OER-CRAFT

TEAM MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

MFS_COU_2_EN  

 Title:
TEAM MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
 Keywords
Leadership, Leader, leadership styles, managing team, motivation, feedback
 Author:
AGH
 Languages:
English
 Objectives/goals:
•    To understand what is leadership and why it is important in today art and craft organizations
 
•    To characterize an effective leader
 
•    To understand what leadership styles are effective and when
 
•    To understand what motivates people
 

•    To develop your leadership skills


 Description:
Team management and leadership are particularly important for the survival and development of small and medium enterprises, such as the art and craft firms. In the age of demographic decline, it is the quality of leadership that attracts talents, it is the leadership that builds good relationships at work, it is the leadership that drive important change and innovation as well as employee engagement and the efficiency of entire teams.
 
Leadership sets the direction where the firm will be tomorrow, creates strategies and inspire people to follow that direction.


 Course contents:

 Effective leader and its characteristic

Understanding leadership

Clic to read  Understanding leadership



Leadership is defined by Griffin R.W. (2004) as a process of "shaping the goals of the group or organization, motivating behaviors conducive to achieving these goals and easier defining the culture of the group or organization." Leadership is also understood as a set of attributes of a leader.

Thus, Leadership first of all mean setting the direction of changes, creating strategies and inspire people to follow that direction.

This inspiration is also understood as influencing thanks to motivational techniques to complete them. These include team building methods and active instillation of understanding of vision and strategy.




The difference between a leader and a manager

Clic to read  The difference between a leader and a manager



Leader or Manager? Understanding the difference between leader and manager.
In todays organizations, due to rapid changes in the environment and an increasingly demanding customer market, the role of a manager is based not only on the team management and evaluation of subordinates work effects, but also on effective leadership. To be an effective leader, you do not need a formal authority or position, as manager, it is the ability to effectively attract people and motivate them to act.
 
Manager is the person who possess formal authority and ensures that people do what they are told to do. Whereas the leader according to the John C. Maxwell is described as "the one who knows the path, follows it and shows it to others." Thus, leaders inspire people to move and act in specific direction.

Therefore, it is important for managers in craft enterprises to be more leaders creating a new direction in the organizations development and inspiring their teams rather than managers achieving specific goals. Only in this way will it be possible to develop the organization and the human potential of this organization.


Table. 1.The difference between a manager and a leader




What makes an effective leader

Clic to read  What makes an effective leader



An effective leader has special competencies. Competence is the potential inherent in employees and organizations, as well as all employee characteristics that are used and developed during the performance of work ensuring the achievement of the companys strategic goals. Thus, competences include: desired knowledge, skills and, in addition, certain predispositions and character traits.

Particularly in art and craft firms the competencies are specific.
The set of these features is only a prerequisite, not determining whether they will affect the actual being a leader (Kirkpatrick, Locke, 1991).

As Bass showed, there are six leaders characteristics that distinguish them from non-leaders. Among them were: drive, desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability) and knowledge of the business [Bass, Bass, 2008] The evolution of the theory of leadership qualities indicates that the constant development of the leader is crucial, and the effectiveness of his action depends on the ability to use and select the characteristic appropriate to a given situation (situational approach). The leader "becomes" and is not born, and it is a process of continuous development.

Which competencies are particularly important in leadership?
John Zenger and Joseph Folkman based on the research of tens of thousands of leaders distinguished the competences of the effective leader of our time and grouped into five areas:

1. A character that has only one competence: integrity and integrity, which are a prerequisite for leadership, because people are ready to follow only those who are trustworthy. For people to want to follow a leader, they must trust him, and to have trust - he must be credible to them.
2. Personal effectiveness, including competences such as: a. Expert knowledge, b. Analysis and problem solving, c. Innovation, d. Practicing self-development.
3. Focus on results, that helps to set the right goals and to achieve the goals.
4. Interpersonal skills, that helps to effectively communicate and cooperate within a team and lead the team.
5. Conducting change, in which area they indicate: Building a strategic perspective, Implementing changes, Including the outside world.




