Team Building and Management

Management concepts compendium initiative


A team must be lead by an individual who has the right talent for the role.

Team work is a matter of belief, value or policy. Certain individuals have this knack, or talent, to put people together so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Truly successful teams have a successful team leader at the top.

When each individual of the team believes that team members expect the best from me and the best for me, he responds in a successful manner.

Teams have to utilize members for what they are best at. They should not expose them to areas where their weaknesses are exposed and the probability of failure for the individual member and the team increase.

A good example is given by Luthans in his book. Some people love to get things started. They get bored with things long before they are completed and finished. These people are fire starters. They can be moved from project to project timing their arrival at the point where the analytical types have completed their positive feasibility analysis of a project. There are certain persons who are high-focus detail people. They are good at cleaning the messed up operations. Team leaders or mangers require the talent to spot the special inclinations or talents of team members and have to utilize them rather than seeking to thwart such inclinations.

In a great team, individuals are set up for success according to their strengths.


Reference

Fred Luthans, Organizational Behavior, Ninth Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York, 2002, page 327