TEAM EFFECTIVENESS: ROLE OF LEADER AND

INDIVIDUALS
A leaders role in the teams is that of a facilitator. A leader plays very important role in guiding
team members and motivating them to stay focused. A team leader is the one who sets goals and
objectives for team members. However, the leader alone should not set the goals. He should
invite suggestions from group members. All the issues must be discussed in an open forum. He
must ensure the members are aware of their roles and responsibilities. The role of a team leader
is that he should attain 2 key priorities:

Facilitating team process

It is the job of the team leader to help the team members develop innovative ideas to the existing
problem, stay committed to bottom-line results and avoid sub optimization. The leader must also
help and support the team members which helps them develop the skills required to do their own
job and work smoothly with other team members.

Manage the teams external boundaries

The team leader also facilitates the teams link to other units as well as higher level employees.
Team leader must clarify others expectation from the team, he must share the information, gather
the performance data, and secure the required resources. The leader will also try to rectify and
minimize the hindrances that come in the way of team performance. A leader should also help
the members when they are unable to perform the specified task. However, the leader can attain
success only if the members of the team follow the instructions laid by him.
According to Richard Hackman and Dick Waltons functional theory of leadership- Monitoring
and taking action are the two primary behaviors the team leader have to use to accomplish
these priorities. They monitor both, the team and external environment for changes and take
necessary actions to respond constructively to the changes. These activities are directed towards
the team as a whole, to individual or to the teams external environment, at different times.

This description of the leaders role, however, does not provide much assistance to a person
facing difficulty to get adjusted to his or her new job. Yet its no secret that a new leader do
encounter problems. At the time when the team members need autonomy, the leader might try to
retain control. They may abandon the teams at times when the team needs their help. These
difficulties mainly arise because the evolution from the supervisor to the leader is not trivial. It
may threaten the identity of the individuals, since team leaders are required to use new skills and
change the behavior pattern. It can disrupt an individuals understanding as to what kind of
valuable contribution he or she can make.

Example of FORTUNE 500 Company

A tool was created to identify the problems faced by leaders in new role and develop remedies.
This tool was created after observing the problems that are encountered by the most excellent as
well as some less effective leaders in two electronic manufacturing plants.
The data collection included an intensive observation (one week per leader for each of 12
leaders) over a period of 8 months, supplemented by interviews, surveys and archival documents
from leaders and cross-section of others in the plant. The team leaders we studied were from
different group, including youth with engineering background and few older leaders who had
been promoted through the ranks. All made the transition to the new team leader role during the
past 4 years. All the leaders faced some or the other difficulty. This lead to development of a
diagnostic tool that would be useful to all team leaders.

FOUNDATIONS OF DIAGNOSTIC FRAMEWORK

Framework developed for diagnosing team leader difficulties consists of two dimensions. The
vertical dimension consists of three critical relationships a person has at work: with ones self,
with lower and higher employees, and with peers. The other dimension describes three types of
workplace problems: organizational, psychological and behavioral. The decision to comprise
three relationships within the framework was based on research on managerial behaviour and
leadership, which shows that much of managers work involves relationships with others. John
Kotter, Allan Cohen and many other authors have argued that relationship building is central to
effective leadership.

Building blocks for team leader effectiveness (Nanette Fondas)

In addition to the three key relationships, it demonstrates how the relationships can be
strengthened or weakened by three mechanisms:
Job design features- an individuals psychological reaction to his or her role, and his or her
behavior or process skills. Researches have demonstrated the efficacy of these three
mechanisms for understanding the problems that an individual faces at work. Specifically, work
design theory describes how the individuals are affected by structure of an organization.
RICHARD HACKMAN and GREG OLDHAMs work shows how job holders are affected by
characteristics of the work itself, including its autonomy and type of feedback they receive.
Writers such as Edward Lawler and David Hanna have focused attention on how an
organizations reward system influences individual behaviour and productivity.
The second mechanism that affects the leaders work performance is his or her psychological
development. Many authors argue that we cannot fully understand a leaders actions and
problems unless we examine the psychological context in which they occur. In particular, the
situation will influence a leaders approach to authority and ability to take initiative on the job.
Finally, a leaders performance is affected by his or her behavioral skills- that is, his or her ability
to manage the processes of goal setting, communication, interpersonal influence, group
facilitating, conflict resolution etc.. Studies on managerial work and behaviour show that if
managers have to be effective or if they have to avoid derailing and run a promising career then
they must develop these practical skills.
All these three above mechanisms are the building blocks of the team leaders effectiveness. And
all three blocks need to be present if the top level management is to build an organization in
which the teams and leaders can achieve their potentials.

The main roles that a team leader has to play - Farid A Muna (2006)
Leader as Gardener
The four main tasks that a gardener has is preparing the soil, selecting the seeds, taking care of
the garden, and harvesting. Similarly, leaders when cultivating human resource follow these four

tasks. Preparing the soil in organizations means laying down the infrastructure like creating right
corporate culture, establishing effective policies, systems and practices for HR, and connecting
technical and human competencies to strategy. Selecting the seed means process of Recruitment
and selection of talented and self- motivated employees. This is perhaps the most critical task
which a leader is involved in. Otherwise, one ends up with the problem of GIGO (garbage in
garbage out). Taking care of the garden includes watering and fertilizing from time to time
(compensation, training and career development), trimming and weeding (succession planning,
performance evaluation and terminating the job of unfit employees). Harvesting means
celebrating success with good rewards, promotions, seeing better quality, high customer loyalty,
higher market share and superior return on equity. However, without the involvement of
individual team members it is impossible for a leader to carry out the functions. So leaders
function along with the involvement of team members will reap them what they sow.

