Role of leaders in teams !

Essay Topic

It has been argued that much leadership research over the last 50 years has focused on individual dyadic relationships between a leader and a follower. Critically examine the role of leaders in teams. Present examples of leaders who achieved success in team situations.

Every team needs a team leader, who can hold all the team together and extract the best result out of the team. A squad leader should be a role model for whole the squad so that the team will get inspiration from him and seek his advice as well as guidance, whenever they want. A team leader plays a vital role in guiding and motivating the entire group to stay focus towards the goal. Goals and objectives for the team are set by the team leader. A leader should not take all the decisions of its own; rather he should invite suggestions from all the team members in open. He must remember and make aware all group members about their role and responsibilities towards their team. He must understand his team well and he will never impose duties on their team members. He must know the interest of each and every member and assigned work and responsibilities according to it. A group leader must be impartial and will never favour anyone.

To commence with, as a leader of the team, one should always motivate his members for their good points and accomplish work, as when he motivate his team, the team will perform better next time. A team leader should not criticise anyone or make fun of anyone’s mistake instead he will correct it. A team leader should be full of positive attitude and enthusiasm, for example, ‘Misbahul Haq’ has been ranked top on the list of, one of the greatest captain ever in the field of cricket due to his excellent captaincy and leadership in the team.

In addition to this, a team leader will always encourage the whole team, to help each other and create a positive atmosphere in the team. A  leader should always avoid playing politics in the team, as it leads to the fight between the team members and results in the separation of the team, so as the responsible controller, he should take care that the team members should not fight with each other. In case if there is any fight between the members, do not add fuel to fire, rather than try to solve it as soon as possible. Listen both the parties carefully and then come to any conclusion, take fair decision for both. The best example, for the above mentioned, is of ‘Donald Trump’ the President of United State of America, who faces many formidable hurdles during the election but, solve all of them with his excellent leadership and won the election.

Furthermore, a team head should be a monitor for his team, so that the team members should gain talent from him because whenever the team perform well then the credit goes to team head and vice versa. A team leader should own his mistake as well as the mistake of the team member, he should not play blame games, if he did no body in the team will respect him. If there is any problem in the team, the leader should be easily available to solve it. A team captain should give liberty to his group to walk to him whenever his unable to take the decision of his own. A squad leader should raise the team spirit and morality among the squad. A leader should celebrate their birthdays and anniversaries together so that they can discuss the issues apart from work. Share jokes and try to a mix-up with them but, make sure they do not cross their limits. A captain from time to time should organise parties for team members and their families so that the bond between them increases.

Moreover, the captain should take as his responsibility to check the performance of the team at regular basis if any team member performance is reducing or dipping it must not be ignored team leader should call him immediately and discuss what the matter is in private because he might feel insulted in front of team members. If any team member comes to the leader to discuss any problem to hair it with full sympathy and keep the matter up to him only do not escalate it.

A team fail due to many reasons, it is very important for the leader to understand as well as analyse, what is the reason for the failure of the team because the team failure not only affects the morale of employees, besides it also affect the organisation finance too. For example in IPL 2107, the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore team ‘Virat Kohli’ whole team shoot down for a paltry 49 against Kolkata Night Riders, but the captain comes back with double energy and confidence in the next match.

Sometimes, it become difficult for the team leader to meet the team frequently, hence the communication between the team members become less result in the dropdown in performance of the team, so there is a need to resolve this issue with the help of technology, so that they can communicate with leader any time they want. Secondly, the team member must have all the facilities and adequate resources need for their work because captain cannot have the best of them, without resources for facilities they want.

To put it in a nutshell, the leader is the face of every team or organisation. An aeroplane will be definitely crash, if the pilot loses his focus and control, similarly a team cannot perform unless or until a team leader has his control on the team. A team leader must be polite with their group members but, make sure the members should not take advantage of his politeness. A leader must maintain discipline and give right direction to the team, as without it the team will fail to perform. A successful leader should set an example for the team, so at last we can say a team leader with his good qualities, raise their team at high level and earn name and fame but, on the other side, with his bad qualities and behaviour loses his respect and become the reason down fall and failure of the team and organisation.