ILM 2.01
Four Responsibilities of a Team Leader
I have identified four skills or responsibilities that a team leader must possess in their day to day skill set.
1. Integrity
To build a good team the team leader first needs to gain the full trust of the organisation as a whole and, more importantly, members of the team ensuring that there is no bias to any member(s) of the team. Fairness is the key, treating everyone equally and on merit, not taking the glory for all the teams’ successes and portioning the blame to the team for failures. Ultimately the team should share the praise and the team leader should accept the responsibility for any failures on the teams behalf.
"... Praise loudly, blame softly." (Catherine the Great).
If the team leader has a good reputation in the organisation for always doing the right thing, in a fair manner, then that level of value will be assigned to the team as an entity. If however the team leader has a questionable reputation then either the team is “tarred with the same brush” or a single or subset of trusted team member(s) are likely to be identified and approached to carry out tasks, undermining the team structure and team leader’s role.
Integrity and honesty must be given to the team members as well. If the team leader is not consistent in their dealings with individual team members showing morality and honesty then their integrity could be called into question.
2. Confidence \ Positivity
A team leader should always try to portray a positive persona, enthusiasm is contagious. Team members will look to the team leader for direction. If the team leader is negative about a task or project then this will propagate through the team. The team leader should motivate and inspire team members by setting a good example or role model.
Much like the requirements of positivity, the team leader needs to show confidence in many factors. Confidence should be shown in the staff and their abilities, skill sets
I have identified four skills or responsibilities that a team leader must possess in their day to day skill set.
1. Integrity
To build a good team the team leader first needs to gain the full trust of the organisation as a whole and, more importantly, members of the team ensuring that there is no bias to any member(s) of the team. Fairness is the key, treating everyone equally and on merit, not taking the glory for all the teams’ successes and portioning the blame to the team for failures. Ultimately the team should share the praise and the team leader should accept the responsibility for any failures on the teams behalf.
"... Praise loudly, blame softly." (Catherine the Great).
If the team leader has a good reputation in the organisation for always doing the right thing, in a fair manner, then that level of value will be assigned to the team as an entity. If however the team leader has a questionable reputation then either the team is “tarred with the same brush” or a single or subset of trusted team member(s) are likely to be identified and approached to carry out tasks, undermining the team structure and team leader’s role.
Integrity and honesty must be given to the team members as well. If the team leader is not consistent in their dealings with individual team members showing morality and honesty then their integrity could be called into question.
2. Confidence \ Positivity
A team leader should always try to portray a positive persona, enthusiasm is contagious. Team members will look to the team leader for direction. If the team leader is negative about a task or project then this will propagate through the team. The team leader should motivate and inspire team members by setting a good example or role model.
Much like the requirements of positivity, the team leader needs to show confidence in many factors. Confidence should be shown in the staff and their abilities, skill sets