Leadership in teams

People are strange creatures. Sometimes we cooperate and work well together, and sometimes we just don’t. What’s your default role when you’re part of a group that isn’t getting along?  Are you a leader, or do you wait for someone else to take control?

Sculpture by Max Frassi. Photo credit: unknown

There seem to be as many theories of leadership out there as there are self-help books in the library. I wish I’d read some of them years ago, when I worked for a manager who sidelined me as a girly ‘people-person’, excluding me from opportunities due to a mismatch of our leadership styles.  I was very aware that she was a process-focused, ‘old-school’ type, but I lacked the language to explain her style and why it was such a bad fit for me. Now I know: she was authoritarian and Theory X driven, versus my democratic, participative style, and my Theory Y perspective.

She certainly got the job done – well, she ensured the job got done in our area - but actually, her job was to lead people. And that was something she really never did. She gave orders, and set targets, but she didn’t set an example, or inspire trust and loyalty. And hidden away behind her office door, she never gave a sense that she actually understood the work we did.

In contrast I worked later alongside a laissez-faire manager, whose approach involved delegation of nearly every aspect of her own responsibilities, together with a marked absence from the factory floor and a complete lack of interest in the details of the job that her people did. Being in her team was an opportunity for some, who took on extra responsibilities and developed their skills. But most needed more support and attention, and they floundered. It was clear to me that this leadership style was not working – literally.  ‘Not sweating the small stuff’ was more about her not breaking a sweat at all, ever.

Me, I prefer to collaborate rather than command, and support rather than micro-manage: my aim is to be a transformational leader. I do take a more transactional

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, on izquotes.com

approach though with team members who are not performing, because people without a strong work ethic need ‘what’s in it for me’ spelled out to them very clearly. 

Not to mention, Y-theory types can become very demoralised at X-theory behaviour in their midst if a leader doesn’t deal with it decisively. (In truth, not everyone responds to a participative leader, so a flexible approach is needed; this is the ‘making-it-up-as-you-go-along’ style of leadership that I favour most days.)

No team is perfect, but if you know the framework of leadership theory you can at least navigate your way through group dynamics and resolve conflicts in a constructive way. Because there will always be conflicts, and personality clashes. There’s always that one person who doesn’t listen, won’t take direction, or just doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the team. And if there isn’t? Well, you know what that means. It’s you.