Chapter 1: The Need for Team Leaders at All Levels--Helping Teams Help Themselves

Overview

Perhaps the best team I was ever part of was an education staff of a large organization. Virtually every member stepped up to the task of providing leadership from time to time. People genuinely respected each other but cared even more about providing the best programs and services. Peers challenged each other constantly. Whenever anyone acted blas about an issue raised at a staff meeting, that person would be confronted and reminded of his ability and expressed commitment to address the issue in a better way. Everyone was task oriented, relationship oriented, and customer oriented. Isn't that what you want from leaders? While the team had an official "director" who reported to a vice president, she didn't tell us what to do ”she simply made clear our team goals and created a climate for getting things done well. We were a team full of leaders, not a team whose individual actions were coordinated by a single leader. The best teams are leaderful, not leaderless.

Over the last couple of decades, companies have been encouraging the development of self-directed work teams, problem-solving committees and task forces, and even executive leadership teams. Attempts to use teams are evident in nearly every major organization today. Are you now in a position where you have the opportunity to be a leader? Whether your position is that of team leader, supervisor, area manager, coordinator , professional resource specialist, general manager, executive, union leader, or president of the company, the benefit of a team approach is to be found in collective action, not in the actions of individual heroes.