Building teams

The future of leadership is a development away from a single leader of any persuasion to a focus on networks of groups and teams. Hierarchies will increasingly be phased out, with people not having an over-dependency on the leader. Collective leadership will shift the focus from the leader as an individual to the connections between team members engaging in the wider context. This places the focus on the functioning of social networks rather than prescribed systems and models.

To build effective teams you need to draw on a range of skills. These include:

·????? listening

·????? questioning

·????? giving feedback

·????? summarising and paraphrasing

·????? being open about feelings

·????? collaboration

·????? communication

·????? managing conflict

·????? managing meetings

·????? enabling learning

Building a team also requires contracting, setting the team rules if you like. Sometimes, as a leader your presence alone is enough to influence thinking and opinion. Get your team to first discuss issues without you being in the room. Then take input from your team and make a decision. This is not collaborative decision making, it is options based, generated by a team, and the final decision sits with you, the leader. This approach promotes ownership and the group becomes self-governing. You know you have cracked it when things run themselves and this then becomes the team culture.

Important elements for building an effective team are:

??????? alignment of purpose in relation to value, beliefs and identity

??????? psychological safety where people can be honest and have robust conversations

??????? team learning in which best practice is shared

As a leader, how are you creating the conditions for your teams to flourish?

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