skills, collaborating,
managing conflict and power issues, building commitment, satisfying
individual member needs (trusting, supporting, advocating), [and]
TEAM BUILDING AND LEADERSHIP TRUST
modeling ethical and principled practices” (Northouse, 2013).
When
monitoring all of these items it is important for the leader to rapidly
intervene and make the appropriate recommendations.
Leadership Diagnostics
At times it may be difficult for a leader to diagnose and
determine if they should
intervene within the team.
Additionally a decision must be
made as to whether the leader
should intervene from an
internal or external
perspective. The items
described above are internal relational actions, the external actions
involve, “networking and forming alliances…, advocating and
representing team to environment, negotiating ….support, buffering….,
assessing environment… [and] sharing information” (Northouse, 2013).
TEAM BUILDING AND LEADERSHIP TRUST
The United States, Office of Personnel Management describes
the concept of Team Leadership as “[a]n employee who facilitates
his/her team’s process by working collaboratively with the team to
ensure that they complete their tasks effectively and efficiently, by
maintaining good working relationships, and by coordinating with the
manager and others on goals, priorities, team needs, and
achievements” (US Office of Personnel Management). The site went
further to describe training items that fall within this definition, these
were very similar to what the text book outlined but the one that stood
out on both was the focus on coaching and counseling. I see this as
an important focus because if conflict is left to fester could derail a
team quicker than any other issue as the entire teams focus could be
on the conflict instead of the task.
Dealing with Conflict
The conflict a team could encounter
closely relates to the importance of trust.
A leader should not only build trust with
TEAM BUILDING AND LEADERSHIP TRUST
the team for themselves but it should foster a trusting environment for
the team members as well. Leaders can perform team building
exercises, these exercises should be “planned and carried out
strategically” (Unknown). As stated above the important factor even
in team building exercises is to “first identify the issues their group is
facing” (Unknown). So as stated by Zaccaro et al., motivational
inspiration “helps team become cohesive and capable by setting high
performance standards and helping team to achieve them” (Northouse,
2013).
TEAM BUILDING AND LEADERSHIP TRUST
WORKS CITED
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice Sixth Edition. In P. G. Northouse,
Leadership (pp. 43-121). Thousands Oaks: SAGE Publications Inc.
Unknown. (n.d.). Team-Building Exercises Planning Activities That Actually Work. Retrieved April 27,
2014, from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_52.htm
US Office of Personnel Management. (n.d.). Performance Management Reference Materials. Retrieved
April 27, 2014, from Office of Personnel Management Main: http://www.opm.gov/policy-dataoversight/performance-management/reference-materials/historical/team-leadership-in-the-newworkplace/
http://www.slideshare.net/compassroseconsulting/leadership-team-building-essential-skills
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https://www.uvm.edu/extension/community/buildingcapacity/?Page=teamleadership.html
http://leadershiptheories.blogspot.com/2010/02/team-leadership.html
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http://www.leadershippulse.com/
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http://transform-coaching.com/services/coaching-services/team-coaching/
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http://www.business2community.com/sales-management/the-prmcrm-balance-how-to-handle-leadmanagement-0293405
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http://www.managingamericans.com/BlogFeed/Communication-Skills/Building-Trust-with-Co-Workers.htm
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