Category: Leadership

8 Steps of Leadership for Team Success

Do your team leaders have authority to direct their teams to win championships?

Teams most often come together as the result of coincidence and not design.  For example, people land on teams based on positions they hold.  In a company or division where all department heads are on a team, a person’s position as a department head puts that person on a team by default.

In creating teams, good team leaders are more effective when they have authority over ever step in the team process.

1. 1. Leaders select the team members based on the match of team goals and the mix of skills and competence of the team members.
   2. Leaders clearly state the goal for the team: e.g., “The purpose of this team is to design a new company logo.”
   3. Leaders direct the team to develop the plan for the team to fulfill its purpose as the first step in reaching the team’s goal.
   4. Leaders establish high expectations for team members.  It is not enough that team members have the skills and knowledge for the goals of a team.  A good leader is able to raise the performance of the team by instructing team members on how to apply their skills and knowledge
   5. Leaders keep the team focused on daily activities.  The keyword in this phrase is daily activities.  Groups of people can easily start discussions that are off track.  Some of these discussions may even be about the goal of the team, but be off the topic of the team’s activities for the day.  For example, today the teams needs to discuss selecting a design company to create the logo for print and Internet.  Discussing the specifications or purpose of the logo may not be useful for today’s purpose.
   6. Leaders guide the team to assess the teams’ progress on the plan and to make adjustments to stay on schedule.
   7. Leaders decide the next goal or purpose of the team.
   8. Leaders decide when to add team members or to create new teams for multiple goals or new purposes.

Authority, Responsibility, Accountability, and Leadership: these are four of the most discussed subjects on business forums and articles.

Authority is the power to control the actions of people and the resources of an organization and comes from a person’s position.

Responsibility is the accountability that people have in relationship to their authority.  I often read articles and forum comments in which writers use the words authority and responsibility interchangeably.  People with authority are responsible for the results of their actions and for the actions of the people over whom they have authority.  President Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here.”  In making that statement, President Truman was stating that, in keeping with his absolute authority over the executive branch, he accepted absolute responsibility for the actions of the people in the executive branch of government.

Leadership is the power to guide, direct, or sway the actions of people.

Some leaders have authority.  Some leaders do not have authority.  Elected officials have the authority that the law assigns to their office.  Business leaders have the authority that the company guidelines assign to their function.

Writers, artists, designers, speakers, and others who have no authority often become leaders through their message, their works, or their methods.  These people found nations, lead movements, set trends, found religions, and establish schools of thought as the result of the actions they took to sway and guide other people.

Titles create confusion in the relationship of authority, responsibility, accountability, and leadership.

Does a manager have authority?  Is a manager responsible for performance?  Is a manager a leader?

The answer to all these questions is, “Maybe.”  A manager with no authority is not responsible for performance.  A manager with no authority or personal influence over a group is not a leader.  If a manager fails as the result of a person or group refusing to accept the manager’s authority, the manager is not accountable for the actions of the person or group.  The person or group that does not obey the authority of a manager is accountable for their actions.

Does your boss hate you or is your boss just cranky?  What are the signs?  What are your options?  Should you just ignore the situation?  Should you take action?

What are the signs?

Your boss focuses on problems with you.  Your boss criticizes you more than your boss criticizes anyone else.  Other people get glowing performance reviews. Can you discuss the situation with your boss? Your performance review is full of criticism.  Other people are getting pay raises.  You are not.  Other people are getting promotions.  You are not.  Your boss has begun to give more of your work to your coworkers.

Can you discuss the situation with your boss?

If you can talk with your boss about the situation, explain that you want to do a great job.  Ask for advice on how you can do a better job.

When the problem is real, what should you do?

Document your work.  Build a record of your daily performance to show that you are doing a great job.  List the tasks your boss gives you.  List the results of your work on these tasks.  Communicate with your boss in writing.

What are your job options?

Can you find a job at your current company working for a different supervisor?  Should you start looking for another job?  Is you resume polished and ready to go?  Have you explored the jobs that look like a fit for you at other companies?

What do your confidants tell to you to do?

Turn to the people you trust and ask for their advice.  Ask the people you trust about what they think about your situation.  Ask these people for their ideas on job options and confidential referrals.  Get their advice on the best way to protect yourself in your current situation.

Subscribe to career newsletters.

Most career websites, including this one, have newsletters that can help you with advice and information on how to deal with your current situation.  Subscribe to those newsletters.  Search these websites for additional articles on dealing with a difficult boss.

You do not have to be a genius to manage well.

As a new Navy ensign, I was assigned me to work directly for a limited duty officer.  The first day that he and I met was my first day of service in the Navy.  He did not hire me.  I reported aboard the USS Midway and went to his office.