Emotional Intelligence in effective leadership

Clic to read  Emotional Intelligence in effective leadership



Emotional Intelligence (EI) – is the ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others and then use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships.  It plays important role in effective leadership.

Emotional Intelligence affects:
- your job performance (high EI - stronger relationships)
- your physical health (low EI cause more stress)
- your mental health  (low EI make you more vulnerable to depression)

EI accounts for 58% of performance in all types of jobs. It is the strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence. Only 36% of people are able to accurately identify their emotions as they happen. About 2/3 of all people are controlled by their emotions unable to use them to their benefit.

In 1998 Daniel Goleman defined Emotional Intelligence as a group of 5 skills that enables "the best leaders to maximise their own and their followers performance".  These skills were:
1.    Self-awareness: Knowing ones strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and impact on others
2.    Self-regulation:  Controlling or redirecting disruptive impulses or moods
3.    Motivation: driven to achieve for its own sake Social Competencies:
4.    Empathy:  Understand other peoples emotions
5.    Social Skill: building rapport with others to move them in desired directions



 Leadership styles

Behavioural approach to leadership

Clic to read  Behavioural approach to leadership



The first approach to leadership was the Traits Approach. The main assumption of this approach was that - leaders are born, not made and that leadership consists of certain inherited personality traits or qualities. 

- Limitations: There is no guarantee that a person that characterizes with such traits will became an effective leader

The second important approach toward leadership was the behavioral approach. 
According to this approach leadership can be learned and developed.  It focuses on the accountabilities, responsibilities and functions of the leader and the nature of the group. According to some theories leaders are usually concerned either on the task or on people. Effective leader must be concerned both: on people and on the achievement of goals. Behavioral approach focuses on the behavior of people in leadership positions, the importance of leadership style and how it influences group performance.




Classical leadership styles

Clic to read  Classical leadership styles



This is the oldest from the situational models. Kurt Lewin identified three Behavioral styles among leaders.

-    Authoritarian - Autocratic style
leaders spell out the goals, deadlines and methods while making decisions on their own with little consultations with others.

-    Participative - Democratic style
leader expresses his or her priorities and values in setting goals and making decisions, but also takes part in the groups work and accepts advice and suggestions from colleagues. However, the leader makes the final decision.

-    Delegative - Laissez-Faire style
leader hands over responsibility for results to the group. He or she lets them set goals, decide on work methods, define individuals roles and set their own pace of work.

Lewin outlined three distinct modes of behavior for leaders. If they were merely descriptive, they would not help leaders wanting to become better at what they do. But if you bear in mind the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, you can match them to your circumstances - provided, of course, you can flex your behavior. This is when the Three Styles model becomes a guide to more effective leadership




Situational Approach

Clic to read  Situational Approach



Leaders can change their behavior to meet differing circumstances, when in practice many find it hard to do so even after training because of unconscious fixed beliefs, fears or ingrained habits. For this reason, leaders need to work on their underlying psychology if they are to attain the flexibility to apply these theories.
Situational approach to leadership


 
According to the situational approach, the most important determinants of effective leadership style are:

-    the leader (his or her character, values, professional and personal experience, attitudes etc.)
-    their followers in the team (their her character, values, professional and personal experience, attitudes, etc.)
-    the situation which might be understood as the task (its complexity) and the organizational variables such as the organizational culture,  management patterns, etc.

