We have all seen stories and images of American dream teams. Sports teams such as the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey and 1992 U.S. men’s basketball Olympic teams, innovative business teams that founded or rebuilt organizations like Mac and Ford, as well as teams of incredible scientists who have united to fight cancer, have all been labeled “dream teams” by the media. These teams have accomplished great goals, and it makes me wonder how the teams were assembled and how they worked together to achieve success. Accordingly, how can we as students and workers relate the elements of these “dream teams” into our everyday work groups?
Photo courtesy of: http://www.dreamstime.com/
A team is described as a “specific type of group composed of members who are interdependent, who share common goals, and who must coordinate their activities to accomplish these goals” (Northouse, 2013, p. 287). In 1986, researchers Hackman and Walton identified three components of effective teams (Pennsylvania, 2014):
- Clear, engaging direction
- Enabling performance situation comprised of a group structure that encourages task work, an organization context that promotes excellence, and provides coaching and assistance
- Adequate resources
An extraordinary team may contain additional elements. One or more “star players”, top performers, producers, or relative experts in their fields, could be team members. An example of an all-star team is Apple’s team of 600 talented engineers who developed, debugged, and deployed OS X in less than two years, compared to Microsoft’s team of 10,000 engineers who developed, debugged, deployed, and ultimately withdrew Windows Vista in five years (Mankins, Bird, & Root, 2013). However, a team comprised of all stars does not guarantee success. For instance, the movie Ocean’s Twelve starred Academy Award-winning cast members Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and was directed by Steven Soderbergh, an Academy Award recipient for Best Director. The movie was not nearly as successful as it had hoped (Colvin, 2006).
“Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships.” Michael Jordan
Regardless of team members’ star quality or lack thereof, each individual’s unique contributions should be recognized by the team. In addition, open and clear communication should be practiced, along with allowing full participation and continuous feedback. Extraordinary teams provide a feeling of cooperation because each member acknowledges the need for others’ expertise, knowledge, and skills. In addition, the extraordinary team must be willing to take some risks and work through mistakes from which to learn. This, in turn, helps to build trust and honesty. Conflict in extraordinary groups is seen as an opportunity to generate new ideas and solve problems. These types of teams also tackle decisions using varying methods depending on the time, commitment, and resources available (Arnold, 2013).
Team leadership can offered in the traditional leader-subordinate manner, or it can be shared by or distributed among team members, which is popular in today’s organizations (Northouse, 2013). Hill’s Model for Team Leadership (Hill Model for Team Leadership) provides a useful tool for understanding the elaborate nature of leading teams. Arnold (2013) expands on the functions of a leader(s) of an extraordinary team. These leaders share responsibility and rewards with their members, and the role might shift many times throughout the process. It is on the leaders’ shoulders to create a working atmosphere based on mutual trust and openness.
With all this in mind, when one combines all of the above elements into groups formed in the workplace or university, an efficient and successful team can be built. A clear vision must be established, and team members should offer both diverse and shared roles. Knowing when to offer your expertise to lead the group and when to step back are key functions of extraordinary team members. Open communication, full participation, and cooperation create an enjoyable, workable atmosphere in which team members can progress toward the common goal.
References:
Arnold, K. (2013, July 5). What makes a team extraordinary? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.extraordinaryteam.com/what-makes-a-team-extraordinary/
Colvin, G. (2006). Why dreams fail. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/30/news/newsmakers/failures1_greatteams_fortune/index.htm
Mankins, M., Bird. A., and Root, J. (2013). Making star teams out of star players. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2013/01/making-star-teams-out-of-star-players/ar/
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA, SAGE Publications, Inc.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus, (2014). Lesson Commentary 9: Team leadership. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp14/psych485/001/content/09_lesson/01_page.html
Great post! I really enjoyed the example between Apple and Microsoft’s engineering teams.
Expanding upon the leadership function here – the team itself is indeed carrying some of its own weight in decisions, direction, and cohesion, but leadership is still needed for internal and external factors, and this is where your coach and Steve Jobs types come into play.
Following McGrath’s Critical Leadership Functions – there are simple quadrants for exposure and analysis for our team leaders. Internal and external monitoring and executive action paths; diagnosing deficiencies, and forecasting changes; to taking remedial action and preventing deleterious changes (Northouse, 2013). These are things that the team themselves cannot accomplish, it takes somewhat of a bystander or a truly invested critic to recognize and implement issues and changes with the team strategy and action. So as much as you need your Michael Jordan and championship players, you also need your Phil Jacksons’ to lead the team to the victory, without a centralized and unified voice, the team will not be as successful.
Some of the functions this leader brings are as follows;
*Coaching team members
*Collaborating with the team
*Managing conflict and power struggles within the team
*Building commitment and team spirit
etc.
(Northouse, 2013)
These things the team cannot accomplish as one, it takes an individual or a smaller team to play these roles separately and in addition to the team’s daily activities.
The great thing is as you described; when both the team and the leadership are in strong synergy and play their parts well, they become a super team and their successes are clearly understood to be due to all members and leaders alike, and no one more than the other. That’s team leadership!
Reference
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA, SAGE Publications, Inc.