Of the 35+ leadership theories in current circulation, transformational leadership is the one nearest and dearest to my heart due to its focus on leadership ethics. But transformational leadership is also the most misunderstood theory, because many fail to realize that it’s not just about having a charismatic leader or an altruistic vision statement.
Category Archives: Team Coaching
The Four-V Model of Ethical Leadership
When it comes to leadership development models, one thing’s for sure: there’s no shortage. We have the great man, behavioral, situational, transactional, transformational, transforming, diamond, authentic, principled, adaptive, directive, supportive, group-centered, team-based, participative, servant and, let us never forget—the one-minute!
Many of these models broach the subject of ethics in leadership.1,2,3 Usually it’s relegated to a subsection of the related book or article, sometimes a chapter. The Four-V Model of Ethical Leadership is different in this regard. Ethics is not an aspect of the model. It’s the whole enchilada, the model’s ends and its means. According to the Four-V model, ethics is the sine qua non of leadership, and an unethical leader is a contradiction in terms.
Read MoreThe Importance of Teams Today
As many organizational cultures are becoming less hierarchical and bureaucratic, in keeping with the knowledge and information age, the need for teams keeps growing. This means that the capacity of an organization to build and utilize teams can provide a major competitive advantage. This is why real teams may be the best tool modern organizations have for upping performance. More than any other organizational structure, effective teams offer the flexibility and power to respond quickly to change.
Read MoreCharacteristics of Effective Groups
The greatest truism about groups is that every group is unique. It’s only natural then for group processes, structure, and culture to vary from group to group as a function of the group’s tasks, stage of development, and membership. That said, there are several barometers of group effectiveness that seem to apply universally, and that correlate with group performance.
Read MoreThe Value of Group Development to Organizations
Groups aren’t the answer to every kind of work. In fact, there are many tasks at which one person can outperform a group, for instance, where talent or experience is the critical performance factor. Who ever heard of group writing a novel, for example?
But groups can be particularly good at combining talents and providing creative solutions to unfamiliar problems. Whenever there is no established approach or solution to a task, a well-developed group’s wider range of knowledge, skills, and behaviors provides a distinct advantage over individuals working separately.
Read MoreA Brief History of Group Dynamics
The study of small group behavior is a relatively modern development. It’s a sub-discipline of social psychology, which itself only gained recognition as a field distinct from sociology or psychology in the early 20th century.
Read MoreViable Strategic Planning Models
The terms strategy development and strategic planning mean different things to different people. Not surprisingly, there are hundreds of models for developing business and organizational strategies. The basic thrust and purpose of strategy is even conceptualized in different ways. For instance, strategy has been framed as:
Read MoreWilliam Dyer’s Characteristics of Effective Teams
When he was dean of Brigham Young University’s Graduate School of Management in the early 1980s, William Dyer wrote the pioneering text on team building, entitled appropriately enough Team Building. The book is now in its fifth edition. From the beginning, Dyer cautioned against using teams for anything but team-oriented work. He also was wary of trying to implement team building if an organization’s leadership was halfhearted or skeptical about committing the time and resources needed to do it right.
Read MoreTuckman’s Four Stages of A Group
Although Bruce W. Tuckman (1938-2016) was best known for his article “Developmental sequence in small groups,” published in 1965, his areas of academic expertise were educational research and educational psychology. Still, of all the models of group development ever proposed, Tuckman’s forming-storming-norming-performing remains the one most often referenced.
Read MoreDo Mission, Vision, and Values Statements Matter?
Many strategic planning processes begin with the planning team creating mission, vision, and values statements. The theory behind such efforts is that defining a shared purpose and long-term organizational objectives is vital to the planning process and to implementing the strategy.
By the same token, some strategy specialists question the need for putting mission, vision, or values statements in writing at all. One of their main objections is that a great many of the statements that result sound generic and aren’t truly actionable. Another complaint is that people often mistake vision statements for mission statements and end up creating more confusion than clarity.
What Team Building Is NOT
You don’t have to look far to find people who are skeptical, or even cynical, about team building. The irony is, when you ask them why, you soon discover they never participated in true team building at all.
Here’s why. According to organizational surveys, 78% of so-called team building efforts within companies who reported having tried it consisted of one-time events. The surveys also showed that department heads or managers with little or no training or expertise in developing teams typically led these events.
Read MoreWhat is Group Dynamics?
Every time you’re in a meeting, whether with one other person or twenty, you’re in a group. Task groups, work groups, departments, committees—all kinds of groups dominate organizational life. In fact, they’re every organization’s basic operating unit. Yet, how many people complain that groups and meetings are the least productive and rewarding parts of their job? As much as we work in groups, it’s sad that their potential often goes unrealized. This is where the social science of group dynamics comes in.
Read MoreChallenges to Effective Team Building
Team building is not necessarily a good fit for all organizations. In fact, studies show that certain organizational structures, cultures, programs, and procedures actually undermine teams. No matter how much team-building initiatives are pushed, teams won’t be effective in these work settings. These types of organizations include ones with:
- Hierarchical or bureaucratic structures.
- Authoritarian cultures, which lock power and control in one place.
- Cultures that primarily reward individual performance and initiative.
What Is A Real Team?
Teams have been defined as a small group of people with complementary skills committed to a common purpose and specific performance goals. The work of real teams requires collaboration and interdependence among team members. This means that the leadership role tends to shift among team members rather than remain static. And it means that people with different jobs and skill sets must work together in a coordinated effort, and at the same time, to be effective.
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