Unit 5 : Leadership and Team Working

The nature of leadership

 The activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives.
 Interpersonal influence exercised in a situation and directed, through the communication process,
towards the attainment of a specialised goal or goals.
 A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.
 Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It's about keeping your team focused on a
goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the
consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others' success, and then standing
back and letting them shine.

Leadership Styles
Tells
Sells
Consults
Joins

Blake and Mouton grid

Country club
1,9
The leader is focused closely on people's needs and on developing close relationships and a relaxed work
culture. This focus on the team overrides the need for productivity or to achieve objectives. The leader is
often well liked by staff, who consider their manager as their personal ‘friend’ and as someone that
doesn’t challenge them emotionally or professionally.
Team leader
9,9
The leader achieves organisational goals by motivating the individuals within the team to work together
to want to achieve collective aims and objectives. There is a high degree of participation and teamwork.
People are encouraged to be fully involved and committed to their work. The leader inspires his team
and motivates them to work towards aims which they themselves are committed to and rewarded for.
The leader gives them the physical and psychological support to achieve to their maximum potential.
Impoverished
1,1
 The leader applies (and expects) minimal effort and has little concern for either staff satisfaction or
productivity. This is a leader who is often non-committal and fairly reactive in their style of
management. They ‘coast’ along and only act positively when something goes wrong and to protect their
own position.
Authoritarian
9,1
The leader concentrates almost exclusively on achieving results. The manager treats the team as a ‘factor
of production’ and only in terms of its productivity. Communication is based on authoritarian lines and
conflict is resolved by suppressing it.

Team Development
Forming
When the team is established, each team member will make their own impression. They will have a
natural curiosity about one another, though some individuals may be more assertive than others, and
those with less strong personalities may hold back. At this early stage the team will learn about its aims
and objectives and team norms will be formed. The leader of the team may take a strong lead here, as in
a new team there is typically some wariness or reluctance to share thoughts.
Storming
Once the team settles into its work, the storming stage will emerge, as some will seek to exert their influence
and vie for a position of dominance or influence. It is usual for conflict to emerge, as it is rare that all team
members will share the same point of view on everything. This conflict may manifest itself positively or
negatively. The team will learn to come to consensus on objectives and targets, though usually with some
differences of opinion.
Norming
Relationships in the team settle, and the members will know what they can expect of their colleagues, their
strengths and their limitations. By this stage the team will have established effective methods of work. They
will be familiar with processes and systems.
Performing
The team should be able to perform to the optimum as relationship issues will have receded and team
members will have learnt to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of others.
 Dorming
Some teams enter a phase of complacency once they have been together for a long period of time. Teams in
which there are no changes in membership can become ‘set in their ways’ and even hostile to changes or
initiatives proposed by outsiders.
Mourning/adjourning
Not all teams will encounter this phase, but it may arise if its purpose has been fulfilled, or the structure of
the team is to be changed in a significant way, such as an Ad-hoc committee or special project group. If
some of the members continue to work together but alongside outsiders, the characteristics of the team will
resemble those of the forming stage.

Accountability, Responsibility and Authority

Accountability
Individuals are accountable upwards. They should be able to report to those who manage them on how
effectively they have discharged the authority given to them.
Responsibility
This is the obligation of an individual to discharge duties. In any organisation, employees are responsible
to carry out tasks assigned to them.
Authority
Authority is the discretion individuals are given to take decisions and carry out tasks, usually conferred
by the organisation.

The 9 Belbin Team Roles

 The Monitor Evaluator (thought-oriented)
Monitor Evaluators make decisions based on facts and rational thinking as opposed to emotions and
instincts. They are normally serious individuals who excel at critical thinking and strategic planning. If there
is a challenge in a project, Monitor Evaluators will carefully consider all angles and possibilities and then
devise an insightful solution. These individuals tend to be loners who prefer not to get involved in the lives
of coworkers, which contributes to their objectivity.
The Specialist (thought-oriented)
The Specialist is a team member who is an expert in a specific field. Since they have in-depth knowledge in
a narrow subject, they will usually only contribute when a task requires their area of expertise. Like Monitor
Evaluators, Specialists tend to be loners, so being part of a team does not often come naturally to them.
The Plant (thought-oriented)
Plants are free-thinkers and creative people who produce original ideas and suggest innovative new ways of
doing things. As is the case with the other two thought-oriented roles, Plants prefer to work alone. However,
most teams and companies accept this, as the Plant’s creative thinking typically leads to innovative solutions
and groundbreaking concepts.
The Shaper (action-oriented)
Shapers are extroverts who tend to push themselves and others to achieve results. They are dynamic and
driven individuals who can motivate and inspire passion in team members. Despite any challenges that may
come their way, Shapers remain positive and seem to thrive under pressure. They enjoy challenging norms
to create unique goals and strategies. It is usually vital to have one Shaper to help the team progress in its
mission.
The Implementer (action-oriented)
Implementers are organizers who like to structure their environments and maintain order. Because they are
practical people, implementers like to make concrete plans from abstract ideas. Implementers are highly
disciplined and self-controlled individuals who can disregard their self-interest to focus on the needs of a
team or an organization. Although Implementers normally prefer established ways of doing things, you can
likely persuade them to change if you can prove that it would yield positive results.
The Completer/Finisher (action-oriented)
Completers, also called Finishers, are introverted individuals who perform quality assurance during key
stages of a project. They are often perfectionists who can notice fine details, which enables them to
scrutinize finished tasks or products for errors. Since these individuals strive for perfection, they tend to
expect the same from those around them.
The Coordinator (people-oriented)
Coordinators are mature individuals who have excellent interpersonal and communication skills. They are
normally in management positions, but their management styles are very different from those of Shapers.
Where Shapers manage through directives, Coordinators prefer a more democratic approach that includes
open communication.
The Team Worker (people-oriented)
Team Workers are normally extroverts with mild and friendly dispositions. They tend to be good listeners
and are adept at getting a team to function well together as a unit. If Team Workers notice that other team
members are not coping with their workload, they are likely to step in and assist. These individuals are
highly adaptable and versatile, which enables them to interact effectively with diverse people and cope with
sudden changes.
The Resource Investigator (people-oriented)
Resource Investigators are extroverts who have a talent for networking. They are positive and enthusiastic
people who like to explore new opportunities and investigate new developments. Although they may not
necessarily come up with new ideas themselves, they are skilled at picking up ideas from others.