Leadership is one of the most important attributes in team development. All the collective team building in the world won't function properly if you don't have a team with the experience and open minded attitude needed to understand instructions, carry them out and remain accountable to management. Toronto team builders the Xpeerience Group use experiential team development to create functional links between teamwork and leadership, building them through games that address the social dynamics that will also be found in office environments. Xpeerience Group exercises help to bring out the following attributes in team/leader relations. Accountability: Teams members and leaders both need to be accountable for their actions, in such a way that everyone understands that nobody is exempt from discipline and performance standards. Leaders don't want lazy teams, and teams don't want leaders that look like they can just walk away from the group's failures without consequences. Active Listening: Active listening is the act of listening with conscious intent and considering each statement you hear †not just formulating responses. Effective teamwork requires active listening on both the front line and management sides. Leaders need to know that team members are carefully noting instructions, and the front line needs assurance that they're really being listened to. If not, errors and omissions will sink projects, as people miss key details. Adaptability: Team development is more than adhering to a managerial system and practising through team building games. It requires the ability to rapidly adapt to new situations, such as staff changes or emergencies. Leaders guide teams to adapt by collecting and sharing intelligence about new situations and taking stock in the resources they can bring to bear. Coherent Instructions: Leaders need to be able to give instructions that are clear and unambiguous, and define where staff can exercises individual discretion. Vague instructions are more likely to be ignored or misinterpreted. Most importantly, learning to give specific instructions lets the leader understand what he or she asked for, to allow future tracking. Constructive Criticism: Team development requires self-assessment and ultimately criticism. The purpose of this criticism is to change behaviours that hinder individual and group progress, improve habits that can be improved, and recognize strengths. Criticism has no purpose beyond these three things! Even punitive discipline and termination should be geared to create a stronger team in some specific way, instead of a vague way to â€enforce discipline.†If everyone in the team understands that criticism is meaningful and specific, they can take ownership of the task of improving behaviour. Mutual Respect: Ultimately, teams should thrive on mutual respect between leaders and other staff. This grows out of the other attributes. When everyone genuinely listens to each other, works according to clear directions, and knows that the consequences for failure and rewards for success are not just arbitrary, but genuinely keyed to performance, every member of the team understands each other a bit better. That fosters empathy and from that, respect. Teams filled with mutual respect between leaders and other staff go above and beyond the call †they want to impress each other.
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