Be A Tool

 

Have you ever been called a tool? Would you consider this a compliment or an insult if you had been?

Dictionary.com reports that the slang definition of a tool is “a person manipulated by another for the latter’s own ends.” That’s not very nice, but what if we reframe how we view this adjective. To help with this reframe I would like you to locate a Phillips head screw that has been put into an object around you. Using nothing more than your hands, how would you get the screw out? If this is an extremely cheap object, it may not be extremely difficult, but if the object is high-quality, it will take you a very long time to achieve your goal. Now imagine that you have a Phillips head screwdriver and the strength to use it. How much more efficient are you with this tool?

Northouse (2016) defines the team as a “group that is composed of members who are interdependent, who share common goals, and who must coordinate their activities to accomplish these goals” (p. 363). For a team to be effective at meeting their goals, they need to have the tools to get there. Arguably one of the most important tools is a team leader. Thinking of a team leader as a tool actually fall short in its explanation, the team leader serves not just a single purpose but instead “must be behaviorally flexible and have a wide repertoire of actions or skills to meet the team’s diverse needs” (Barge,1996 as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 366) and may be best described as a multitool. According to Northouse (2016), a team leader has the “responsibility [of] functioning in a manner that will help the team achieve effectiveness” (p. 366). This responsibility can take many forms including monitoring the team (p. 373), developing a vision for the team (p. 377), facilitating communication, coaching or training members, and managing conflict (p. 378). This responsibility for the team may also extend outside the team by securing funding or ensure that external factors do not hinder the progress of the team (p. 380). The above listed are just a sample of the ways that a team leader may help the team to be effective. With such an extensive list of potential duties, the team leader must fully adopt this multitool concept and be ready to change and adapt as the team or the situation dictates.

Modern teams have a much higher tendency to operate with shared leadership which is characterized by team members who are empowered to make decisions and lead in their area of expertise. Goldsmith (2010) states that although shared leadership is difficult to develop, it allows team members to operate in their areas of expertise and maximize the effectiveness of the team. If the team is operating in a shared leadership environment, that does not mean the idea of a multitool leader is irrelevant. Instead, team members can think of themselves as specialized tools that are available to achieve success. This means that the team can select the right tool for the job. It would be extremely difficult to cut down a tree using a hammer, much like it would be difficult to achieve success if a team member is in charge of a task that is not aligned with their strengths or expertise.

Now that you’ve embodied the concept of being a tool, it’s time to let your team use you. This may mean that you identify weaknesses and develop skills that will help you as a team member or team leader. For the longest time, I did not know that the plastic pointy thing in my Swiss Army knife was actually a toothpick. You may have no idea how many tools you actually have at your disposal or what tools you can add to your skill set to make your team more effective. Hill’s Model of Team Leadership (see figure 1) describes these tools as either internal or external leadership actions and is further broken down into task, relational, and environmental actions or tools that a leader can use to promote team effectiveness (Northouse, 2016, p. 376). A leader who views these actions and behaviors as potential tools to add to the repertoire can make themselves a more effective leader, and in turn be the right tool for the job to reach team success and effectiveness.

Figure 1

 

Now it’s your turn, try thinking of yourself as a tool that your team can use to become successful. Try to identify areas where your team may need a tool to be as effective as it can be. Try surveying your team to identify areas of improvement, think of what internal and external factors might promote or hinder your team success, think of which members of your team represent a specialty tool that can be utilized more effectively, or think about how you may develop members without strong specialties to become the right tool for the job. The goal is to be observant and adaptive while consistently identifying needs and refining your own or your team’s leadership so that the team can be the most effective.

This article represents only a small portion of the concepts related to the team leadership approach, and you will find significant value in further research about this concept to understand and harness the full effectiveness of the team approach to leadership.

 

References:

Goldsmith, M. (2010, May 26). Sharing Leadership to Maximize Talent. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/05/sharing-leadership-to-maximize

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice e7. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Tool. (n.d.). The Free Online Dictionary of Computing. Dictionary.com. Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/tool