Training, Teaching and Learning Materials Development

SHENO TVET COLLEGE

Under

Ethiopian TVET-System

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SUPPORT SERVICE
Level IV

LEARNING GUIDE

Unit of Competence: DEVELOP TEAMS AND

INDIVIDUALS
Module Title: DEVELOP TEAMS AND
INDIVIDUALS
LG Code: ICT HNS4 08 1110
TTLM Code: ICT HNS4 TTLM 0511

LO 1: Provide team leadership

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INTRODUCTION Learning Guide

Unit Descriptor: This unit covers providing leadership to a team within the organization. The unit
includes planning work for the team, monitoring team performance, facilitating change and providing
reports. The unit is suitable for team leaders across the organization.
ELEMENT
1. Plan and allocate team roles and responsibilities
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
a. Goals and strategies for team are discussed and agreed upon in accordance with the
organization’s goals, plans and objectives and relevant legislation.
b. Standards of performance required by team and individuals are established based on
organizational needs.
c. Work requirements and performance expectations are identified and clearly presented to team
members.
d. Duties, rosters and/or responsibilities are allocated in accordance with organizational
requirements.
e. Conflict is resolved by negotiation.
ELEMENT
2. Monitor and maintain team performance
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
a. Work outputs are monitored against agreed work requirements and performance expectations.
b. Alternative strategies to achieve team tasks are identified.
c. Team members are provided with feedback, positive support and advice on strategies to
overcome any deficiencies.
d. Difficult situations are handled effectively using collaborative problem-solving techniques.
e. Team members are provided with feedback and positive support when agreed standard of
performance is achieved.

Key Competency
1. How can information be collected, analyzed and organized?
2. How are ideas and information communicated within this competency?
3. How are activities planned and organized?
4. How are problem solving skills applied?
5. How are mathematical ideas and techniques used?
6. How is use of technology applied?
7. How is team work used within this competency?

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Information Sheet 1 Provide team leadership

A team is any group of people organized to work together interdependently and cooperatively
to meet the needs of their customers by accomplishing a purpose and goals. Teams are created for
both long term and short term interaction.

Leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge processed by the leader can be influenced by his
or hers attributes or traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and character. Knowledge and skills
contribute directly to the process of leadership, while the other attributes give the leader certain
characteristics that make him or her unique.
 The meaning of a message is the change which it produces in the image. — Kenneth Boul
ding in The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society
 Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and
directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.
 Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a
common goal.
 Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. This is
called Process Leadership.
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How to provide team leadership?
Leadership is increasingly taking place within a team context. As teams grow in popularity the role of
the leader in guiding team members takes on heightened importance. And the role of team leader is
different from the traditional leadership role performed by first line supervisors. JD Bryant supervisor
at Texas instruments’ Forest lane plant in Dallas found them out. One day he was happily overseeing
a staff of 15 circuit-board assemblers. The next day he was informed the company was moving to
teams and that he was to become a facilitator. He was supposed to teach the teams everything he
knew and then let them make their own decisions. Confused about his new role, he admitted there
was no clear plan on what he was supposed to do. In this article, we consider the challenge of being a
team leader and review the new roles that team leaders take on.
Many leaders who came of age when individualism ruled are not equipped to handle the change
teams. As one prominent consultant noted even the most capable managers have trouble making the
transition because all the command-and-control type things they were encouraged to do before are no
longer appropriate. There is no reason to have any skill or sense of this. This same consultant
estimated that probably 15 percent of managers are natural team leaders; another 15 percent could
never lead a team because it runs counter to their personality. They are unable to sublimate their

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dominating style for the good of the team. Then there is that huge group in the model: Team
leadership doesn’t come naturally to them, but they can learn it.

The challenge for most managers, then, is to learn how to become an effective team leader. They have
to learn skills such as the patience to share information, to trust others, to give people authority and to
understand and then to intervene. Effective leaders have mastered the difficult balancing act of
knowing when to leave their teams alone and when to intercede. New team leaders may try to retain
too much control at a time when team members need more autonomy or they may abandon their
teams at times when the teams need support and help.

A study of 20 organizations that had reorganized themselves around teams found certain common
responsibilities that a leader had to assume. These included coaching, facilitating, handling
disciplinary problems, reviewing team/individual performance, training and communication. Many of
these responsibilities apply to managers in general. A more meaningful way to describe the team
leader’s job is to focus two priorities: managing the team’s external boundary and facilitating the
team process. We’ve broken the priorities down into four specific roles.

1. First team leaders are liaisons with external constituencies . These include upper
management other internal teams, customers and suppliers. The leader represents the team to
other constituencies secures needed resources, clarifies others’ expectations of the team, gathers
information from the outside, and shares this information with team members.

