Leading Teams with Care - Lesson 3

Dr. Rick Sessoms
Leading Teams with Care
MC611-03
What is a Team? Group Discussion
Lesson Transcript 

All right, let's gather our thoughts. I'm really interested in what you've come up with, and let me just say that at the end of this, I'm not going to give you just the ‘wisdom from on high’ as to what a team is; I don't have a definition for team. So, this is a collective experience. Roger said that all of us is smarter than any one of us. Isn’t that kind of what you said a while ago? So, this is an opportunity for us to think together about what is a team? I will offer you a couple of definitions in a few moments from others, but this is just really an exercise to think together. Why don't we start with Michael's team? I saw you writing, and I'm very interested in what you guys came up with.

STUDENT:  All right. We came up with a group of people that combines various skills, roles and resources and who are willing to cooperate to accomplish a united purpose or goal. 

All right, say it again. That's a mouthful. Go again. A group…

STUDENT:  …that combines various skills, roles and resources and who are willing to cooperate to accomplish a united purpose or goal. 

What do you think about that? What did you hear from that? What were the emphasis points that you heard? 

STUDENT:  Working together. 

STUDENT:  Common purposes.

STUDENT:  What it took to accomplish the goal or the common purpose in a group of folks with resources and other things. 

STUDENT:  I disagree because I don't think that the team necessarily is willingly put into a team; oftentimes people are assigned the team and that's why you get frustrating experiences, you know, being part of a team. I think that's more of a definition of a good team, but not necessarily the definition of just a general team. 

That's an interesting comment. We're going to wrestle with that a bit because we do find ourselves assigned to teams unwillingly, oftentimes. The question is, is that really a team at the end of the day? We may use that language, but as we begin to think through this, that will be one of the questions that we'll come back to, and I don't have a final answer on that, but it's something worth exploring. Good question. 

STUDENT:  We've actually mentioned a little bit of that same kind of thing in the sort of process kind of said the same thing, is that that’s the definition of a team falling apart, so then if it falls apart, is that a team? 

I just want to reflect that I've worked with a number of organizations that talk about developing teams, and at best, the people that they have working together are groups, not teams, and they call it team, and that is part of the frustration is because they're not functioning as teams but as groups, and we'll talk about the difference. But that's a very important thing you brought up. Thank you, Robin. 

STUDENT:  Does a team need a leader? And when you said diverse talents or whatever, does that mean there's a leader in there somewhere or does a team have one? 

What do you think? Does a team need a leader? Well, two guys in the room said yes…

STUDENT:  We are agreeing on a definition here. 

STUDENT:  Is that what you meant by diverse talents, that one of those people would be a leader, or should it have a statement. 

STUDENT:  We didn't put leadership in there. I don't think that was particularly purposeful. 

Now, it's interesting that you used the word leadership, and you used the word leader. There is a difference, you know. ‘Leadership’ is the need for this thing called leadership to go on, this dynamic called leadership to go on. ‘Leader’ tends to focus on a person, a designated person, to carry out that function. Do you hear the difference? And so leadership is really about leading and following in context, and we could talk about that at length, but there is a very important distinction there, but it's a very important question, and we'll come back to that one. 

STUDENT:  We didn’t talk about the leadership, but when I hear, is there a leader, part of me says yes, but no, because the different skills and the resources and the abilities differ, and I would think the different individuals on that team can rise to the leadership for that particular purpose, and that that can be various people. 

I think that's well said; there could be a sharing of leadership. There could be an exchange process going on depending on the time and the place and the context that is needed. So, the idea of one person from tip to stern is not always the most effective, and we can talk about that, but anyway, we'll hold that at bay right now; we'll come back to it in a bit. 

I'd be interested in another definition. Did you guys come up with a definition that you'd like to share? 

STUDENT:  We just kept it very basic and said it's a group of people working towards a common goal. 

Okay. That's got some very good elements in it. A group of people working toward a common goal. 

STUDENT:  We discussed other elements that would make it a great team, but in the end we said no, for just a regular team. 

Just a team. All right. Good. 

What about your group, Kathy or Brent, or whoever wants to speak? 

STUDENT:  It was interesting that when we started, we heard some of the same language; we really were writing about the same time with a group of people. This must be a team. A group of people with diverse, complementary gifts and talents working amidst leadership in relationship with each other for common purpose.

Amidst leadership in relationship. Is that what you said? That's a tongue twister, but interesting. So, you did get that leadership thing in there, right? So that's important to you. Tell us why that's important to you. What is that about? 

STUDENT:  We had it both ways, we had it with leadership and with leader. If it's not being led, then it's not a team; it's a collection of some group; that doesn’t make it a team; a team has to have both leaders and followers; both leadership and followership.

That’s a good word, followership. 

STUDENT:  And that doesn't mean the leader is the most important and the followers are least important. We have biblical examples of that. 

Yeah, right. You brought out the word relationship. Why is that important? 

STUDENT:  We were talking about working together. It's more than just a common purpose, and we're all sitting independently, contributing to a product which we're not doing together, sole proprietors submitting their work, so to speak. It’s a team, because you're in a relationship, and the relationship is as important as your goal. The relationship will affect your goal, will affect your outcome, will affect the process. 

Good. Did you hear other things in that definition you’d like to ask about or comment on? 

STUDENT:  When we were talking about having leaders and followers in a group, I wonder if everybody thinks that there has to be the same leader all the time, or at different times different team members can be the leader and others can be the followers. Because I've been on many teams where there wasn't a specific leader, but when I think about it, I think that there were leaders and followers, just the leader would be whoever had the most expertise in the particular topic. 

And that's a great question, and that comes back to the question about is it leader or is it leadership? Because I think we would all agree that leadership is needed, but does that mean that the same person has to lead all the time, the whole time? That's the question I think you're asking. Is that right? Yeah. 

STUDENT:  I think an indication of an effective leader is one who is developing others to be leaders and helping others in leadership.

STUDENT:  A great leader is putting the right people in the right positions to carry out what they are most skilled at. 

Very true. Well, these are excellent definitions. You know, you guys obviously already know a great deal about teamwork, and you probably have learned some of this through the school of hard knocks.