Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | A | Academic Exchange Quarterly

Leader as teacher: conversations to grow teams.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Among the opportunities a leader has to improve a work culture, creating and growing effective teams have become important routes to organizational transformation. Our intent is to help leaders understand the stages and considerations in the process of teaming, the significant role the leader plays in establishing organizational and team norms, and how to use conversations to teach important values needed to grow the desired culture.

Introduction

Among the opportunities a leader has to improve a culture, creating and developing effective teams have become important routes to organizational transformation. Developing teams includes structural aspects (focus, meeting logistics, governance, roles and responsibilities) and human considerations. In the corpus of literature on leading, many scholars who discuss the importance of the "human side" of leadership include the importance of effective communication for the leader (Barbour, 1998; Senge, et al., 1994; Wheatley, 1992; Kotter, 1990; Bennis, 1989; Senge, 1990; Zaleznick, 1977). Recently, attention is turning to the importance of conversations, how to have them and the types of conversations that are necessary for teams to successfully accomplish their tasks (Patterson, Grenny, McMillian, and Switzler, 2002; and Costa and Garmston, 1999). Organizational transformation requires, in part, understanding of the delicate art of discourse and discussion. In other words, conversations are key. We intend to note stages and considerations in the process of teaming, the significant role the leader plays in establishing norms to build effective teams, and how to effectively use conversations to grow the desired culture.

Conceptualization of teams

Katzenback and Smith (1993) state that "A team includes a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable" (p.45), and maintain that since these are the basics of a real team, if any components are missing, the team should work toward getting these key elements right. Donnellon (1996) adds that a cohesive, real team (compared to a team in name only) possesses several dimensions. A real team identifies itself as a team, is truly interdependent, exhibits a low need for power, is close socially, and uses both confronting and collaborating processes when managing conflict. She contrasts the key dimensions above with a nominal team that is a functional group, is independent, exhibits high power differentiation, is socially distant, and utilizes conflict management tactics of force, accommodation and avoidance.

Stages in team development

Tuckman (1965) identifies four stages within a team's developmental life: forming, norming, storming, and performing. Subsequent research published with Jensen added a fifth stage, adjourning (Tuckman and Jensen, 1977). The leader most directly influences the first stage of team development, forming. The rest of the stages are team member-involved and member-driven, with the organizational leader establishing organizational norms and...