Situational Leadership Model according to the Hersey & Blanchard
The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory is one that is based around variable leadership, depending on a variety of circumstances

-S1: Telling – is characterized by one-way communication in which the leader defines the roles of the individual or group and provides the what, how, why, when and where to do the task;
-    S2: Selling – while the leader is still providing the direction, he or she is now using two-way communication and providing the socio-emotional support that will allow the individual or group being influenced to buy into the process;
-    S3: Participating – this is how shared decision-making about aspects of how the task is accomplished and the leader is providing fewer task behaviours while maintaining high relationship behavior;
-    S4: Delegating – the leader is still involved in decisions; however, the process and responsibility has been passed to the individual or group. The leader stays involved to monitor progress.
To go along with those four leadership styles, the Hersey Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory also provides four maturity levels that describe those who are making up the team. The Hersey Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory promotes flexible leaders that are able to match their style to the experience and ability of those they are leading.




Transformational leadership

Clic to read  Transformational leadership



Transformational approach to leadership is understood as the one that cause changes to social and individual systems as it creates valuable and positive changes in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders.  Transformational leaders specialize in working to change the system and solving challenges by finding experiences that show that old patterns do not fit or work. They also want to know what has to change and how to maximize their teams capability and capacity.

Transactional leaders are expected to:
-    Set goals, articulate explicit agreements regarding what the leader expects from organizational members and how they will be rewarded for their efforts and commitment
-    Transactional leaders focus on increasing the efficiency of established routines and procedures
-    Operate most effectively in organizations that have evolved beyond the chaotic,
-    Transactional leadership establishes and standardizes practices that will help the organization reach maturity, emphasizing setting of goals, efficiency of operation, and increase of productivity.
-    Transactional leaders are leaders who exchange tangible rewards for the work and loyalty of followers.
-    transformational leaders are leaders who engage with followers, focus on higher order intrinsic needs, and raise consciousness about the significance of specific outcomes and new ways in which those outcomes might be achieved.
-    Transactional leaders tend to be more passive as transformational leaders demonstrate active behaviors that include providing a sense of mission.

Transformational leaders are sometimes call quiet leaders. They are the ones that lead by example. Their style tends to use support, inspiration, or empathy to engage followers. They are known to possess courage, confidence, and the willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good.



 Effective communication in leading people

Communication in management

Clic to read  Communication in management



Communication is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior.  Communication requires a sender, a message and a recipient, however communication can occur across vast distances in time and space, the communication process is complete once the receiver understands the senders message.

The process of communication

-    Thought: First, information exists in the mind of the sender. This can be a concept, idea, information, or feelings.
-    Encoding: Next, a message is sent to a receiver in words or other symbols.
-    Decoding: Lastly, the receiver translates the words or symbols into a concept or information that a person can understand.

Communication plays extremely important role in leadership and team management.Why do we communicate in organizations?

-    To exchange information
-    To perform tasks and achieve organizational goals
-    To communicate about our opinions and feelings
-    To meet our needs
-    To build relationships



Effective communication

Clic to read  Effective communication



There are various forms of communications. Most often there are mentioned two categories of communication: verbal (when we use words) and non-verbal (that is often identified with body language). However, we can also separate the written communication, that is important in formal relations within small organizations.

An effective team leader or firm owner, need to be fluent in all three forms of communication to efficiently convey the necessary information. It is hard to motivate people if somebody stands with arms crossed over chest and head down.

-    Verbal communication consists of delivering information by the use of spoken words. How can we develop our verbal communication effectiveness? By listening to others, learning from others and using our phones…If we can give clear and easy to follow directions over the phone, then we are good at verbal communication.
-    Non-verbal communication includes the use of body language and facial expressions. Actors are masters of this style of communication; because they have been trained to portray emotions or deliver whole messages simply by the way they hold their body and position their facial expressions. We can learn from others to read the verbal communication and be aware of our own gestures and postures. There are also many useful materials in the internet.

Nonverbal communication is the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless cues between people. Nonverbal communication encompasses much more that only body language, such as use of voice (paralanguage), touch, distance, and physical environments/appearance.

Non-verbal messages include:

-    Appearance (cloths), Zones – Distance, Facial expression (eye contact), Body language
Tauch, Voice (tone, pitch, force), Good manners

Remember that Communication starts before we open our mouth. Body language is a powerful tool to success.  If we loose the perception of our body language everybody will pay attention to it. So if you present – be aware that the audience body language matters too!




