Leadership Team Coaching

During the later days of my corporate life, the organization of teams, task forces, special groups can be observed. I have even seen both the success and failure of such moves, but more on the success side wherein the team was able to achieve their goals, primarily with the members' drive, management support, clear goals, effective communication and monitoring of accomplishments even after the implementation of the projects.

Came across an interesting read . . .

Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”

Leadership by a group

In contrast to individual leadership, some organizations have adopted group leadership. In this situation, more than one person provides direction to the group as a whole. Some organizations have taken this approach in hopes of increasing creativity, reducing costs, or downsizing. Others may see the traditional leadership of a boss as costing too much in team performance. In some situations, the maintenance of the boss becomes too expensive - either by draining the resources of the group as a whole, or by impeding the creativity within the team, even unintentionally.

A common example of group leadership involves cross-functional teams. A team of people with diverse skills and from all parts of an organization assembles to lead a project. A team structure can involve sharing power equally on all issues, but more commonly uses rotating leadership. The team members best able to handle any given phase of the project becomes the temporary leaders. Additionally, as each team member has the opportunity to experience the elevated level of empowerment, it energizes staff and feeds the cycle of success.

Leaders who demonstrate persistence, tenacity, determination and synergistic communication skills will bring out the same qualities in their groups. Good leaders use their own inner mentors to energize their team and organizations and lead a team to achieve success.

According to the National School Boards Association (USA) . . .

These Group Leadership or Leadership Teams have specific characteristics:

Characteristics of a Team

* There must be an awareness of unity on the part of all its members.
* There must be interpersonal relationship. Members must have a chance to contribute, learn from and work with others.
* The member must have the ability to act together toward a common goal.

Ten characteristics of well-functioning teams:

Purpose: Members proudly share a sense of why the team exists and are invested in accomplishing its mission and goals.
Priorities: Members know what needs to be done next, by whom, and by when to achieve team goals.
Roles: Members know their roles in getting tasks done and when to allow a more skillful member to do a certain task.
Decisions: Authority and decision-making lines are clearly understood.
Conflict: Conflict is dealt with openly and is considered important to decision-making and personal growth.
Personal traits: members feel their unique personalities are appreciated and well utilized.
Norms: Group norms for working together are set and seen as standards for every one in the groups.
Effectiveness: Members find team meetings efficient and productive and look forward to this time together.
Success: Members know clearly when the team has met with success and share in this equally and proudly.
Training: Opportunities for feedback and updating skills are provided and taken advantage of by team members.

Source: Wikipedia