It is true that all great teams have a great leader; and also that the GREAT leaders are interested MORE in the success of the TEAM than in their PERSONAL success.
A common theme amongst great leaders is first to recognise that they are lacking in some experience, skill or desired quality; and to set about bridging this personal gap before pointing the finger at their team. A common theme in under-performing teams is an inherent lack of TRUST between its members, resulting from a lack of Credibility & Dependability; displayed in the form of poor relationships & high self-interest goals.
The aspiring GREAT LEADER will, consequently approach TEAM DEVELOPMENT in the following way:-
LEADERSHIP NAVAL GAZING
At risk of stating the obvious, YOU, the Leader, must remember that you need the following:-
Some of these can be taught, whilst others are more INSTINCTIVE
To focus your mind we recommend you consider the following equation as a basis for your deliberations on leadership qualities (source - Steve Chalke "TRUST - a radical manifesto"):
TRUST (trustworthiness) = Credibility + Dependability + Relationship
Although one can substitute values into the equation to demonstrate the potential issues / outcomes, it is the overall context of the equation that is most important to grasp - "however much effort is applied to the top half of the equation it can easily be eroded by transparent displays of selfish behaviour in lieu of team achievement".
If your personal style is autocracy and brow beating your team into submission, you are are likely to stop reading here; however we hope you will read on and realise the true potential of your team, which will include such areas as
Empowerment, Individual Development & Mentoring; Common Values, Integrity & Credibility, Dependability and Unity [often poo-pooed as wishy-washy, soft skills, whose impact is over-rated - we would like to suggest its time to get back to some core values which need to be displayed "consistently from the top" for them to become the foundation of any GREAT team's success].
The personal evaluation is a relatively simple task, completion of which may be enhanced by an outside facilitator, mentor or confidante who appreciates issues you are, or maybe, facing in your personal and business environment. Click HERE to review / evaluate you personal development matrix [consider performing this evaluation quarterly to check your progress]
DEFINING CORE TEAM GOALS & QUALITIES REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE THEM
There has been much writing on the topic of goals, SMART objectives, team vs personal goals, etc, etc,. and I am not going to attempt to regurgitate this in a few short paragraphs. Much of it is very valid, but only YOU are able to assess WHAT is most appropriate to YOUR team, giving due consideration to where it is at and the level of input, resource and investment affordable to make the improvements YOU DESIRE and deem NECESSARY, within the current time scales.
The process of evaluation needs to incorporate:-
EVALUATING THE CURRENT TEAM
Enhancing the personal development matrix you used on yourself, we will now assess the slightly more operational skills required within the team in order to achieve the TEAM GOALS. You will need to list your existing team by name along one axis on the new matrix and the types of skills required along the other axis (the list in the matrix below is not exhaustive and should be tailored to your requirements). Then simply measure each person against the required skills to determine whether your team has the collective skills required to achieve your strategic goals - Click HERE to view a suggested Team skills matrix.
ACTION PLANS FOR TEAM MEMBER DEVELOPMENT & REPLACEMENT
Having completed your TEAM SKILLS matrix you then need to create a Personal Development plan for each team player - in most cases this will mean development activities and in some cases this will mean demoting, replacing or removing a member of the team completely.
The harder tasks are never the easiest, but the team will not be able to progress successfully without them being done and neither will the individual unless they face the facts.
Not facing up to the tough tasks will eventually drag down the whole team - IT IS YOUR JOB TO MANAGE THE DEVELOPMENT & EXPECTATIONS OF THE TEAM AS A WHOLE - failure to do so will ultimately limit the organisation's ability to be successful.
