Team Leadership
Team effectiveness is the term applied to excellence of team and the outcome a team generate which is best for the organisation. There are two critical functions of team effectiveness :
- Performance
- Development
As mentioned in Northouse (2016) by Nadler (1998) Performance refers to the quality of the outcomes of the team’s work. Did the team accomplish its goals and objectives in a quality manner? Development refers to the cohesiveness of the team and the ability of team members to satisfy their own needs while working effectively with other team members. (pg. 368)
Performance doesn’t mean if a team is doing good and achieve a goal in time rather it also stresses on how a whole team perform effectively and involve self development also along with company’s development. As mentioned in Northouse (2016) Excellent teams accomplish both of these objectives: getting the job done and maintaining a cohesive team (pg.368).
As mentioned in Northouse (2016), Larson and LaFasto (1989) studied successful teams and found that, regardless of the type of team, eight characteristics were consistently associated with team excellence (pg. 368).
- Clear, elevating goal – A compelling purpose energizes team members, orients them toward their collective objective, and fully engages their talents” (Hackman, 2012, p. 437). Team goals must be very clear so that one can tell whether the performance objective has been realized. Teams sometimes fail because they are given a vague task and then asked to work out the details (Hackman, 1990).
Being a dental student I have joined many camps regarding oral health problems and even against tobacco. Our goal is clear and straight as each member of our team focuses only on quit tobacco and how to prevent from oral health problems and advise good brushing habits.
2. Results-Driven Structure – Teams need to find the best structure for accomplishing their goals. Structural features that lead to effective teamwork include task design, team composition, and core norms of conduct (Wageman, Fisher, & Hackman, 2009). Top management teams typically deal with power and influence, task forces deal with ideas and plans, customer service teams deal with clients, and production teams deal with technology (Hackman, 1990).
When I was doing my internship in my bachelor’s, I have attended a lot of camps where we used to go to government aided schools in villages where students are unable to get access to dentists and even didn’t know about how to maintain a good oral health, we design small presentation in a cartoon manner to make them understand and it also helped them to remember it, made colorful posters for the same, in this way we design our task to accomplish our goal and get the best outcome of it.
3. Competent Team Members – Teams should be composed of the right number and mix of members to accomplish all the tasks of the team. In addition, members need sufficient information, education, and training to become or remain competent team members (Hackman & Walton, 1986). As a whole, the individual team members need to possess the requisite technical competence to accomplish the team’s goals. Members also need to be personally competent in interpersonal and teamwork skills. A common mistake in forming teams is to assume that people who have all the technical skills necessary to solve a problem also have the interpersonal skills necessary to collaborate effectively (Hackman, 1990).
4. Unified Commitment- A common mistake is to call a work group a team but treat it as a collection of individuals (Hackman, 1990). Teams do not just happen: They are carefully designed and developed. Excellent teams are those that have developed a sense of unity or identification. Such team spirit often can be developed by involving members in all aspects of the process (Larson & LaFasto, 1989).
5. Collaborative Climate- The ability of a team to collaborate or work well together is essential to team effectiveness. A collaborative climate is one in which members can stay problem focused, listen to and understand one another, feel free to take risks, and be willing to compensate for one another. To build an atmosphere that fosters collaboration, we need to develop trusting relationships based on honesty, openness, consistency, and respect (Larson & LaFasto, 1989).
Collaboratively working in an environment is much effective than anything else, It is the soul of a successful organisation, few years back I have organised sports competition in my college with my team members where everyone is given their duties and everyone works collaboratively with each other and lead to a successful event, as everyone helped other and there were time limits for every events which is maintained by every member so, that the other member work would not be affected. so, by working together we achieve an effective sports event.
6. Standards of Excellence– Clear norms of conduct (how we should behave) are important for team functioning (Hackman, 2012). Team members’ performance should be regulated so that actions can be coordinated and tasks completed (Hackman & Walton, 1986).
7. External Support and Recognition- A supportive organizational context includes material resources, rewards for excellent performance, an educational system to develop necessary team skills, and an information system to provide data needed to accomplish the task (Wageman et al., 2009). A common mistake is to give organizational teams challenging assignments but fail to give them organizational support to accomplish these assignments (Hackman, 1990).
I would love to choose an example from our college continuing dental education programs which used to held almost every month regarding new concepts and new inventions in dentistry. Being a student representative I was the one holding responsibility for all such event organisation but without our students support regarding funds and teachers support regarding recognition and invitation of guest speakers, it would never be possible to make it happen and is hence, prove that for effective organisation external support and recognition is an important aspect.
8. Principled Leadership- Effective team leadership has been found to consistently relate to team effectiveness (Zaccaro, Heinen, & Shuffler, 2009). Leadership has been described as the central driver of team effectiveness, influencing the team through four sets of processes: cognitive, motivational, effective, and coordination (Zaccaro et al., 2001).
As stated i Northouse (2016) by McGrath’s critical leadership functions there are four set of process that can influence team effectiveness :
- Diagnosing group deficiencies
- Taking remedial action
- Forecasting environmental changes
- Preventing deleterious changes
Diagnosing group deficiencies is the best method to make an organisation run smoothly and efficiently as all people in the group are not the same as some of them are less capable and some are more, a leader should examine group deficiencies from time to time for a successful organisation. 
What do you think would be other possible discussions which can influence team effectiveness ? Have you ever been a team member where you describe something and get it corrected, what is that thing?