When teams are effective they achieve two critical functions: performance and development (Northouse, 2016). Performance is the ability of teams to accomplish tasks with excellence (Northouse, 2016). Development is the ability of the team to meet their own needs and work cohesively together (Northouse, 2016).<\/p>\n
Hackman says that having the following components positively contribute to group effectiveness: a real team, a compelling purpose, the right people, clear norms of conduct, a supportive organizational context and coaching that is team-focused (as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 368). These components correlate with eight characteristics of team excellence identified by Larson and LaFasto (as cited in Northouse, 2016 pp. 368-371). They say that teams need: to share a clear, elevating goal that indicates if they have achieved their performance objective; to operate in a results-driven structure that supports them accomplishing their goals; competent team members who possess both technical and interpersonal skills; an intentionally developed unified commitment; a collaborative climate built on trusting relationships; standards of excellence that are clear, concrete and measurable; external support and recognition from within the organization; and principled leadership that influences the team through four processes (as cited in Northouse, 2016 pp. 368-371).<\/p>\n
The four processes principled leadership influences the team through are: cognitive, motivational, affective and coordination processes (Zaccaro et al., as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 371). The leader works to help team members cognitively understand problems facing their team (Northouse, 2016). The leader motivates the team to become cohesive and capable through helping them set performance standards and achieve them (Northouse, 2016). \u201cAffectively, the leader helps the team handle stressful circumstances by providing clear goals, assignments and strategies\u201d (Northouse, 2016, p. 371). Finally, the leader helps coordinate the team through ensuring members are in the right roles, giving feedback, and helping the team adapt to environmental changes (Northouse, 2016).<\/p>\n
I have been affected by several of these components, characteristics and processes. Following are some examples how these have affected me.<\/p>\n
Everyone I work with has to fundraise their own salary in order to do what we do, which means there is something that is driving us to do this. I believe it is the compelling purpose of wanting to help people to come to know Jesus.<\/p>\n
This compelling purpose contributed to our unified commitment. There are times in the life cycle of any team where frustrations occur or interpersonal issues arise, but being part of a team with a unified commitment helps navigate those difficult times. This unified commitment is what has driven me to persevere through difficult situations in order to continue in the commitment I have made to my team, as well as to our larger purpose.<\/p>\n
I have been able to work in a supportive organizational context for me to grow my own team. A few years ago I was made the leader of a department, and I had to recruit my own team. Working in a supportive organizational context allowed me to build my team by being given opportunities to recruit, and resources to be able to do that. Once I had developed a team, I continued to receive support through team building resources and team-focused coaching.<\/p>\n
On the opposite side, I have been negatively affected by a lack in the coordination process by leaders I have worked under. Part of the process of coordinating is making sure team members have the proper skills for the roles they are in and giving them feedback. I have experienced not being given proper training, nor having the proper skills, to be in some of the roles I have occupied. Furthermore, I feel like I have rarely received feedback from my superiors as to how I am doing as a leader, which has resulted in me feeling less effective as a leader than I could be.<\/p>\n
Have others had experiences where they have not received the feedback they need to grow and develop as a leader? When superiors already do not have time for the responsibilities they have, how could I persuade them that feedback for leaders and staff will help us grow into a more effective team?<\/p>\n
References:<\/strong><\/p>\n Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When teams are effective they achieve two critical functions: performance and development (Northouse, 2016). Performance is the ability of teams to accomplish tasks with excellence (Northouse, 2016). Development is the ability of the team to meet their own needs and… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-unit-5"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padnTM-4r","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/b121\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}