Leader as GOOSE
Three lessons a leader can learn from the geese
Work as a team
These birds wander long distances flying in V formation. This formation leads to lesser wind
resistance, which allows the whole group to add around 70 per cent greater flying range
compared to each bird flying alone. Any bird who leaves this formation risks punishment from
the wind or from its colleagues. Geese find out quickly that it pays handsomely to be team
players.
Wise leadership
Leader at the peak of the V when gets tired, he is relieved by another goose. Leaders rotate,
empower, and even step down when it is in the best interest of the team. How often do we see
this happening among organizational leaders? Wise leaders ensure that their followers are skilled,
well trained and developed in order to achieve true empowerment and meet the objectives.
Humane behavior
If a goose drops to the ground when it gets hurt or sick, two of its fellow members go down with
it to take care of it until it either gets fit or dies. Unfortunately, in this fast-paced and competitive
world, we rarely see managers going out of their way to help their fellow members who are in
trouble. Finally, geese display other caring behavior: they are family- oriented; they mate for life,

and are very protective in nature. In firms, morale, loyalty and productivity increase when
employees are treated humanely.

Leader as abacus
In an interview with Michael Dell and Kevin Rollins, which appeared in Harvard business
review, they emphasized that a leader has to be finance oriented in addition to whatever he or she
is specialized with. Wise leadership is about enhancing the long-term value of the firm by
preserving overhead and operating expenses and at the same time increasing the growth and
profit margins. Understanding corporate finance and its jargon is not nearly as difficult as one
would expect.

Leader as a captain
Leaders are like captains. Captains know their objectives and also means to achieve
it. Similarly, leaders role is to direct the members and set strategy for the
organization. A leaders role is to articulate the vision of the organization. A leader
must also be able to develop a bridge to use for the journey towards the desired
future. Moreover, a leader builds this bridge keeping in mind the core ideology and
values of the organization. He or she takes into account the unique competitive
advantages, utilizing the existing capabilities and competencies and creating new
ones in order to deliver future products and services. Like the captain, a leaders
role is to communicate the vision and values of their organization. They have to
continually measure the progress on key metrics. Only then a leader can motivate
and inspire the members to work hard and smart to achieve the organizations goals.

Leader as a worldly mindset

Culture, according to many people, is the way societies act based on their beliefs, values,
customs, norms and attitudes; which are usually rooted in their history, geography, religion and
philosophy. In short, culture is a way of life. The term worldly mindset is borrowed from
Mintzberg and is different from global mindset. Worldly mindset accepts, understands and
respects the cultural differences. On the other hand, global mindset implies convergence over
time towards the culture.
A leaders worldly mindset requires:

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Ability to view the overall context (helicopter view)

Respect for different cultures
Bridging various cultures: cross cultural communication
Developing business strategies: taking into account product and service preferences.
Formulating strategies for next generation worldly leaders.

Leader as negotiator
Every one of us have negotiated since childhood. We did it with our friends, parents and
teachers. However, ranking systems at school, nature of sports and other competitive events have
encouraged and rewarded the win and lose outcomes. Leaders negotiate with their own
organizations and from the outside, from within the same culture and also across other national
cultures. They negotiate with customers, employees, suppliers, government officials, just to
mention a few. Incidentally, studies say that culture is a very important variable which impacts
the negotiating style as well as the final outcome.
It is true that all negotiations do not end with win-win outcomes; a smart leader knows when to
walk away from either win-lose or lose-win situations. A leader must also communicate to his
team members that sometimes "no deal" is far better in the long run than a one-sided transaction.
And when it comes to strategic decision making processes in the organizations, studies show that
bargaining and negotiating among the leaders shape the decisions taken by the organization.

Leader as acrobat
A leader has to handle multiple tasks in a rapidly changing business environment and also
balance work, family and personal life. An effective leader is one who is aware differences
between urgent and important tasks. He or she is excellent at identifying, setting, and
communicating business prioritiesespecially during fast-changing times. Long-term goals and
objectives are always taken into account when setting these priorities. However, the leader has to
not only look after the work at the work place, he should equally look after the family and
personal life prospects.

Conclusion
A leaders role is very important in the context of team effectiveness. Leader must guide team
members towards his expectations. He or she must give either the means or the ends to team
members. A leader should not give both ends and means. If he or she does so then the power of
autonomy to the team members is not there. If there is no autonomy with the team members then
they will lose the interest towards their work and will not be able to achieve the ends. However,
with the guidance of the team leader and autonomy to team members, ends of the organization
becomes easy to achieve.

REFERENCES:
1. Execution without excuses. (March 2005). An interview with Michael Dell and Kevin
Rollins.
Harvard Business Review, 102-111.
2. Mintzberg, H. (1973). The nature of managerial work. Harper & Row.
3. Muna, F. A. (August 2004). Cultivating HR: The leader as gardener. Organizations &
People.
4. Muna, F. A. and Mansour, N. (2005). Leadership lessons from Canada geese. Team
Performance Management, 11, 5: 316-326.

5.

The General Managers,

by John Kotter (New York: Free Press, 1982)