"Teams are greater than the sum of their parts. However, this is only true when the team has good leadership. Without it, you have only a group-a collection of people brought together to finish a task set by someone else, where each person is judged on their own output. A team is different. Team members share a purpose they helped shape. They set joint goals and hold one another accountable. Their success-or failure-belongs to everyone."
"Task-focused leaders act like project managers. They set structure and deadlines, clarify roles, and reduce ambiguity. Transactional leaders are similar to task-focused leaders but rely on exchanges: They provide praise or rewards-or withhold punishment-based on whether someone meets expectations. Person-focused leaders emphasize interpersonal dynamics and individual motivations. They listen, mentor, and show consideration. This style can also include boundary spanning, which is politically oriented efforts to increase resources and gather information for the team."
Teams with clear shared purpose and jointly set goals outperform collections of individuals judged only on individual output. High-performing teams tolerate trial-and-error, which reduces bad ideas and supports sound decisions and adaptation. Leaders support teams through multiple approaches: task-focused leaders provide structure and clarity; transactional leaders use rewards and contingencies; person-focused leaders prioritize mentoring, listening, and boundary spanning; transformational leaders elevate followers toward higher-level motivations. Empowerment behaviors, psychological safety, growth mindsets, and diverse perspectives increase team development and innovation. Leaders who share control while maintaining vision foster accountability, collaboration, and stronger collective success.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]