140 / LEADING THROUGH CHALLENGESEnergizing the team
Choosing your team
Selecting team members who will work together
well, motivating the group, and dealing with conflict
are the essential aspects of team leadership. And as
increasing amounts of work are project-based, you
need to develop team cohesion and focus quickly
despite rapid changes in the mix of the team.
Invest time at the start of a project to choose
or strengthen the team; your investment will be
repaid later in the project cycle when the group
comes under pressure. Select team members with
complementary skills and talents that come into play
at different stages of a project. As a minimum, your
team should have a good mix of the following thinking
styles listed below. If the team is small, members
may need to be able to fill more than one of the roles.When you put together a group of people—anywhere between two and
several thousand—you won’t automatically get a team. For a group to
become a team, it must be energized and focused and it must think of
success as a collective rather than individual aim. Carrying out this
transformation is your job as a leader.The leader—ensures everyone understands the objectives;
motivates and communicates.The creator—an imaginative thinker who has bold concepts at
the outset of a project and provides ideas when the team is stuck.The analyst—the problem-solver who tests the plan at every stage.The facilitator—has good interpersonal skills, is sensitive to
the group dynamic, and acts as the “glue” in a team.The administrator—pays attention to details
and keeps the team on time and focused on the task.US_140-141_Choosing_your_team.indd 140 30/05/16 3:02 pm