Team leadership is a participative form of leadership, where several leaders brainstorm ideas and make decisions together. It involves cooperation, participation, and respect of opinions for it to be effective. Leaders often tend to separate themselves from not only their subordinates but also their fellow leaders. Due to a load of responsibilities on their shoulders, they are often unable to be patient with the long process of decision making in team leadership and the constant clash of ideas.
Team leadership requires all leaders to be team players. Every leader must provide their opinions on matters discussed for it to be efficient. Team playing includes being able to compromise when necessary (Anonson et al., 2009). The ability to compromise will make it easier to enforce decisions that require voting since the minority will be able to secede. Leaders should be of flexible thought, making it easy to reconsider their opinions when presented with contradictory but viable information. In that vein, leaders should be able to back their ideas with credible facts to avoid unnecessary conflict (Ilgen et al., 2005). Team leadership also requires its members to be professional. When presented with unsatisfying information, a member should oppose it without attacking the personality of the member who proposed the ideas.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
There should be a definitive manner of disagreeing with arguments presented to not spill over to personal relationships (Anonson et al., 2009). Members of team leadership should also be conscious and considerate of delicate elements such as religion, gender, race, political affiliation, disability, and tribe, among other factors. For team leadership to work, members must recognize each individual's prowess while taking care not to disregard their opinions in areas they may not be specialized (Anonson et al., 2009). For instance, in making human resource decisions, the team should consider the professional opinion of a member who has specialized in the area while at the same time regarding the views of other members. The strategy ensures that teams make well-informed decisions that every member approves.
Despite its effectiveness, the team leadership model faces several challenges. One of its disadvantages is the lengthy decision-making process that comes with it (Ilgen et al., 2005). Decisions have to be thoroughly analyzed as per the stipulations of a particular team before they are officially made. They also have to be inclusive of all leaders' opinions to make it fair. The long process of making decision making may slow the running of an organization (Nahavandi, 2014). A slow-running organization is likely to make losses and reduce the motivation of the workers. The use of team leadership also reduces individual leaders' productivity because they are stuck with the team's pace. Leaders would prefer to make a fast personal decision to hasten the running of an organization and its productivity.
Another disadvantage of team leadership is that it may cause division within the organization. When leaders disagree on matters and refuse to compromise, they may garner support from staff members and even pit them against each other (Nahavandi , 2014). The division creates a political leadership structure that prioritizes personal benefit over organizational growth.
Based on the strength and weaknesses listed above, team leadership is a practical approach because its pros outweigh the cons. Through team leadership, an organization makes the right quality decisions because different aspects of the organization are considered. To maximize team leadership, leaders should try to be open-minded and accommodating to new ideas.
References
Anonson, J. M. S., Ferguson, L., Macdonald, M. B., Murray, B. L., Fowler-Kerry, S., & Bally, J.
M. G. (2009). The anatomy of interprofessional leadership: An investigation of leadership behaviors in team-based health care. Journal of Leadership Studies , 3 (3), 17-25.
Ilgen, D. R., Hollenbeck, J. R., Johnson, M., & Jundt, D. (2005). Teams in organizations: From
input-process-output models to IMOI models. Annual Review of Psychology, 56 (1), 517-543.
Nahavandi, A. (2014). The art and science of leadership (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
