Encyclopedia of Leadership

300 SECTION 10 TOOLS FORLEADINGTEAMS ANDGROUPS

HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL

“Effective team leaders realize they neither know all the answers, nor can they succeed without the mem-

bers of the team. The wisdom of teams lies in recognizing that any person ...who genuinely believes in

the purpose of the team and the team itself can lead the team toward higher performance.”

—Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith, THE WISDOM OF TEAMS

Should your group be organized as a workgroup or as a team? What level of teamwork should

you expect from employees? The answer to these questions is, “It depends.” Check (√) these

statements to help you decide between a workgroup and a team structure. Keep in mind that

workgroups require less coordination and meeting time than do teams, and unless the work

demands joint accountability, a workgroup may be a more practical way to organize.

RELATED LEADERSHIP TOOLS

4.4 Employee Involvement 10.3 Team Competencies 10.6 Group Leader Skills

8.6 Communications 101 10.4 Team Commitment 13.3 Accountability

FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE

Katzenbach, Jon, and Douglas Smith. The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization.
HarperBusiness, 1993.

___ Individual accountability is primary.

___ Work issues can be discussed, decided, then delegated

to individuals in the group.

___ There is likely a shared purpose within the workgroup.

___ Individual work products are pooled to achieve overall

workgroup results.

___ Challenge and support within the workgroup will

enhance results, but individual performance is the key

to workgroup success.

___ Workgroup membership is a matter of practicing team-

work (e.g., relating well within the workgroup, work-

ing within organizational values).

___ Little attention needs to be paid to the workgroup

itself, other than to group leadership skills.

___ The group can be any size, depending on the skills of

the group leader.

___ Skill mix can vary considerably.

___ Requires both individual andjoint accountability.

[☛13.3 Accountability]

___ Work issues need to be discussed, decided, and com-

pleted as a team. (Thus, issue size is important.)

[☛4.4 Employee Involvement]

___ There is clearly a shared purpose within the team.

[☛2.6 Clarifying Purpose]

___ The team is working to achieve a specific result that is

unique to the team (a whole job), and that is greater than

the sum of the individual team members’ contributions.

___ There is significant interdependence within the team.

Individual success depends on the success of the whole

team. The team will succeed or fail together.

___ Team membership is a matter of contribution. Those

who contribute will be on the team. Those who don’t

won’t be needed on the team.

___ There needs to be a vision of the team itself (e.g.,

working approach, team development).

[☛2.4 Visioning, 2.5 Values, 4.5 Culture]

___ Team size should be fewer than 12.

___ Skills must be complementary within the team.

Workgroup requirements Team requirements