LEADERSHIP AND TEAM BUILDING

Assignment-1

Answer -1

Self-managed Teams

A self-managed team is a group of employees that's responsible and accountable for all or most
aspects of producing a product or delivering a service. Traditional organizational structures
assign tasks to employees depending on their specialist skills or the functional department within
which they work. A self-managed team carries out supporting tasks, such as planning and
scheduling the workflow and managing annual leave and absence, in addition to technical tasks.
Management and technical responsibilities are typically rotated among the team members.

Benefits of Self-Managed Teams

Self-managed teams have greater ownership of the tasks they perform and the end product or
service they deliver. Self-managed teams tend to be loss costly and more productive than
employees working within a traditional hierarchical structure because the team performs both
technical and management tasks. Team members may also fill in for each other to cover holidays
and absences. Decisions made by self-managed teams are more effective because they're made
by the people who know most about the job.

Disadvantages of Self-Managed Teams

Although a cohesive self-managed team may create a sense of trust and respect between team
members, overly cohesive teams can lead to "groupthink": Team members are more likely to
conform with team norms than raise issues that may upset other team members. This may lead to
reduced effort or stifled innovation. Teams may struggle to make the transition from supervisor-
led management to self-management, either due to lack of interpersonal skills or poor
implementation of the self-managed team concept within the organization.

Answer 2.

Strategy to build a heigh performance team

1. Build a diverse team

Different points of view are a good thing. This is good to keep in mind when hiring as perhaps as
a business owner you’re looking for people that think and act exactly like you, assuming that this
would profit your business. But, this is not only very difficult to find, it just doesn’t make sense
for business.

Building a diverse team, including people from different backgrounds, experiences and from
diverse cultures creates an environment where you can benefit from different points of view.

2. Appreciate your team

When managers don’t recognise or reward hard work, this makes employees want to do less of it.
In the long term, people can become uninspired and apathetic. It can be as simple as saying
“thank you” for a job well done, and adding in performance related bonuses certainly helps.

People want to know they’re doing a good job and are valued on a consistent basis. If they’re
doing well, simple words of encouragement are easy, inexpensive and motivational methods of
encouragement.

3. Always put the team first

If you’re after an effective and creative company culture, your staff has to be your main priority.
Albeit, many companies put customers first, which is a usual business strategy but if your own
nest isn’t in order, how will you be able to please your customers at all?

As a business leader, you want a high performing team that is there no matter what. Needs no
drilling, committed to the job, and constantly learning and improving. Many leaders, regardless
of industry, would agree that having the right attitude is more important than technical skills, in a
lot of cases.

4. No more pointless meetings

That is: meetings for the sake of meetings, A.K.A “a waste of time”. This often happens in large
organisations where processes have been put in place to create efficient work but instead create
the opposite. Realising that you’re having unproductive meetings and canning these where
possible, shows people you respect their time.

5. Excellent communication is worth the effort

Not being clear on what needs to be done or when, or changing goal-posts without clearly
documenting and sharing these means that employees miss important tasks and become
increasingly frustrated. A clear flow of communication benefits everyone.

6. Group problem-solving
This is especially effective for smaller companies where people have to work together, even
from different and unrelated teams, to complete projects.

Try group problem solving as a team-building activity, for example in a brainstorming session
where people with entirely different skill sets and perspectives must work together. This can
stimulate creativity and bring unexpected breakthroughs in thinking.

7. Encourage free thinking (and speaking)

There’s not always a need for diplomacy. It’s important that people feel that they can speak their
mind freely, so encourage your team members to talk openly rather than worrying about being
nice or politically correct.

8. Don’t forget the fun factor

Remember those really “fun” (read: dreaded) corporate parties and unbearably long weekly
meetings? Create a – genuinely – enjoyable environment, by encouraging everyone to be
themselves and have fun.

Bad leadership, intentional or not, is toxic to the whole organization. Even the most driven and
highest performing employees need good leaders. A key strategy is to develop your managers
and leadership team as a matter of priority.