It's all about team leadership and management. How to lead a team and how to manage a team. Management skills and team leadership skills.

1. Team & Leadership

2. A team is more than just a
group of individuals who work
together
A team is a small number of individuals with
complementary skills committed to a
common purpose, common performance
goals, and an approach for which they hold
themselves collectively accountable

3. What do teams do?
While a team’s mission and goals
will clearly drive the activities it performs,
any team’s work tends to follow a typical
pattern
The team will:
Agree on an approach to the project
Develop a process to complete the tasks
Execute the process

4. What do teams do?
Evaluate and self-correct the process,
depending on the results of measurement
and analysis
Communicate with all parties involved
Cross-train members

5. Characteristics of productive teams
 The team culture engenders trust, sharing, spontaneity, and risk
taking
 Members participate in setting specific, realistic
goals(SMART).They agree with the goals and are committed
to them
 Team goals are as important as individual goals
 Members contribute a diverse, yet appropriate, mix of skills
and experiences
Decision making is by consensus, rather than
majority vote, when appropriate

6. Why a team might fail ?
Lack of management support and weak leadership are the most frequent drivers of team
failure. Other factors include the following:
A team focus limited to tasks, ignoring internal relationships
Team members who do not take responsibility for themselves
A structure that is mismatched to the number of people involved
Lack of a true need because individuals have independent,
not interdependent, tasks to fulfill
Team members who are uncomfortable with the teamwork processes
Inadequate resources to get the job done
Inadequate reward systems

7. Select members
Look not only for those people who currently possess the skills the team needs, but also for those
who have the potential to develop needed skills. While the ideal mix will vary depending on the
team’s mission, all teams require a blend of technical/functional expertise that include –
• Problem-solving and decision-making talents
* Interpersonal skills
* Team skills.
The optimal size for a team also depends on the team’s goals and tasks. In general, small teams
(five to nine members) tend to be most effective when the team’s tasks are complex and require
specific skills. Including an odd number of people on the team can facilitate decision making,
since "majority rules" votes will never end in ties.
Create the team’s goals and charter
Your team needs specific goals and deliverables around which it can focus its efforts

8. Decision rules
The choices of decision-making method (how) and the decision
makers (who) are closely related. Some approaches are-
Majority rules. Team members bring input to the meeting, discuss, and
then vote. The decision that receives over 50% of the votes is adopted.
Consensus. Every member of the team must agree to adopt a decision.
The team develops new alternatives if consensus is not reached.
Small group decides. A group of individuals with relevant experience
and skills is selected to make decisions.
Leader decides with input. The team leader gathers input from team
members, then makes the decision

9. Learn to operate as a team
Empowerment fosters a working environment based on trust and collaboration. Some individuals
may need some training to function effectively in the team setting. They may need to learn to
 Speak up in groups
 State their own opinions
 Set limits and be able to say “NO"
 Deliver constructive feedback, both positive and negative
 Respond to constructive criticism
 Make requests to authority figures; for example, stating what they need in terms of
organizational support
 Negotiate
 Take responsibility for their own actions

10. Becoming an Effective Team Leader
There are three important roles that a team leader generally plays on a high-performing work team.
Initiator: Beginning actions and processes that promote team development and performance
Model: Shaping behavior and performance that reflects the expectations set for the team
Coach: Serving as counselor, mentor, and tutor to help team members improve performance
Characteristics of an effective team leader
An effective team leader must
 Believe in the basic concept of teams and teamwork
 Provide direction for the team, either by setting its direction and goals or by ensuring that the team sets
goals
 Set clear expectations and provide feedback, both positive and negative, to support those expectations
 Maintain a focus on the team’s performance and development through regular meetings and discussions.

11. Establish decision rules
Clear rules on how the team’s decisions will be made will allow people to feel comfortable with
the decisions and support them. As team leader, you need to help the team determine-
 Who will make the decisions (team leader, team, individuals in the team)
 How you will make the decisions (consensus, majority)
 Whether decisions are always final or, if not, what kind of modification process is required?
When teams get "stuck”
Teams can get "stuck" mid-project for a variety of reasons. At times, members’ sense of direction may
weaken, either because it was ill-defined to begin with or because members have not continued to
discuss it among themselves.
There may be insufficient or unequal commitment to the team’s performance, resulting from excessive
focus on team dynamics or interpersonal conflict. Critical skill gaps may emerge, or the team may
encounter confusion, hostility, or indifference from other groups.

12. Many actions that a leader can take to help a team get "unstuck."
 Lead a team discussion that revisits its purpose, approach, and performance goals,
using the charter to illustrate. Probe for hidden assumptions and differences in
opinion, and work to resolve them.
 Establish a common, immediate goal and achieve it.
 Bring in new information and different perspectives from within the organization
or outside via benchmarks, case histories, interviews, or corporate visits.
 Change the composition of the team’s membership.

13. Reviewing the performance of individual team members
In reviewing performance, it is helpful to combine at least a couple of
the following methods to address performance in each of those roles:
 Peer rating. Team members assess each other’s contributions.
 Customer satisfaction rating. Internal and external customers rate
the performance of the team and of the individual members.
 Self-appraisal. Each team member rates his or her own
performance.
 Team leader review. You, as the team leader or the supervisor,
evaluate each individual’s performance.
 Management review. Department heads or managers of the team
leaders evaluate individual and team performance.

14. SUMMARY
Steps for Starting a Team
 Create a strategic focus.
 Identify the team’s purpose, its authority, and its duration.
 Select members carefully.
 Set early and realistic goals.
 Define the measures of success.
 Clarify the roles and responsibilities within and around the team.
 Create a charter for the team.
Steps for Leading an Effective Team
 Lead your team with a clearly defined purpose.
 Empower team members to participate in determining how to
achieve the team’s goals.
 Build consensus within the team.
 Direct the team’s process to stay focused on agreed-upon goals.