2. Second, team leaders are trouble-shooters. When the team has problems and asks for
assistance, team leaders sit on meetings and help try to resolve the problems. This rarely relates to
technical or operation issues because the team members typically know more about the tasks
being done than does the team leader. The leader is most likely to contribute by asking
penetrating questions by helping the team talk through problems and by getting needed resources
from external constituencies. For instance, when a team in an aerospace firm found itself
shorthanded its leader took responsibility for getting more staff. He presented the team’s case to
upper management and got the approval through the company’s human resources department.

3. Third, team leaders are conflict managers. When disagreements surface they help process
the conflict. What is the source of the conflict? Who is involved? What are the issues? What
resolution options are available? What are the advantages of each? By getting team members to
address questions such as these the leader minimizes the disruptive aspects of intra-team
conflicts.

4. Finally, team leaders are coaches. They clarify expectations and roles to teach, offer
support, Cheerlead, and do whatever else is necessary to help team members improve their work
Performance.

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Team Leadership
Your organization needs processes that can help jump-start new teams, breathe new life into
existing teams, and develop leaders who can dramatically impact team success.
Focusing on chartering, creating a vision, purpose and values, clarifying roles and goals,
developing appropriate leader and member skills, team decision making, and conflict resolution
causes productivity to soar.
Situational Team Leadership
The Situational Team Leadership program is designed to help organizations establish successful,
collaborative, and high-performing teams. The program provides a framework and processes for
organizing teams that are based on effective communication. It helps to jump-start team effectiveness,
build trust among team members, and promote collaboration.

Team Work is an ongoing team-building process for intact teams that want to achieve sustained
high performance. This process provides just-in-time training to address current work issues.

Using the chartering process, teams clarify their purpose and values, develop goals and strategies
to accomplish their tasks, and create a contract that captures the common understanding.

Team Leadership Function Interventions

 Internal Task Functions
Focus on goals by clarifying and/or getting agreement
Restructure plans, processes, roles, etc. in order to gain desired results (process improvement)
Guide the decision-making process so that better information is obtained, coordination is better,
Focusing on issues, etc. train members through both formal and informal means
Assess performance an confront when necessary
Internal Relationship Functions
Coach team members use more collaborative methods to involve all team members (this survey
includes questions to determine if the environment is collaborative)
 Manage conflict
Build commitment and esprit de corps through the use of ethos leadership
Satisfy team members' needs model what you expect from your team members

External Environmental Functions

 Network to increase influence and gather information.
 Advocate by representing your team so that it shows them at their best.
 Get support for your team by gathering resources and recognition for your team.
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 Buffer the team from environmental distractions

 Assess the environment through surveys and other performance indicators to determine
its impact on the organization.
 Share information with the team.
The Four Layers or Steps in the Team Leadership Model
1. Top layer: Effective team performance begins with leader’s mental model of the situation and
then determining if the situation requires Action or just Monitoring?
2. Second Layer: Is it at an Internal or External leadership level?
3. Third layer: Is it Task, Relational, or an Environmental intervention? Select a function depending
on the type of intervention. See the next section for explanation of Function Interventions.
4. Bottom layer: Correctly performing the above three steps create high Performance through
Development and Maintenance functions.
Your organization needs processes that can help jump-start new teams, breathe new life into existing
teams, and develop leaders who can dramatically impact team success.
Focusing on chartering, creating a vision, purpose and values, clarifying roles and goals, developing
appropriate leader and member skills, team decision making, and conflict resolution causes productivity
to soar.
Leadership
While leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge processed by the leader can be influenced by
his or hers attributes or traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and character. Knowledge and skills
contribute directly to the process of leadership, while the other attributes give the leader certain
characteristics that make him or her unique. Skills, knowledge, and attributes make the Leader, which
is one of the:
Traits of a Good Leader

Honest — Display sincerity, integrity, and candour in all your actions. Deceptive behavior will not
inspire trust.
Competent — Base your actions on reason and moral principles. Do not make decisions based on
childlike emotional desires or feelings.
Forward-looking — Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be owned throughout
the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to get it. They habitually pick
priorities stemming from their basic values.
Inspiring — Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in mental, physical, and
spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take charge when necessary.
Intelligent — Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.
Fair-minded — Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display
empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.

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Broad-minded — Seek out diversity.

Courageous — Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly
insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.
Straightforward — Use sound judgment to make a good decisions at the right time.
Imaginative — Make timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans, and methods. Show
creativity by thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and solutions to problems. Be innovative!
Four Factors of Leadership
1. Leader

You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do.
Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leader is
successful. If they do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To be
successful you have to convince your followers, not yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of
being followed.
2. Followers

Different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more
supervision than an experienced employee. A person who lacks motivation requires a different
approach than one with a high degree of motivation. You must know your people! The fundamental
starting point is having a good understanding of human nature, such as needs, emotions, and
motivation. You must come to know your employees' be, know, and do attributes.

