Leading Teams

Revised Edition

Elearn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN: 9781136388279
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Management Extra brings all the best management thinking together in one package. The series fuses key ideas with applied activities to help managers examine and improve how they work in practice. Management Extra is an exciting, new approach to management development. The books provide the basis for self-paced learning at level 4/5. The flexible learning structure allows busy participants to study at their own convenience, minimising time away from the job. The programme allows trainers to quickly plan and deliver high quality, business-led courses. Trainers can select materials to meet the needs of their delegates, clients, and budget. Each book is divided into themes of ideal length for delivering in a training session. Each theme has a range of activities for delegates to complete, putting the training into context and relating it to their own situation and business. The books' lively style will stimulate further interest in the subjects covered. Guides for further reading and valuable web references provide a lead-in to further research. Management Extra is based on the NVQ framework to ease the creation of Diploma, Post Graduate Diploma or NVQ programmes for managers. It is accredited with all leading awarding bodies.

The shape of teams

Teams are made up of individuals – each unique in their values, attitudes, personality, talent, motivation, perception and abilities. An essential role of the team leader is to recognise and harness the talents of each individual and enable them to contribute to their full potential. This is managing individual difference – something you will consider later in this theme.

But a team is more than a group of people who are working together. Katzenbach and Smith define a team as:

. . .a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach, for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Source: Katzenbach and Smith (1994)

In other words, to be a team, the members must pursue a common goal and must agree that the only way to achieve that goal is to work together. Success depends on how effectively the individuals are able to collaborate. In a team, this is more important than any one individual's skills. Of course you'll have people who are brighter or more gifted than others, but from your point of view, there is a fine balance between recognising these contributions and ensuring everyone puts their efforts into working for the team.

Teams are not a new concept, but as organisations have flattened out their hierarchies over the past decade the demands on them have altered. New types of teams have emerged that make it possible for an organisation to be more flexible in the way it responds to its environment. These teams pose new challenges for managers, particularly when they need to be put together quickly or when the members are operating virtually.

In this theme you will:

♦ Recognise the characteristics of a successful team

♦ Explore the benefits of diversity and what is meant by managing individual difference

♦ Identify how developments in the workplace are transforming team structures

♦ Differentiate between types of teams and assess the implications of these team structures for managers.

Why teamworking

Work is a complex matter and teamwork can help you handle these complexities.

An organisation that can't handle complexity is doomed to deliver only the most simple products and services. More sophisticated planning methods might help but there is often no substitute for having the right people involved, together, as a team.

Source: Chaudhry-Lawton etal. (1993)

A cohesive team benefits the organisation. However, there are also important benefits for individuals – both the individuals on the team and for you, as the line manager. Table 1.1 highlights what some of these might be.

for the organisation		for the manager		for the team member
Work towards the same goals		All available talent is used		Know what they must achieve
Team objectives are in line with business objectives		Team members are accountable to one another – not just you		Feels supported and respected
Reduced costs – if job satisfaction levels are higher, there will be lower turnover		Problems are solved as a team		Is encouraged to ask questions
Creativity is enhanced		Can trust the team to get things done		Their opinion is valued
Willing and able to adapt to change		Conflict is creative not destructive		High level of trust. Will try new things and learn from their mistakes
Business objectives can be achieved		Evaluate their own effectiveness willingly

Table 1.1 The benefits of team working

The characteristics of a successful team

What makes an effective team?
So what, exactly, is an effective team? An effective team is open to ideas, achieves its goals, has high team commitment, is adaptive to change and is highly rated by upper management. However, whether a team is effective or not comes down to three determining factors:

1 The people within the team – including personal work satisfaction, mutual trust of colleagues and management, low conflict, no power struggles and good job security.

2 The organisation's rules and culture.

3 The tasks to be completed – including objectives, appropriate leadership, challenging work, appropriately skilled team members and team involvement in decisions.

It is easy to understand how organisational rules and job tasks impact on each other, but it is much more difficult to appreciate the impact of people-related factors such as trust.

Trust is a major component that allows people to form good working teams that achieve results. The primary responsibility for creating trust falls on the manager.

Yet data from the USA indicates more than half of staff do not believe what their firm's top management tells them, and over a third do not trust their immediate bosses.

Source: Harvard Davis (2001)

The measures given in Table 1.2 are a useful way of assessing your own team. They focus on the importance of relationships within the team, the organisation and the performance of the tasks. Table 1.2 also highlights the importance of balancing individual needs with the needs of the team, which is an idea you'll come across later in this book.

Purpose	Members can describe and are committed to a common purpose Goals are clear, challenging and relevant to purpose Strategies for achieving goals are clear The purpose is aligned to the organisational strategy
Performance	Progress is measurable Team rewards are evident Specific objectives are set within agreed timescales High standards of quality and output
Relationships	Individual roles are clear Members are individually accountable Members perform different roles and skills as required Individual roles are recognised and appreciated
Communication	Members express themselves openly and honestly Members listen actively to each other Different ideas and approaches are explored The team communicates with the wider organisation
Learning	Skills gaps are recognised and training provided Members coach each other The team reviews its learning on a regular basis Team accomplishments are recognised

Table 1.2 Characteristics of high-performing teams

Source: Jones et al. (1996)

Whether your team is effective by these standards will, to some extent, depend on how long you have worked together. For example, a new team may still act like a group of individuals who you have to manage closely, whereas an experienced team may naturally fall into roles that get the job done.

Clearly, the organisation, the work itself and the individuals on the team will have an impact on how long it takes to become truly effective. But perhaps the single most important factor is you and the strategies you adopt for developing the team to reach its true potential.

Activity 1

Looking at your team

Objective

This activity will help you to consider the purpose and characteristics of teams. It asks you to analyse the opinions and suggestions of members of your own team about how they work together as a team.

Task

At the next team meeting, discuss the following points with team members:

1 The purpose of the team – what it is trying to achieve and why it exists at all.

2 The roles within the team and how those roles contribute to the overall purpose of the team.

3 The benefits of working within a team.

4 Improvements or changes that could be made to the way the team works.

Document the results on flip charts. Then, when consensus has been reached, provide everyone with a definitive and agreed summary giving:

♦ the purpose

♦ how roles contribute to that purpose

♦ the benefits, as identified by the team

♦ any planned improvements, with timescales.

Feedback

Clearly the results will depend on who you talk to, the level of maturity of your team and the tasks in which they are engaged. Equally important is how willing people are to talk openly to you.

In terms of the purpose of the team, positive responses are statements that reflect how the team's role fits in with the overall aims of the organisation. In other words, how they contribute to fulfilling the strategy of the organisation. If this does not come across when you meet with team members, it is something you need to make clear when you deliver the results back to the team.

Similarly, when looking at individual roles and how they fit in with the overall purpose of the team, the best discussions are those that centre on taking a strategic view, rather than listing the key tasks people carry out day to day.

It's very easy for people to concentrate on what they do (input), rather than looking at the results and what they contribute (output). Again, these are important points to reinforce at the team meeting. It is a good way to build individual confidence and help individuals answer the question:‘Why am I here?’

The potential benefits of teamworking are many, such as having the support of others, using everyone's skills and solving problems creatively. If some members of the team struggle to highlight the benefits, you'll need to take action. It is probably ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of activities
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Series preface
• Introduction: the power of teams
• 1 The shape of teams
• 2 Approaches to leadership
• 3 Leadership in practice
• 4 Team building
• 5 Strengthening the team
• Reference