I do not believe that just "anyone" can be a team leader. I agree with others that a leader has to want it. I also believe that a leader is only as strong as their team. If the team fails, thats a reflection on the leadership. We praise teachers when students perform well academically as it directly reflects on them, same as the leader. I personally perform well with minimal guidance and a good understanding of the goal or task. I learn more from a leader whom leads by example; do not teach but coach. In my opinion, leadership is a quality and cannot be taught. Either you have what it takes to lead a team or you play on a team.
Marlene
I agree with this some are made and some just need to have the proper taining to become a leader.
I believe that anybody can if they have the skill set to be one and they one to be one. It is all about your positive thinking.
No, I believe that it is a quality people all ready have. Some people are not leaders, you just have to find their right skill set.
Pamela,
Setting up a team charter is a worthwhile activity. I am glad the course helped. It has been a pleasure having you in class.
Dr. Jamie Morley
Pamela,
Good plan, Pamela! Best of luck.
Dr. Jamie Morley
Dr. Morley,
I appreciate your insight to my thread! We do take notes currently but we need to do a better job in reviewing the minutes from the prior meeting in order for us to see areas of improvement needed and also proven areas of success.
Pamela
Dr. Morley,
I appreciate your comments and I am always looking for practical applications on ways to better myself as a person in a leadership role. I am so exicited to apply what I have learned from this course and I am especially looking forward to creating a team charter!
Pamela
Pamela,
Congratulations on your promotion. Because you have the foresight to reflect every week on the issues, and then formulate ideas how to improve, shows me that you DO indeed have leadership qualities. Be sure to involve your team in those discussions as well and formalize your ideas in meeting minutes or memorandum so that they won’t be forgotten. Nicely done!
Dr. Jamie Morley
Pamela,
Good insights! To be a leader, you need followers. To get people to follow you, the leader needs to possess a vision and traits that people aspire to. A manager can manage anybody that he or she is assigned to manage. Whether or not that person has the qualities to be a leader will not be seen for awhile.
Dr. Jamie Morley
Hi Gari,
I have similar issues with the ability that everyone has the abiity to be trained as a leader.
The role has so many dynamics to it that even if you were to train someone it takes out the biggest component; which is being able to be a good leader. I have had many bosses who were micro-managers and they felt that their way was the only way. That method worked for them but it was not the best way when working with their staff. By implying that everyone can be a leader with the proper training seems to me that you are not seeking out someone with the characteristic's needed but just settling for putting someone into the leader role.
I think the qualities and roles of team leaders must be somewhere inside of the person already in order to be a successful team leader. Because of that my answer would be no. I did a lot of thinking about this question as I was recently promoted to Program Director. Initially, I was unsure if I could fulfill the needs of the other 6 members in my department. I decided to have a department meeting before taking on the position and ask the others what they thought the challenges with my changing role would be. The overall response was "you are a natural born leader!" They also stated that they would never want to take on that role because I do not have the ability to handle the situations and struggles that may arise. I have to say I love coaching and being an initiator and well as staying positive and collaborating with our team.
We have encountered many challenges together but the rewards are great. Every week or two I review our trials and tribulations and send out an email thanking them and telling them how grateful I am to have such a cohesive, hardworking team. I ask myself how could any of this without my amazing team?
Alexander,
I will read your recommendation since I have not heard of it before. two of my favorite leadership books are "Servant Leadership" and "Flight of the Buffalo." In the latter, the book compares the leadership strategies of Buffalo and Geese. Buffalo herds have one leader and when the herd is in danger the buffalos surround the leader. Unfortunately, if the leader gets killed, the herd scatters and is decimated because none of the other buffalo were ever trained to be the leader. Geese fly in a V formation. Every goose is taught how to be at the front of the V and lead the flock. If the leader is hurt, injured, or tired, another goose takes the lead role. Organizations are very similar. The best managers and leaders should always be “training their replacement†as opposed to guarding information.
Thanks for sharing!
Dr. Jamie Morley
Alexander,
Interesting perspective! There are all types of different leaders. Some have a commanding presence and others do not. Take, for example, the difference in leadership qualities of Gandhi versus Martin Luther King or President Reagan. All made a huge difference, but one did so in a “tear down this wall†forceful way, MLK advocated peaceful protests and Gandhi through just peace. All three men were leaders and had a presence about them, but would not have necessarily been considered the strongest person in the room. It comes down to inspiring others to follow.
Dr. Jamie Morley
Alexander,
I love your idea about creating a place for collaboration. Drop Box and icloud are great free resources to do that. I have found that the brainstorming sessions do need to be monitored by somebody to ensure they stay on point. Sometimes, requiring a manager or team leader to post a question or upload a document to the page reminds them to check the health of the conversations.
Dr. Jamie Morley
I would motivate them by encouraging their creativity and ideas, create a space for all of us as a team to discuss and sift through the ideas, decide on the ideas that are the best based on that conversation(s), and then implement asap. Each team member - a leader in their own right - would be given the flexibility and freedom to implement their portion and as they grow and improve, they would be given more and more responsability.
I like that you use the word inspire. I think in a nutshell that is what leadership really is. If given a choice, people tend to follow a leader stronger than them and the strongest leader in the room. Usually this person is effective at inspiring people - helping them believe in a vision and more importantly to believe in themselves.
I recommend reading books on leadership (21 Irrefutable Laws is great) and overall begin the process of working on yourself. Begin by not blaming others for your failures but by owning up to them, establishing your personal baseline if you will and creating your own leadership plan. Further, I recommend considering work, and other situations in your life as opportunities for your to develop your leadership now.
Alexander,
You are right! Having confidence and surrounding yourself with capable people are keys to success. A good manager or team leader needs to be able to help channel or compartmentalize great ideas into actionable ones and then motivate the team to want to accomplish something. It is wonderful when team members have complimenting skill sets. However, sometimes you don't get to pick your team. If you were a manager and you had a team of motivated folks who had similar skill sets and all wanted their ideas to be utilized, how would you motivate and manage them?
Dr. Jamie Morley
Alexander,
Interesting perspective! I agree with you that people can receive training to bring out or strengthen their leadership qualities. People can also be taught the fundamentals of management and supervision, as well as how to follow and implement policies and procedures. What training do you think would be required to create a great leader that would inspire his or her team members?
Dr. Jamie Morley
