Action Centred Leadership – Group Team Needs

When a group forms, whether social or work, the purpose of the group will be some common activity. An all-important factor is that communication is open and forthright and a mutual trust develops. This in turn will lead to high morale within the group. On the other hand, if communication is false or devious, distrust will develop which will cause splintering and polarisation in the group.

If something goes wrong, arguments will develop, leading to the apportioning of blame to others and the taking of sides, both inside and outside the group.

The leader of a work group, or team, often inherits a group of individuals. They then have the job of welding them into a team and also of maintaining team spirit.

Obviously one of the first things he needs to do is to acquaint the members of the common task. At the same time he has to encourage openness and awareness in the team, helping them to achieve a high standard of performance.

To help morale, as well as production, the standards in the team needs to be high and allow the team pride in their performance. Teams need recognition of this and usually there are some successful points that can be brought up, even if the task was not altogether successful.

A team working well and succeeding in its task will affect individual members. The individual will have a commitment and responsibility to the team as well as feeling pleased due to their own and the team’s achievements. A team usually has its own personality and obviously this consists of an amalgam of the members’ personalities. Part of the leader’s job is trying to fit the best people into this team, not only from the job expertise point of view, but also for the compatibility of its members.

The team will develop its own standards and discipline with help from the leader, but if these are not consistent, it will cause bickering and petty arguments. Examples of a team working in this way can be often seen in a soccer team. For example, team morale is highest when the team has had a hard game and is successful. If the team has an easy game or has lost resoundingly, apportioning of blame and low morale are usually seen as symptoms of splintering within the team.

We conclude the final part of this three part post tomorrow by looking at “Individual Needs” and discovering how all three types of needs are satisfied by successful leaders.

Jonathan Farrington