LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

WEEK 4: LEADING TEAMS

A TEAM VS. A GROUP:

- team: a unit of two or more people (less than 15 people) who interact regularly and are focused on a shared purpose with
shared responsibility and accountability; otherwise a group of people

GROUP TEAM
- has a designated leader - shares or rotates leadership
- individual accountability - shared accountability
- identical purpose for group - specific team purpose
- performance goals set by others - performance goals set by team + organization
- works within organizational boundaries - not inhibited by organizational boundaries
- ie. corporate development department - ie. acquisition team

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEAMS:

FUNCTIONAL TEAM
- traditional hierarchy
- members from similar functional
areas in organization
- leader centered
- given individual roles + goals
- HR department
- higher need for traditional
leadership
CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAM SELF-DIRECTED TEAM
- members from different functional areas - members grouped by common
in the organization skill, activity
- specific team leader - autonomous, self-managed
- focus on projects that affect several - member-centered
departments - given resources
- special purpose teams: problem-solving, - skunk works
new products - higher need for team leadership
- ongoing interaction from concept to
successful completion
- change management teams, new products

HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS:

- have purpose: work on challenges that have a meaningful purpose
- are skilled: members have strong and diverse talents
- is trust: the members understand, trust each other and can work through conflicts
- are accountable: the members hold each other accountable
- get results: are committed to the goal and to achieve success

FIVE STEPS TO A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM:

- assemble the right team:
- create the right size, get the right team members, select the Leader-Facilitator, create the right team
interdependence
- establish team leadership:
- Leader-Facilitator responsibilities: facilitate group tasks and behaviours to achieve team objectives
- team member responsibilities: use skills, support each other
- build the team foundation:
- create an inspiring purpose and set clear goals
- define how the team will work together, make decisions, hold different roles
- build team cohesiveness: get commitment, build trust, be accountable to each other, manage conflict
- achieve results: create scoreboards to measure and achieve results

RIGHT SIZE OF TEAM:

- teams must be large enough to have the combined total range of competency
- yet small enough for members to feel a part of a community (3 to 10 persons, ideal size is 7)
- small teams show more agreement, ask more questions + exchange more opinions but have less horsepower
- large teams have more disagreements but offer increased breadth and depth

RIGHT TEAM MEMBERS CHECKLIST:

- who are the people who have the right knowledge, experience and problem-solving skills to get the job done?
- what/who will bring diversity in thinking, skills and their talents-strengths (strengths finder) for more innovative and
implementable solutions?
- who will have responsibility for implementing any solutions?
- who has the authority or power to implement (or at least influence) team solutions?
- who can work with others and can put a team objective ahead of their personal needs?

THE RIGHT INTERDEPENDENCE:

- pooled interdependence: the lowest form of team interdependence, members are relatively independent of one another in
completing their work
- sequential interdependence: the output of one team member becomes the input to another team member
- reciprocal interdependence: highest form of team interdependence, members influence and affect one another in
reciprocal fashion

ESTABLISH TEAM LEADERSHIP:

- each team member assumes leadership role to meet team goal
- team supports 1 member to act as the team facilitator who is given specific responsibilities on behalf of team
- in the forming stage, the leader facilitator role is key; as the team gains trust and confidence in each other, they all take
more initiative and step forward to fulfill leadership roles

BUILD TEAM FOUNDATION:

1. create an inspiring purpose and clear goals
a. team’s first job is to define a clear and meaningful purpose or vision that is built on the issue given; each
team member must be committed to this purpose or the team will never be successful
b. based on this purpose, the team then sets the goals (specific, measurable, challenging)
2. define how the team will work together
a. common working approach: how will the team work together?
- team meetings: structure and schedule for meetings
- communication: preferred methods for communicating and response times
- decision making: team decision making
- behaviour norms: core values of the team, including behaviour norms
- conflict: how to handle conflict issues, members not fully participating, etc.
b. create a statement of work or project plan
- statement of purpose - specific deliverables with
- statement of the goal(s) timetable
- core strategy to achieve goal - resource needs
- plan to affect the strategy
c. group decision making
- consensus decision making: facilitator shares the problem with the team, and they work together
to reach agreement on a solution.
- nominal group technique: facilitator shares the problem with the group. Individual members write
their ideas, pick their best three and then present them to the group and post them on the wall. the
ideas are summarized followed by a group discussion for clarity. all members then vote on the
ideas to determine the group decision.
3. define roles for team members
a. based on the work plan to affect the strategy, identify who will have responsibility for what and what is
expected of each member; distribute the work fairly among team members
b. assign roles based on the interests, strengths and weaknesses of the team members; have each member
identify three of their strengths and interests
c. build team spirit by having the team identify their combined team strengths
4. build team cohesiveness
a. the extent to which members remain united to the team activities and in the pursuit of a common goal,
builds high performance teams
- manage team development - call for peer accountability
- build trust - manage conflict
- get commitment
STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT:
- teams are about people, relationships and tasks
- teams need to develop and grow to be effective
- there are four stages of team development:
- forming: a period of orientation, getting acquainted and determining task orientation. uncertainty is high because
no one knows what the ground rules are or what is expected.
- leader’s role is to facilitate communication and interaction, and to establish team guidelines
- storming: individual personalities emerge, and people become more assertive, conflict results.
- leader’s role is to encourage participation by each team member to find the common vision and values;
members need to work through the uncertainties to move on
- norming: conflict has been resolved and team unity and harmony emerge. consensus develops as natural team
leaders emerge and members’ roles become clear.
- leader emphasizes openness and facilitates communication, roles, value, and expectations
- performing: emphasis on achieving the team’s goals. members are committed to the mission and interact
frequently.
- team leader focuses on high task performance and supporting team members to self manage

