The keys to effective team leadership Graduate Coursework Colloquium, 11 April 2015

Why this topic? Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromise. (James Surowieki, The Wisdom of Crowds) J. Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, New York, Doubleday, 2004, p.xix

Key concepts Teams Diversity Dissent Shared leadership Hierarchical leadership Transformational leadership

What are teams? Team can be used to refer to ‘those groups that constitute a system whose parts interrelate and whose members share a common goal’. J. Syer and C. Connolly, How Teamwork Works: The Dynamics of Effective Team Development, London, McGraw-Hill, 1996, p.7. Teams provide more talent, more insight, and more points of view.

Dissent Dissent is important, as it prevents an organization from becoming too insular and provides the space necessary to foster creativity. ‘Minority dissent’: when a smaller faction disagrees with a larger one, preventing a premature move towards consensus. Every team needs a deviant!

Diversity ‘Identity safety’ is critical to allow minorities to effectively contribute. Critical to ensure psychological safety and destructive emotions that accompany power imbalances. Gender diversity shown to improve processes, if not necessarily results. Leadership attributes: people development, expectations and rewards, role model, inspiration, participative decision making.

Shared Leadership This can be defined as ‘an emerging process of mutual influence, where team members share in the leadership function of a team’. J.G. Park and B. Kwon, ‘Literature Review on Shared Leadership in Teams’, Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, vol. 10, no. 3, 2013, p.28. Whoever has the key knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) for the task at hand takes the lead, and then it rotates for the next task.

Hierarchical Leadership Shared leadership only works when the conditions are right (eg. Knowledge-based work) Teams still need someone to fulfill ‘mentor’, ‘instructor’, ‘coach’ and ‘facilitator’ roles. Mix of hierarchical and shared leadership models allows for a situation where leader has agency in directing team to a stage where it can work more independently.

Transformational Leadership Leaders can seek commitment from and mobilise the team behind a shared goal. Leaders have a role in providing identity safety to the extent that diversity and dissent can be managed and harnessed to the benefit of the team. Leaders can prevent ‘dysfunctional deference’, and instead allow ‘functional team conflict’.

Team of Rivals? Teams can achieve great things when they are authentic, actively bring in a diverse and wide range of views, and supported by a leader who sets a framework that allows the team to shine.