3. Communication

You lead through two-way communication. Much of it is nonverbal. For instance, when you “set
the example,” that communicates to your people that you would not ask them to perform anything
that you would not be willing to do. What and how you communicate either builds or harms the
relationship between you and your employees.

4. Situation

All situations are different. What you do in one situation will not always work in another. You
must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for each
situation. For example, you may need to confront an employee for inappropriate behaviour, but if the
confrontation is too late or too early, too harsh or too weak, then the results may prove ineffective.
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The Most Important Keys to Effective Leadership

 Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee
satisfaction in an organization.
 Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning
organizational trust and confidence:
 Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.
 Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives.
 Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an
employee's own division is doing — relative to strategic business objectives.
Principles of Leadership
To help you be, know, and do, follow these eleven principles of leadership (U.S. Army, 1983).
The later chapters in this Leadership guide expand on these principles and provide tools for
implementing them:
Know yourself and seek self-improvement - In order to know yourself, you have to understand
your be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your
attributes. This can be accomplished through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interacting
with others.
Be technically proficient - As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with
your employees' tasks.
Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions - Search for ways to guide your
organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, they always do sooner or later — do not
blame others. Analyse the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.
Make sound and timely decisions - Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning
tools.
Set the example - Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they
are expected to do, but also see. We must become the change we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi
Know your people and look out for their well-being - Know human nature and the importance of
sincerely caring for your workers.
Keep your workers informed - Know how to communicate with not only them, but also seniors
and other key people.
Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers - Help to develop good character traits that will
help them carry out their professional responsibilities.
Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished - Communication is the key to
this responsibility.
Train as a team - Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section,
etc. a team; they are not really teams...they are just a group of people doing their jobs.

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Use the full capabilities of your organization - By developing a team spirit, you will be able to
employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.

Teamwork and Teams

A good place to start is with a dictionary. Teamwork is defined as: "co-operation between those
who are working on a task." Commonly teamwork is understood as co-operation and willingness to
work together. For example we often use the phrase:" he or she is a good team player", meaning that
they have the interests of the team at heart, working for the good of the team.

Teamwork though is not exclusive to teams. You can have good teamwork in a committee which
is not necessarily a team. Teamwork then, as in co-operation and effective working together, may
exist in groups which are not necessarily a team.
To define teamwork it may be worth clarifying what it isn't and thinking about the distinction
between teams and teamwork. In our view a team is in place when individual strengths and skills are
combined with teamwork in pursuing a common direction or cause to produce meaningful results for
the team members and the organisation. A team combines individual strengths with a shared
commitment to performance; it's not just about getting on well together. Teamwork is absolutely
necessary, in fact it is fundamental to a team, but teamwork is not sufficient of it self for a group of
people to be called a team. Only when teamwork is joined with the skills and strengths of individual
team members with shared goals and a focus on collective performance do you start to see the
benefits of a team at work.
Why does this matter? Well language can sometimes be confusing and teamwork is perhaps more
helpfully understood as only being a part of what is needed to having effective teams.
Based on this understanding of teams and teamwork, whilst you can't have a team without teamwork,
you can have teamwork without being a team!
Define teamwork: what you value and what you do
So having clarified the difference between a team and teamwork, how should we then define
teamwork? One way is to think of teamwork is as it is often commonly understood, as both an
attitude and a set of behaviours. It is about how people work together effectively. Attitudes come
from what you value and are expressed in how you behave. If you place a high regard on such things
as team spirit, valuing and respecting others, and that together you can achieve much more than being
apart, then what you do should reflect that, you behave accordingly. The French language has a
wonderful phrase for teamwork: esprit de corps. The spirit of a group that makes the members wants
to succeed. There is a sense of unity, of enthusiasm shared in common interests and responsibilities.
This is one of the reasons we suggest that you define teamwork together with your team, because
it is your own shared understanding and commitment to behaviours which will make teamwork work.
Think for a moment about what you value about teamwork?
Here are some thoughts and ideas which might help your thinking. Teamwork suggests that
people work in an atmosphere of mutual support and trust, working together cohesively, with good
inter-group relations. Each other's strengths are valued. It should also foster an increasing maturity of

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relationship, where people are free to disagree constructively, and where both support and challenge
are a part of helping teams work.

Self-Check 1 Written Test

Name: _________________________________ Date: _________________

Instruction: Answer all the questions listed below, if you have some difficulty doing this self check, feels
free to ask your teacher for clarifications.

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