The Importance Of Effective Team Leadership

People in the workplace want to be successful when working in teams. It makes it a lot easier when members enjoy what they do while working with others. The team leaders play an important role in the development and productivity of teams, but also team participants must be willing to work cooperatively because the team shares common goals to achieve them. A team can only be as strong as its leader; therefore effective team leaders must have certain qualities to allow the team to produce good work. An extreme example of failed leadership is arguably the failures that occurred at multiple levels of government immediately before and after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. Many government officials, to include then FEMA director Michael Brown, failed to provide effective leadership when it came to decision-making and taking action in the aftermath of the storm (Hamilton, 2002). This resulted in a delayed government response while many victims were stranded on their roofs for days without food or water. According to an article from CIO Magazine (2000), “Leadership grows from courage and integrity, and their seeds lie in everyone.” These are character traits that can be learned if you feel that you were not born with certain leadership skills. The three main points discussed in this research paper to become a more effective team and leaders are: effective team preparation; task and maintenance roles; and the theories of effective team leadership.
In order to have effective team preparation, there must be committed members and good communication skills. A few qualities of committed team members are those who devote time and energy, support the final decision, and perform task and maintenance functions (Hamilton, 2011). In a business e...

... middle of paper ...

...tyle
• Telling style
• Selling or coaching style

According to Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources (2001), there is no one best way to influence people. In other words, the theory claims that the leadership style you choose will depend on the environment and each group member.
Effective teamwork can be challenging and at times can be a struggle between leaders and team members. However, taking into consideration the theories and communication skills we discussed can help team members and leaders become more functional. It is important to influence each other by sharing our experiences and useful information throughout the team. Adopting a “we, instead of, me” approach and respecting each other’s differences can take you, and the team as a whole, a long way. After all, this is all for the sake of accomplishing shared goals successfully.