What role do you play in your team?
An article written by Unbounded’s Rena Loizou.
I was working with a leadership team recently, as part of a 6-month Team Development process.
Having already completed the first offsite, which focused on exploring the role of the mind in high performing teams and leadership effectiveness, the second offsite focussed on practical 'experiments' to develop good leadership and team dynamic realtime in practice.
One of the key insights that came through for a number of participants was seeing their habits of jumping into the roles of leader or follower, and more importantly, how this can often be a result of a low quality of mind.
Those favouring the role of the leader were at times being driven by a need to control and those favouring the follower role, particularly if it was as a passive follower, being plagued by self doubt, low confidence and sometimes resignation.
Falling into roles unconsciously certainly isn't part of high performing team. Knowing when and how to lead as well as when and how to actively follow are vital.
The team were amazing at reflecting - both individually and as a group. They realised that their leadership style needs to be changeable, depending on the level of clarity the leader had on the challenge and on the solution.
We shared the following model with them:
The Fog - when the challenge and solution are unknown. This requires more of a consultative approach, seeking views, ideas and solutions from the team
The Horizon - when the challenge is known but the solution is unknown. This requires more of a test-and-select approach where the leader is highly collaborative with the team.
Painting by numbers - when the challenge and solution are both known. This calls for more of a 'tell' approach.
Of course it's worth remembering that what truly underpins our ability to know what's needed in any moment as either a leader or active follower is our Quality of Mind. The key always is to access inner wisdom.
Questions you might like to reflect on:
What are the situations that your team finds itself in?
What leadership role do you tend to play?
What insight do you gain from the example above?
