Most recently, our information age and virtual capabilities have been growing so rapidly that scientific studies cannot even keep up with the new demand for leadership methods and styles that can be used for successful leadership. In this day in age, organizations are looking for ways to prescribe methods to work teams in virtual settings to put them in a position to be successful, just like any other work team. The Team Leadership model focuses on the leadership process for the prescribed leader, but also recognizes that a successful team can have several leaders playing different leadership roles (Northouse, 2013). This aspect is very important in a virtual team because you need to have the capability to be your own leader working remotely and separately from a collocated team. This is why utilizing the team leadership model proves successful for virtual teams.
Let’s first discuss this idea of several leaders on an individual work team. This idea reminds me very much of the way geese work together to fly long distances. The geese fly in the ‘V’ formation because their wings create an upward lift making it easier for the goose behind them to fly with less effort. As a goose falls out of formation, it immediately feels the drag and re-enters the formation and if the lead goose gets tired, it can fall back and let another goose lead the way to relieve some of the stress (teambuilderplus.com). This relates back to a lot of what is described by the Team Leadership model in this regard. There can be several leaders, all pulling their own weight in order to have successful outcomes. With a 50% greater time investment demanded of team leaders of virtual teams (Northouse 2013), it is essential that each team member pull their own weight, making it easier for each member on the team. Most of us probably know from experience that you can immediately feel the drag if someone is not, much like the geese. Because of this greater demand on time of the leader, it is also important that other team members have the willingness and resources to also step up as the leader when that is necessary. As the Team Leadership model suggests, it is the leader’s responsibility to do whatever it takes to help the team be successful (Northouse 2013) and that includes letting others step up to the plate to perform leadership roles.
The Team Leadership model provides a cognitive model for leaders to use in order to make sense of an evolving team, taking into consideration internal and external factors. In a virtual team, this is even more important. Communication is key with all members of the group, even if not located centrally. It is even more important in these groups to gain trust with one another and understand the goals of the group. Innovative uses of communication platforms are a great place to start (PSU, WC, 2014, L. 09). In order for a leader in a virtual team to make leadership decisions to monitor or take action, if that action will be task or relational and if it deals with internal or external factors must be discussed and monitored through virtual venues. Without being able to first make those leadership decisions, a leader cannot be successful according to Hill’s Model for Team Leadership (Northouse, 2013). Some effective ways to communication virtually are one on one phone calls with team members to understand their internal efforts, demands, skills, etc…conference calls with all team members, or members who are completing a certain task to see how they are functioning and if any action needs to be taken at any level. Video conference, to see faces and help perceive the body language that we do not get in a collocated setting can be helpful too. The bottom line is that leaders need to be able to make leadership decisions, whether that’s the prescribed leader or another member on the team who is emerging as a team leader for a specific task. In order to make those decisions in an effective way and assess situations virtually, you must communicate using several methods both with individual team members and with the group as a whole in order to monitor. This is another great reason that proves using the Team leadership model is successful for virtual teams, because it takes into consideration that communication is important not just between leaders, but also between its members. You must stay connected in order to monitor, which is the first step in this method (Northouse 2013).
I personally live the life of a virtual team member in my work group. I work in a large organization with many virtual team members working remotely from home or in other offices across the country. I see the Team leadership model being used on a daily basis to monitor how we communicate, how effective we are being, how we feel internally about ourselves and about the others that we work with to help our leaders understand if action is necessary and then if it might be task or relational and internal or external. Our leaders provide us with the tools and resources necessary to do our jobs effectively and constantly check in with us to see if there is something that could be done better. Just as Northouse describes a sports team, just because we’re doing a great job does not mean that we cannot be doing better. Our leaders recognize that continual planning and monitoring must happen to ensure that they remove the roadblocks by taking action before the road blocks become unmanageable. They also provide each of us with project s and tasks and expect us to be leaders within those projects in order to meet the goals and needs of the entire organization. Without the collaborative leadership efforts of most of our team members and the effective communication to exhibit that trust and friendship, I cannot imagine that we would be successful. The virtual world of work is much different that a collocated team, both of which I have worked in. You must become aware of your communication styles and those of your leaders, as well as what communication venues are available so you can effectively communicate with each other so they can effectively monitor and take action when necessary. Without that collaborative effort my virtual team would not be successful.
The Team Leadership model provides a model for leaders to assess the workings of a team and also helps those leaders understand when and how to potentially take action to resolve conflicts, improve team performance and team cohesiveness just to name a few (Northouse 2013). This model serves well in the virtual work team environment because in virtual teams especially a leader has the opportunity to sit back and think about the decisions they are making before they pick up a phone or write an email when taking a call to action. I have seen this model work effectively for my virtual team. I did not realize it was a prescribed method until recently, but from the nitty gritty details of providing clear task instructions, role responsibilities, team building efforts, training and education this model holds true for the virtual teams I have served in. The Team Leadership model has proven successful for my virtual team.
References
Northouse, P. (2013). Introduction. In Leadership Theory and Practice (Sixth ed.). Sage Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014). PSYCH 485 Lesson 09: Team Leadership. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/002/content/09_lesson/printlesson.html
Team Building Lessons We Can Learn From Geese. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2014, from http://teambuildersplus.com/articles/team-building-lessons-we-can-learn-from-geese