Jacob It is a general acumen that leaders are the ones supposed to lead a team and the rest of the team is to follow their lead. But in a truly great and remarkable setting, all members have inclusion on an equal basis and are aware of what is actually going on. A team can only be as great as it aspires to be if all members of a team are provided ample opportunities to become a leader.
Sadly, that is not the case most of the time. This creates a dilemma, if teams are not leader-oriented and all the members are not showing the same level of enthusiasm, it is quite likely that teams will then fall short of meeting expectations set by the organization or even the team leader. Moreover, the team would be facing few more challenges including:
- Teams who are not properly involved in the mission will have limited participation from each member. This also implies that not all members are completely aware of the task at hand.
- Teams are not aligned and members are not compatible; this creates a perception that the team won’t last for long and the objectives of the teams will not be aligning with the organizational values.
- Leaders are not contributive, the members are not motivated, there is no information management, and members are probably not equipped with the right skills to enable the team to meet its objectives.
At Pixar Studios, they have a belief; the customers are always expecting to see something new each time, which is as scary as it may sound for executives.
Rather than having one leader take command of an entire team, Pixar encourages all team members to participate as if they were leaders, and new ideas of all the individuals present at the table are encouraged, this is in the hope of shifting the wheel of command from one member to another on the go. It is downright amazing how Pixar comes up with one after another amazing ideas, ranging from movies like Toy Story to Wreck-It-Ralph to The Incredibles.
The secret to this is to encourage all the members at the table to be confident and speak up, share their ideas no matter how silly it may be. Sometimes, creativity is sprouted when new minds are encouraged to take the lead.
The amount of involvement and interest a workforce generally projects are relevant to how leader-focused that group is designed to be. Just like Pixar, companies need to evaluate where their teams are. Teams possess a greater sense of ownership when all members have input and are equally informed about what’s going on. Within teams, the goal is for everyone to be leaders. Each employee should have an individual development plan and be recognized for accomplishments. This way, all employees will be able to foresee future actions and promotions within the teams.
Lastly, teams need to have data and information, but also knowledge about procedures, policies, and other organizational materials, in addition to working knowledge of the values and beliefs of their companies.
