1. EFFECTIVE TEAM LEADERSHIP
Jesca N. Mbaka
AWARD Fellow 2008-2010
Mentor: Dr Lusike Wasilwa
Presented in the KARI-Thika Seminar Series
15th May 2009

2. Background
• A current fellow in the African Women in Agriculture
Research and Development (AWARD)
• Competitive selection of Post Bsc, Msc, PhD women in
Agriculture from 10 African countries
• 960 applicants in 2008
• 60 selected on basis of potential for leadership &
• Potential to impact on rural livelihoods of especially women
and children

3. African Women Leadership and management
course
• Designed and conducted by the Training
Resource group (TRG) of USA
(http:/www.trg.inc.com)
• Attended from 24th January-1st February 2009
at Safari Park Hotel
• 360 feed back on leadership skills was done
prior to this
• Appreciation to all who took their time to do it for
me

4. Responsibilities of a leader
• To identify & communicate core values and principles that
guide organizational behavior and decision making
• To ensure re-enforcement of the reward system
• monetary and non monetary( inclusion and access)
• Should recognize and promote desirable behavior
• Should punish undesirable behavior

5. What leaders are
• Usually visionary
• Effective communicators & decision makers
• Intelligent
• They respect and value individuals and their dignity
• They have total honesty and integrity
• They are kind
• They often see themselves as “Teacher’

6. Difference between Leadership and Management
Leadership Management
Establishing Direction Planning and budgeting
Aligning people Organizing and staffing
Motivating and inspiring Controlling and problem
solving

7. Emotional intelligence in leadership
Emotional intelligence is:
• Being aware of yours and others’ feelings
• Being smart with your emotions
• Using your passions to motivate yourself and
others
• Knowing how to keep your distressing emotions
under control

8. Emotional Competence Framework
Self Awareness
• Knowing what drives us and what we are
passionate about. This leads to;
• Jobs that make us happy, where we will be
more productive
• Relationships, both working and personal,
where we will be more constructive and positive
• Lives that are more honest which will make us
more satisfied

9. Emotional Competence Framework…..
Self Regulation
• Monitor your self talk (don’t feel like a victim,accept
responsibility and take appropriate action- FMR report!!!)
• Accept responsibility of your emotional responses at the
workplace
• Anticipate emotional triggers and prepare to manage
them (Ample time, soothing music, body workouts)
• Reframe an irritating situation into a problem solving
exercise ( no chairs in the dining hall? What should be
done?)

10. Emotional Competence Framework…..
Self Regulation
• Use Humor (give upset people something to
laugh about to boost your mood and make
you less critical)
• Never under-estimate the power of taking
deep breaths (increasing the level of oxygen
in the brain eases tension, relaxes your
psyche and body)
• Remove your self from the situation and
keep moving (redirect your energy to new
areas-clearing desks, checking e-mail, a walk
around the building)

11. Emotional Competence Framework…..
Self- Motivation
• Be aware of how to explain setbacks to your self
realize you can control and choose what you are thinking
and feeling (my own on KARI promotions and salaries)
• Connect your goals with your values to get energized
Tie your work to something that has meaning to you
Keep your eyes to the goal and follow through
Enjoy the satisfaction of completing whatever project you
began

12. Emotional Competence Framework…..
Self- Motivation
• Strive for reaching a flow state while working on projects
Be completely consumed in the moment
Being so focused on the task at hand that your mind is
oblivious of everything else
It leads to performance in the best ability

13. Emotional Competence Framework…..
Self- Motivation
• Visualize
Create a vision of the challenge you will be facing
experience the feelings as you are already going through it
This helps prepare and calm you for the real event
Stirs up your enthusiasm and instills confidence
• Keep learning
Pursuit of knowledge will build on your areas of strength
Increases your value and versatility

14. Emotional Competence Framework…..
Empathy-Being able to see in another
person’s perspective
• Look for non verbal cues as well as
listening for verbal ones
• Share and be honest about your feelings
• Be consistent so that your spoken and
unspoken messages match
• Take the kinder road whenever possible
• Try to see from the other person’s
perspective

15. Leadership in effective teams
A team
• people with different views and perspectives coming
together
• putting aside their narrow self-interests
• and discussing issues openly and supportively
• in an attempt to solve a larger problem or achieve a
broader goal

16. Functions of a team leader
Establishing direction
• Development and communication of vision
Aligning People
• Getting people to understand and believe the vision
• Communicating the vision repeatedly to all involved

17. Functions of a team leader….
Motivating and Inspiring
• To energize people to overcome major
obstacles towards achieving a vision and
producing change by;
Communicating
Involving others
Supporting through feedback, coaching,
modeling and enthusiasm
Recognizing and rewarding all successes

