Project teams are commonplace in the business world. And, naturally, there are different ways of organizing these teams. One important decision to make is who will lead the team. Should the team leader be selected by members of the team itself or appointed by managers?
There are several issues to consider when making such a decision, issues regarding what responsibilities the team leader will have, what the goals of the team are, and how qualified the team members are to take on a leadership role
1. Team leader responsibilities.
In selecting a team leader, you need to look at what his or her responsibilities as leader will be. Will the team leader oversee meetings, decide who will work on what, determine how the work will be done, handle disagreements among team members, keep account of performance and keep managers apprised of the team’s performance and progress?
Or will the team leader have less authority, essentially acting as a moderator of sorts in helping the team to make decisions?
Will the team leader have the authority to reprimand members for poor work or inappropriate actions, choosing who will be on the team, deciding on salary, and other similar kinds of decisions?
The job of the team leaders, exactly what their duties and responsibilities are, must be clear to everyone who is on the team, whether they choose the team leader or not.
2. What are the goals?
Everyone needs to be clear what the mission of the team is. Is the team working on one particular task, is the team intra or interdepartmental, will the team members all be in one location or will some communicate electronically from somewhere else? How long will the project be expected to last? What type of team will it be?
Each type of team will need a leader with the abilities to lead that particular team. Leaders will need different skills depending on what type of team they lead, and team members need to be aware of the particular skills that will be needed for each type of team so they can make a good decision.
Another issue to consider is who the team will be accountable to.
3. What are the qualifications needed?
Do team members have the leadership skills that will be needed to supervise the team? Or will team members need to undergo some training in order to gain the skills and knowledge needed to direct a team?
All of these issues need to be considered when considering the issue of team leadership.
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