The Navy has different groups or classes of officers.  The limited duty officers are men and women who have worked their way up through the enlisted ranks into the ranks of officers.  Their opportunity for promotion caps out at the rank commander (pay grade O5).  They are specialists with high aptitudes for certain skills.

The limited duty officer for whom I worked had the ability to master Navy administrative skills far more rapidly than his peers did.

When I transferred into his department, he was a lieutenant.  He assigned me the responsibility of managing the education office.  In this role, I managed a chief petty officer and six enlisted men.  My responsibilities in this office were to give educational support and testing for career advancement of the 5000 enlisted members of the ship and air wing.

However, I knew nothing of my responsibilities as an educational officer.

At the same time, I stood bridge watches.  During these watches, I developed the skills to maneuver an aircraft carrier on the course and speed for launching and recovering aircraft, replenishing ships at sea, and other navigational and working functions.

When I was not on bridge watches, I worked with the limited duty officer, who was my departmental boss.  He quickly taught me how to manage and evaluate the men under my responsibility in the education office.

He and I worked together well.  I learned a great deal.  I wanted to do a good job.  My boss took the time to teach me how become a better manager.  As a young, inexperienced manager, I had a tendency to give higher evaluations to people I liked.  He showed me to focus on how quickly and accurately people performed their duties as well as how much I enjoyed working with them.

Within a year, the Navy promoted me to lieutenant junior grade.  Within 3 years, I was promoted to lieutenant.  My role in the administrative department had gone from simply managing the education office to manage the ship’s television station and newspaper and managing the ship’s public affairs program.  I wrote press releases that the Navy sent to U.S. Command for declassification and release to media.  I worked with the Bob Hope troupe and the Miss America Troupe for their performances in front of thousands of members of the crew and guests.

At the same time, I became qualified as an officer of the deck for fleet operations.  I was a competent ship handler and enjoyed working alongside senior officers aboard the ship.

My boss in the administration office was perhaps not as smart as I was.  I draw this conclusion because, in 3 years, my skills in the areas where I worked became as strong as the skills of my boss, who had over 20 years of experience.  I also had developed skills for ship’s bridge operations.  My boss, as a limited duty officer, did not qualify to work on the bridge of ship.  Perhaps the best sign that I was smarter than my boss is that I reached the rank of lieutenant in 3 years.  Reaching that rank had taken him nearly 20 years.

I was certainly never upset by the fact that I was smarter than my boss was.  His skills for the department in which I worked helped me greatly.  I was able to learn to do my duties.  I was fortunate to have his leadership and knowledge as tools and examples for growth.

I respected that he had a gift for specialized administrative skills and that he had 20 years developing those skills.  I showed respect by seeking and following his direction.  In addition, I knew that he had 20 years of experience in successfully working with other men and women in the Navy.  I knew that I could and did learn how to work with other people the way he worked with other people, not just for a day, but the grind of day in and day out.  I went to him for direction in dealing with difficult people and situations.

What I learned from this was the value of experience.  I learned that, when I have decisions to make, I should turn to people with experience to help me with ideas on making those decisions.  I learned that you do not have to be a genius to manage well, but that you do have to have experience and skill to manage well.

Small business Saturday reminds us that there is opportunity in working for yourself.

To begin self-employment, start simple. The goal is to do the deal, to sell something.

William Procter, co-founder of consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, started his first business from skills he learned as an apprentice who dipped candles. When he settled in Cincinnati, he started a candle company that he merged with the candle and soap company of his brother-in-law, James Gamble.

Paul Jobs, who was Steve Jobs’ father, bought, repaired, and resold cars.  He was outstanding at bargaining for parts, a perfectionist for finishing mechanical details, and a great negotiator for selling cars for a cash profit.

I have known people who supplemented their incomes through starting yard-care and landscape companies.  I know other people who rigged out a van as a tool truck and turned home repairs into a full-time business.

I have a friend who set up a motorcycle repair shop in his garage.  He was a full-time electrician and a part-time motorcycle mechanic.  Through this business, he extended his love for motorcycles into a revenue stream, and he met other riders who shared his love for motorcycles.

Some people turn yard sales into flea market businesses.  Earlier in our marriage, my fantastic wife made ornaments for seasonal celebrations and sold them over a few weekends at a flea market.  I am really proud to think of some of the terrific things she made and that many people ay still be enjoying those ornaments today.

The Internet is a fairly easy place to start.  There are out of the package e-commerce website kits.  Craigslist and eBay offer opportunities to sell things online.  There are at least a half of a dozen million-dollar businesses on eBay.  There are dozens of people making money writing books on how to create a business on eBay.

So keep it simple. Do the deal.  Sell something.  Start your own small business and find out if you love being your own boss.