Leading Teams
What do team leaders do?
A team leaders can be thought of as the sporting team captain - part of the team yet also having the extra role of leader. With this may well come responsibility for issues like health and safety; aspects of team member development; work allocation, monitoring and control; encouraging continuous improvement; and handling specific operational problems.
Team leaders have as their primary responsibility the encouragement of team working; this means that they are less concerned with individual performance and more with the performance of the team as a whole. They will therefore have to develop skills which will help the team to work collaboratively, a process which is often initially slower because of the need to encourage discussion and develop agreement, rather than impose solutions. They will also need to be good at interpersonal issues, to overcome any tensions of disagreements within the team, and at communication, so that all team members know about and understand the issues which affect them and their work.
What makes a good team leader?
What most distinguishes good team leaders is their willingness to 'let go', to allow the team to function as a team and not attempt to control and direct, so that the dynamics of the team can operate. Leadership implies managing by example, modelling the behaviours which the team are expected to exhibit, rather than telling people what to do. True leadership this is very demanding, as it exposes team leaders far more, accountable for team performance, but reducing the responsibility for it, sharing this with the team members.
For the team there is greater control over their own work environment, job roles and tasks, coupled with team decision-making based on an understanding of the organisation and its environment - the characteristics of empowerment.
What skills do they need?
Given the significance of the individual skills of team members in team working, it is often the team leader's responsibility to identify the individual development needs and train/coach team members in the relevant skills, or to negotiate for the training needed. Where the team is involved in continuous improvement, team leaders often need specific skills of data analysis and problem solving, to help their team members to identify, establish the cause of, and find solutions to quality problems.
Since good team leaders rely on their ability to motivate others to perform to the highest standards, rather than to coerce them, they need good communication, interpersonal, problem solving, and training/coaching skills, as well as having the technical skills required by their team role. Team leaders don't have to be the most highly skilled members of their teams, but they must be at least as good as the majority, to be respected as a coach and mentor to others.
How do they acquire them?
The best way to develop team leaders is through a structured development programme. Building Success provides the means of doing this, offering a highly flexible set of materials which can be used to meet the needs of individuals, whether they are already in post as team leaders or are preparing for such a role.
The skills are best developed as part of an accredited programme, such as those available from the 2,000 centres approved to offer the ILM team leader awards. Building Success is approved by ILM for use on a team leader programme leading to any of their team leader qualifications. It can also be used on any other programme based on the national occupational standards in team leading.