BUILD TRUST:
- high performance teams trust each other, feel safe and are open
- you can build trust by:
- asking the team what they need from each other to feel safe, be open
- build team behavioural norms
- have one team member assess if it is working

GET COMMITMENT:
Commitment is not consensus. Waiting for everyone to agree is a good recipe for delay and frustration. You can build
commitment in the following ways:
- encourage lively debate and ensure that everyone’s ideas are heard, considered and explained. Members are then
able to “disagree and commit”.
- the first commitment is to the purpose which is bigger than the individuals’ agenda
- identify what each individual personally wants to get from the team project, and then, in some way integrate that
need to the project
- ask for commitment

PEER ACCOUNTABILITY:
- accountability: the willingness of each team member to remind and support one another when they are not living up to
the agreed norms or performance standards in either results or behaviour
- if team member fails to provide their peer with constructive feedback, are hurting the team and teammate
- create successful accountability by:
- having the leader model the desired accountability
- team members know how to and give constructive feedback
- use formal team member effectiveness tools

CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK:
- timely: provide feedback as close as possible to the occurrence of the behaviour in question.
- specific: describe the undesirable behaviour in exact terms. be able to substantiate with facts and speak to the
behaviour not the person.
- delivered in a supportive climate: make it clear that the purpose of the feedback is to help your teammate in
achieving their and the team’s success
- balance the content: begin by providing comments on specific strengths. then identify specific areas of
improvement and ways to make changes. conclude with a positive comment.
MODELS FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION:
- Competing. People who take a firm stand usually
operating from a position of power. Used when there
is an emergency and a decision need to be made fast
or when a decision is unpopular. It can leave people
feelings resentful when used in less urgent situations.
- Avoiding style. People tending towards this style
seek to evade the conflict. It is typified by accepting
default decisions, and not wanting to hurt anyone’s
feelings. It can be appropriate when victory is
impossible or when the controversy is trivial. In
many situations, this is an ineffective approach to
take.
- Compromising style. Uses moderate assertiveness
and cooperation. Used when the goals on both sides are equally important, when opponents have equal power and
both sides want to split the difference.
- Accommodating style. This style indicates a willingness to meet the needs of others at the expense of the person’s
own needs. Accommodation is appropriate when the issues matter more to the other party, when peace is more
valuable than winning, or when you want to be in a position to collect on the favour.
- Collaborating. People who try to meet the needs or all people involved. This style is useful when you need to
bring together a variety of viewpoints; when previous conflicts, or when the situation is too important for a simple
trade-off.

GENERAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION:

- a shared vision: if leaders can focus on a larger team or organizational vision, conflict will decrease because the
people involved see the big picture and realize they must work together to achieve it
- negotiate: in order to resolve conflicts of interest and developmental conflicts constructively you must be able to
communicate honestly; this approach works if individuals can set aside personal animosities and deal with
conflict in a businesslike way
- mediate: when cannot successfully negotiate a constructive resolution to conflicts, engage a mediator
- arbitrate: when mediation fails, an arbitrator is called in; arbitration involves listening to both sides in a conflict
and deciding who is right and wrong

ACHIEVE RESULTS:
- the task:
- the team commits to what it will achieve (specific, measurable, simple and visual) for the goals of project
- team creates a scoreboard to constantly measure its progress
- the team:
- determine your stage of team development: a tool that will give you an indication of what stage you’re in
- determine are you a high performing team: a tool that will give you an indication of whether you are a
high performing team or not – and what to focus on to get there
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