Effective feedback

Clic to read  Effective feedback



Feedback is about giving information in a way that encourages the recipient to accept it, reflect on it, learn from it, and hopefully make changes for the better. Being able to give feedback is a skill that is useful in our personal and professional live.

Giving positive or negative feedback is key in the team management process. However, the way in which this information is provided is also important. Well communicated feedback support and develop people, build a good atmosphere in the team and relationships as well as help to achieve higher efficiency. Poorly transmitted information can significantly reduce motivation, atmosphere and lower performance. Especially people with low self-confidence should be often praised, that is, obtain positive feedback.
 
Characteristic of effective feedback

-    Clear - try to be clear about what the feedback is that you want to give.
-    Owned - The feedback you give is your own perception and not an ultimate truth , e.g.“I found that …” rather than “It’s obvious that…”
-    Regular - If the feedback is given regularly it is more likely to be useful. Try to give the feedback as close to the event as possible and early enough for the person to do something about it
-    Balanced - It is good to balance negative and positive feedback . Negative feedback must always be accompanied by something positive but rather a balance should be created over time.
-    Specific - Generalised feedback is hard to learn from. Phrases like, “You talk too much” can only lead to hurt and anger. “You talk too much to the client while you are administering an assessment” gives the receiver some information which he or she can choose to use or ignore.

Feedback should meet some rules to be a vehicle to higher personal and professional effectiveness.

There are various feedback techniques that can be used at workplace. The most popular are presented below.

Sandwich technique

-    Give praise. Tell them positive feedback. Compliment about how the person or the team did good in certain situations.
-    Tell them about the aspects to be improved in their officiating. This is the criticism, or negative feedback part.
-    Close with a praise in the end.

KiSS technique

Another simple acronym KSS (kiss) approach. It is particularly useful in the early stages of a group development.

When giving feedback to, organize it in the following way:
-    Keep doing what you are doing right (name the specific behaviour/s)
-    Stop doing what you are doing incorrectly (name the specific unwanted/changeable behaviour/s)

Start doing what you need to do to improve your performance (name specific desired behavior).

-    To understand what is leadership and why it is important in today art and craft organizations
-    To characterize an effective leader
-    To know the basic classification of leadership styles
-    To understand what leadership styles are effective and when
-    To understand new trends in leadership
-    To understand what motivates people
-    To develop your leadership skills



 Team building and development

Characteristic of a team

Clic to read  Characteristic of a team



Team is a social group linked by formal and informal relationships that performs specific tasks to achieve a common goal. Organizations form teams to accomplish tasks that are too large or complex for an individual to complete. Teams are also effective for work that requires different types of skills and expertise.

The characteristic of a team:
-    A common goal - integrating all members, ensuring efficient cooperation, important for team members;
-    Action plan - a vision that ensures the continuation of operations even after achieving current goals;
-    Set rules - a set of binding rules,
-    Clear division of roles - each member knows his role well in the team, and the members themselves are selected in such a way as to complement each others qualifications;
-    Communication code - containing elements unknown to bystanders;

Teamwork involves a set of tasks and activities performed by individuals who collaborate with each other to achieve a common objective. Effective teamwork requires that people work as a cohesive unit. These characteristics can help individuals collaborate with others by focusing their efforts in a common direction and achieving an outcome that can only be reached by working together.

There are many benefits of a teamwork, among the most important are:

-    Shorter working time
-    Innovation implementation -  synergy effect (team is a source of ideas, sum of potential)
-    Performance improvement and better quality solutions - occurrence of reasonable criticism in a team that helps to choose the best ideas and ways of achieving goals
-    Openness and cooperation
-    Team plays a role of the social stimulus of action
-    Teams also supports creative enthusiasm
-    Higher mental strength in the team.

