Team Leadership in Today’s Working World.
https://hwrleadership.wordpress.com/page/2/
In Today’s workplace more and more organizations are making a transition from the ways of the past. When applying for leadership positions it is becoming more common to see them noted not as Supervisor’s as was common some odd number of years about but instead those positions are being touted as “Team Leaders.” So what is the difference between the two? Can you be a Supervisor and a Team leader at the same time? To answer that question first we have to look at what it means to be a Team Leader, to do so I have chosen a picture that I feel best portrays what it means to be a team leader.
More often than not when you hear the word Manager or Supervisor and then leader you probably picture something about like the photo below…
and in some way or another you are probably right about at least some of your assumptions. But if you look closer (at the right side of the picture) you will probably see several things are integral parts of team leadership.
Referencing the Hill Model of Team leadership We can see that our leader is focused not only on climbing the mountain(performance) but in bringing his team along with him(development). As indicated by Northouse excellent teams accomplish both of these objectives: getting the job done and maintaining a cohesive team”( 2016, pp. 368). In addition to being focused on team effectiveness our leader in the above situation is utilizing several task and relational “bullet points” from the Hill Model. First, it is most obvious that the leader/team is structuring the task to get the best results, by that I mean that they are seeing to it that each member of the team is brought to the same level prior to moving on to the next step in the process. On the relational side our team is Collaborating in their task of climbing the mountain, unlike the left side team, the right side team has recognized that some segments of the mountain cannot be conquered alone and they are “lifting” each other up along the way to the top.
Based on the picture above and an analysis of its ” hidden” meanings it would appear that no you cannot be a supervisor and a team leader at the same time. That being said I have to agree but with the supporting statement that, due to the truly situational nature of leadership, sometimes the call is for a supervisor while at other times a team leader is needed. In the case of the mountain climbing scenario above it sure would have been nice to see two team leaders.
Boss leader difference climbing a mountain [Graphic]. (2015). Retrieved from http://starecat.com/boss-leader-difference-climbing-a-mountain/
Northouse, P. G. (2015). Team Leadership. In Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed., pp. 364-396). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
teamk [Clip Art]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://hwrleadership.wordpress.com/page/2/
Rashiem Fuquan Page says
I would like to start off by saying this was an interesting blog topic for me in particular. The reason why I find this interesting is because this past week, I found myself actually practicing the team leadership theory without really understanding that I was going through the team leadership motions until I began to read the lesson on team leadership.
My current work position is assistant production supervisor / lead technician. In your blog you mention that “Based on the picture above and an analysis of its ” hidden” meanings it would appear that no you cannot be a supervisor and a team leader at the same time. That being said I have to agree but with the supporting statement that, due to the truly situational nature of leadership, sometimes the call is for a supervisor while at other times a team leader is needed.”
I do believe that you can be a supervisor and a team lead at the same time if we truly understand team leadership and study that aspect of the theory as much as we can. I believe that if a team leader / supervisor such as myself is capable of owning this dual role as long as I don’t let my personal “power issues” (Larson & Lafasto, 1989) as cited in Northouse (2016) get in the way of the team success when it comes to meeting the team goals.
One of the core components of team leadership is for the team leader to monitor their teams to make sure that the goals are being met. If the team leader notice that goals may not be met then they need to know when to intervene with their members to make a strategic choice as to the most appropriate action to take. Northouse (2016)
This past week, I noticed that my team was not making our daily production quota and then I took the appropriate action to rectify the issue. I shared leadership with another team member. I notified a member of my team that they will be responsible for getting a certain amount of cameras through a production process while I continued to work on a different process that was also critical. I took a risk in sharing this leadership responsibility with my team member as he has only been on the job for five weeks but he has proven himself to be very reliable. According to Northouse (2016), shared leadership is very important, does involve risk and takes some courage for members to step forward and provide leadership outside of their normal role. Once I shared the leadership duties. I noticed how the team member gathered up another team member and provided them with directions on how to accomplish the goals that we needed to accomplish.
Overall, when I look at the picture in your blog, I see myself acting accordingly in a dual role of supervisor and team lead at the same time by not focusing on my position of power but focusing on the critical functions of leadership as diagnosis and taking the appropriate action. Northouse (2016)
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.