8 Steps of Leadership for Team Success
Do your team leaders have authority to direct their teams to win championships?
Teams most often come together as the result of coincidence and not design. For example, people land on teams based on positions they hold. In a company or division where all department heads are on a team, a person’s position as a department head puts that person on a team by default.
In creating teams, good team leaders are more effective when they have authority over ever step in the team process.
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- Leaders select the team members based on the match of team goals and the mix of skills and competence of the team members.
- Leaders clearly state the goal for the team: e.g., “The purpose of this team is to design a new company logo.”
- Leaders direct the team to develop the plan for the team to fulfill its purpose as the first step in reaching the team’s goal.
- Leaders establish high expectations for team members. It is not enough that team members have the skills and knowledge for the goals of a team. A good leader is able to raise the performance of the team by instructing team members on how to apply their skills and knowledge
- Leaders keep the team focused on daily activities. The keyword in this phrase is daily activities. Groups of people can easily start discussions that are off track. Some of these discussions may even be about the goal of the team, but be off the topic of the team’s activities for the day. For example, today the teams needs to discuss selecting a design company to create the logo for print and Internet. Discussing the specifications or purpose of the logo may not be useful for today’s purpose.
- Leaders guide the team to assess the teams’ progress on the plan and to make adjustments to stay on schedule.
- Leaders decide the next goal or purpose of the team.
- Leaders decide when to add team members or to create new teams for multiple goals or new purposes.