To start to build your team

-    Specify goals
-    Define criteria for success
-    Plan
-    Determine a strategy for action
-    Determine the roles and tasks and delegate permissions




Tuckman Model of team development

Clic to read  Tuckman Model of team development



Team development model was Identified by Bruce Tuckman and offers a foundational definition of the stages teams go through during their lifecycle. Those stages are:
-    Forming
-    Storming
-    Norming
-    Performing

Forming
In this stage, most team members are positive and polite. Some are anxious, as they have not fully understood what work the team will do. Others are simply excited about the task ahead. As leader, you play a dominant role at this stage, because team members roles and responsibilities are not clear. This stage can last for some time, as people start to work together, and as they make an effort to get to know their new colleagues.

Storming
Next, the team moves into the storming phase, where people start to push against the boundaries established in the forming stage. This is the stage where many teams fail. Storming often starts where there is a conflict between team members natural working styles. Storming can also happen in other situations. For example, if you have not defined clearly how the team will work.

Norming
Norming stage is when people start to resolve their differences, appreciate colleagues strengths, and respect your authority as a leader. Now that your team members know one-another better, they may socialize together, and they are able to ask each other for help and provide constructive feedback. People develop a stronger commitment to the team goal, and you start to see good progress towards it.

Performing
The team reaches the performing stage when hard work leads to the achievement of the teams goal. The structures and processes that you have set up support this well. As leader, you can delegate much of your work, and you can concentrate on developing team members. It feels easy to be part of the team at this stage, and people who join or leave will not disrupt performance.

The role of leaders in particular stages:

Forming - Direct the team, and establish clear objectives, both for the team as a whole and for individuals.
Storming - Establish processes and structures, build trust and good relationships between team members, provide support, remain positive and firm in the face of challenges to your leadership, or to the teams goal.
Norming - Step back and help team members take responsibility for progress towards the goal. 
Performing - Delegate tasks and projects as far as you can. Once the team is achieving well, you should aim to have as light a touch as possible.




Team roles according to Belbin

Clic to read  Team roles according to Belbin



Research showed that the most successful teams were made up of a diverse mix of behaviors. Dr Meredith Belbin and his team discovered that there are nine clusters of behavior - these were called "Team Roles".

Each team needs access to each of the nine Team Role behaviors to become a high performing team. Most people will have two or three Team Roles that they are most comfortable with, and this can change over time. Each Team Role has its strengths and weaknesses, and each has equal importance. However, not all are always required at the same time - it is important to first look at the team objectives, and work out which tasks need to be undertaken.

According to Belbin, the most successful teams require different type of team roles. In every team there supposed to be members that are:  people oriented, action oriented, thinking oriented.

a)    Action oriented roles : Shaper, Implementer, Completer-Finisher
b)    People oriented roles:  Coordinator, Team Worker, Investigator
c)    Thought oriented roles: Plant, Monitor – Evaluator, Specialist

According to the Belbin research it appears that the team made out of the strongest individuals, called the Apollo team, is not as effective as it should be. Whats more, it usually performed worse than a regular team. Therefore, when choosing people to your team do not try to choose only the strongest candidates. It is important to remember what type of task they supposed to fill and match these tasks with their skills and personality.



 Motivating people

Employee Motivation

Clic to read  Employee Motivation



Employee motivation has been broadly defined as the psychological forces that determine the direction of a persons behavior in a team or an organization.  It is also defined as the methods for motivating employees as well as an intrinsic and internal drive to put forth the necessary effort and action towards work-related activities (Wikipedia).

Why is it so important? Because motivated employees are essential to the success of an organization as they are generally more productive at the work place.

There are two kinds of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic, therefore there can be used  various rewards systems that correspond to two kinds of motivators:

-    intrinsic motivators:  achievement, responsibility and competence, motivators that come from the actual performance of the task or job -- the intrinsic interest of the work.
-    extrinsic motivators:  pay, promotion, feedback, working conditions -- things that come from a persons environment, controlled by others.