18. Team member’s Actions/Attitudes
Core competency
• Having sufficient experience to do the job
well
• Having the necessary problem solving ability
to overcome those obstacles that invariably
arise on the team’s path to its goal
Openness
• Being able to say what is on one’s mind
• Listen and talk to each other about behaviors
and attitudes that hinder team work

19. Team member’s Actions/Attitudes…
Supportiveness ‘Getting the best out of others’
• Encouraging someone whose confidence is
wavering
• Helping others overcome obstacles
• Its not passive acceptance of whatever might be
going on but
• Active attention to what needs to be done for the
team to be successful
• Team members appreciate and acknowledge the
contribution that others are making to the team’s
success

20. Team member’s Actions/Attitudes…
Action orientation
• Makes deliberate effort to make something
happen
• Willingness to prod, suggest courses of action
• Willingness to experiment, try something
different
• Encourage others to take action
• Not waiting for others to do something about the
problem or opportunity at hand

21. Team member’s Actions/Attitudes…
Positive Personal Style
• Energetic, optimistic, engaging, confident and
fun to work with
• There are people who take the heart out of you
and those who put it back
• something you might not even remember saying
may have a devastating impact on someone
looking to you for guidance and approval

22. Principles to follow when wanting to take team
conversations and actions to deeper realm
• Acknowledge one another as
equals
• Stay curious about each other
• Recognize that we need each
other’s help to become better
listeners
• Slow down so we have time to
think and reflect
• Remember that conversation is
the natural way humans think
together
• Expect it to be messy at times

23. Strategic considerations in team building
Agreement and Trust (Dimensions of influence)
• Level of agreement on
Goals
Direction
Issues

24. Strategic considerations in team building…
• Level of Trust (Behavior)
Credibility ( can you trust what they say?)
Predictability ( will they behave the same way?)
Reliability ( can they be counted on to do what
they say?)

25. Strategic influencing

26. Strategic considerations in team building…
Categories of people
Ally ( High agreement/High trust)
• Satisfied clients, colleagues, staff
• supportive
• trust them to talk honestly about vision, goals
etc.
• can get advice from them to guide your decisions
• can do for you what you can’t do for yourself
(deal with adversary)

27. Categories of people…
Bedfellow (High agreement/low trust)
Hidden agenda
• Will agree with you, but may not be able to
commit for political reasons
• Never sure whether she/he will follow through
• Tend to say yes without checking to make sure
they can deliver on promise

28. Categories of people…
Fence sitter )?Agreement ? Trust)
• Never sure where he or she stands
• riddled with doubt
• No evident agenda-yet they won’t commit

29. Categories of people…
Opponent: Low agreement/low trust
Brings the best in us
• helps provide honesty to problem solving
• dialogue with those who trust us but don’t agree with us

30. Categories of people…
Adversaries: Low agreement/low trust
Not to be confused for opponents. They just hate
you
• When negotiations and attempts to influence
them have failed

31. Strategic influencing Approaches
Allies
• seek their support in dealing with adversaries
• Share your plans, doubts, fears and needs with them
• Ask for their advice
Opponents
• Tell them you value them as they will tell you the truth
• Recognize where you disagree
• State your intention to work together and reach
agreements
• Ask them what it would take them to agree and support
your goals

32. Strategic influencing Approaches….
Bedfellows
• Identify shared goals
• Acknowledge the strain in your relationship and the luck
of trust without going to details
• Tell your hopes of an improved working relationship and
any changes you plan to make in your behaviour/actions
• Ask them what they think would establish a better
working relationship

33. Strategic influencing Approaches….
Fence sitters
• Tell them your position and ask where they stand
• State what you want in the way of support from them
• If they continue to be non-committal, express
disappointment about not knowing where they stand
• Ask them what it would take for them to support your
ideas

34. Strategic influencing Approaches….
Adversaries
• Acknowledge the strain in the relationship and the lack
of trust
• Tell your concern about what is going on and invite
them to do the same
• Tell them if you have contributed to the problem
• Express your hopes for an improved relationship
• Make no demands on them; do not try to change them
• If you have plans to pursue your agenda despite their
opposition, say so

35. Parting Short
‘Allof us have a God in us, and that
God is the spirit that unites all life,
everything that is on this planet. It
must be this voice that is telling me to
do something, and I am sure it’s the
same voice that is speaking to
everybody who seems to be
concerned about the fate of the world,
the fate of this planet’
Wangari Maathai
Nobel Prize Winner 2004