Leading Teams
5 Minutes on…
Leading Teams
Commentary:
Team working has become more of an imperative as organisations de-layer. The roles of Supervisor and Middle Manager are becoming increasingly rare and often groups of people need to form themselves into teams, establish decision-making processes and find ways to work together effectively and learn. For the Leaders of Teams, there is the added complication of knowing when to lead from the front, when to act as a coach, a facilitator or a mentor.
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Influencing (or influencer?) skills
Do you influence or are you an influencer?
In 1936 Dale Carnegie wrote the quintessential self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Maybe he knew that in the soon to be airport bookshop managers, old and new, would be frantically looking for the solution to the art of the deal or how to be the one minute manager before they got on the airplane. Carnegie’s book is considered one of the most influential books of all time.
Carnegie may have been prescient in meeting the needs of the modern manager. But he could not have predicted the rise of the on-line influencer; who sets out to influence, win friends and get paid for doing so. Maybe it is time for a new book: How to influence people and win friends.
Influencing others hardly started with the on-line incarnation. In the 18th Century, the royal stamp of approval by George III of the pottery of Josiah Wedgwood enabled Wedgwood to use the King’s approval to increase brand awareness to promote and sell his products. To this day ‘by appointment to the Queen’ carries huge kudos on a whole range of UK products. Wonder what rate the royal household gets of each 1000 followers?
Networking
It’s not a dirty word. The business of backscratching? Or the art of developing relationships – the ultimate relationship marketing?
If you are in business at times you do need a thick skin, it’s not personal, but networking is a skill. There are many organisations where you can build the confidence to network in an informal non-threatening arena with your peers. Historically women have been and felt at a disadvantage when networking at work. It isn’t a waste of time, it is part of work, but you may need to ease into it.
Group non-managerial supervision, a personal perspective
In several professions, we do not ‘look after’ our most valuable, and dare I say expensive, human resource. Senior leaders under tremendous pressure are left to cope on their own. Some can. Some can but at a great expense to themselves and maybe colleagues they interreact with. Some leave the profession. Is a sink or swim attitude wise or effective for an organisation? So, what can we do? Find a person to support the senior leader. In schools, I heard people say speak to the Chair of Governors; in charities the Chair of the Trustees; across many industrial sectors leaders are recommended to speak to whoever is their line manager; the next person in the chain. Chair of the Board of Directors. Really!
This is crazy in my mind. Would you tell the person above you in the system that you are having difficulty? They will be placing an advertisement for your job as the door is closing when you leave their room. Okay, not always but…
Having worked and had knowledge of other occupations I discovered the concept of supervision or clinical supervision. This I promote in my professional world as Non-Managerial Individual or Group Supervision. In this arrangement you are being supported by someone or group of colleagues who have no managerial responsibility for you except as a fellow professional (and as a human).
This piece has been contributed by Jonathan Block
Handling conflict
There are many reasons why conflict occurs at work and what boils over into an actual stand up argument may just be a symptom not the cause. Whilst individual differences can be a profound source of friction and discontent – much must be down to poor leadership and management. Approaches to understanding and managing conflict have many dependencies; personal, social, organisational, cultural and national. But there are some universal aspects that underpin these individual differences.
Can you tell the difference between mentoring, coaching and supervision? Does it matter?
There are fundamental differences between mentoring and coaching in their purest terms. Often the two get confused. Let’s explain the differences and how they can be applied separately and combined to support others, colleagues, students and sometimes, our friends.
Trust
Trust seems to be fundamental to much that a leader and manager does. Individual to individual or as groups we must understand the concept of trust. Trust also impacts on your personal life; a facet of your personality.
The Learning Organisation
Learning organisations are… organisations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually...
Mentoring
Ever find yourself wishing for a shoulder, a sounding board, a source of advice, someone who’ll impart wisdom and insight? Socrates we can’t do, but a mentor we can. What does it take, and is it for you?
Building Teams
Are you sure you are part of a team? Or are you one of the unfortunate many aiming for ‘team’ but not making it past: Club group...
Recruiting New Team Members
So who should be in your gang? A balanced team, whose members compliment each other, pull together, take ownership and respect and like each other, can produce fast, innovative results. Too often, however, a team is a melting pot of disparate characters,...
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