Motivational theories

Clic to read  Motivational theories



There are many motivational theories however, some are particular important when motivating people. Below are presented only some most important theories. 

There are two kinds of motivation theories: The content theories and the cognitive theories.

Content theories includes Abram Maslows hierarchy of needs and Frederick Herzberg two -factor theory.

Maslows theory is one of the most widely discussed theories of motivation. It says that individuals possess a constantly growing inner drive that has great potential. The needs hierarchy system, devised by Maslow, is a commonly used scheme for classifying human motives. According to Maslow, people are motivated by unsatisfied needs. The needs, listed from basic (lowest-earliest) to most complex (highest-latest) are:
-    psychological needs
-    safety needs
-    love and belongings
-    esteem needs
-    self-actualization needs.

Based on this theory Peoples behavior is based on their needs. Satisfaction of such needs influences their behavior.

The next Frederick Herzberg two -factor theory concludes that certain factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction (motivators), while others (hygiene factors), if absent, lead to dissatisfaction but are not related to satisfaction.

The factors that motivate people can change over their lifetime. Some claimed motivating factors (satisfiers) were: Achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth. Some hygiene factors (dissatisfiers) were: company policy, supervision, working conditions, interpersonal relations, salary, status, job security, and personal life.

Cognitive theories define motivation in terms of how people think about situations. Cognitive theories of motivation include goal-setting theory and expectancy theory  that are important in managing individuals and teams.

Expectancy theory by Victor Vroom explains the behavior process in which an individual selects a behavior option over another, and why/how this decision is made in relation to their goal.

Goal-setting theory is based on the notion that individuals sometimes have a drive to reach a clearly defined end state. Often, this end state is a reward.

A goals efficiency is affected by three features:
-    proximity,
-    difficulty
-    and specificity.

One common goal setting methodology incorporates the  SMARTER criteria, in which goals are: specific, measurable, attainable/achievable, relevant, and time-bound, ethical and recorded.

Setting SMARTER Goals

-    Specific – be specific what is that you want to achieve?
-    Measurable - you must be able to track progress and measure the result of your goal.
-    Agreed - your goal must be agreed with your team or clients (generally stakeholders)
-    Realistic – do not set not realistic goals – this is demotivating 
-    Timed
-    Ethical – in the time of corporate social responsibility this is an important issue. Employees, particularly younger generation are very sensitive in this matter
-    Recorded – write down your goals.




Motivating a team

Clic to read  Motivating a team



Teams are made up of individuals who have different outlooks and abilities, and are at different stages of their careers. As a leader you need to get know everybody. It is your responsibility to develop all of your people. Your skills in this aspect of management will define your long-term success as a leader.

Motivational leadership refers to someone leading others by motivating them to strive for certain goals rather than simply act on orders. The leader tries to create a safe and trusting environment, and ensure the organization is positioned for success in the marketplace. Some interpret motivational leadership principles as requiring that a leader establish strong ethics, clear vision, definable values, authentic communication, and be genuinely motivated to promote collaboration and a positive working environment.

The top priority for team leaders is delegation. Successful delegation starts with matching people and tasks, so you first need to understand what your teams role and goals are.
Information play important role in effective people motivation within a team. Therefore, seek information from your team and give information to your team.


 Results


 Indicators


 Bibliography

Bass & Bass (2008). The Bass handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications (4th ed.). New York: Free Press.
Griffin R.W., Ebert R.J. (2004), Business, Prientece Hall.
Kirkpatrick, S.A. and Locke, E.A. (1991) Leadership: Do Traits Matter? Academy of Management Executive, 5, 48-60.
https://www.businessballs.com/leadership-models/leadership-styles-3-style-model-kurt-lewin/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc
https://bettermindbodysoul.com/effective-communication-techniques/
https://www.15five.com/blog/9-ways-to-give-effective-employee-feedback/
 


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