Determining the direction of the team proposed by the leader is a crucial factor for success and helps to maximize efficiency and make a significant contribution to the organization.
Although there is ample literature on the ubiquitous influence of leadership on organizational performance, it is surprising that very little has been studied about leadership and team dynamics. Previous examples of team leaders have focused on the leader’s influence on team members to get the job done. In contrast, leaders now focus on integrating the strengths of each team member.
The theory of the path and the goal is a clear example that shows the influence of the leader on the result through the efforts of the team. It can be seen that the leader sets expectations with subordinates, instead of helping individual team members to develop the skills and abilities needed to achieve these goals.
Alternatively, some team productivity models indicate leadership progress as the main driver of the team. In short, for the development of teamwork as a concept that is crucial for the success and growth of an organization, there are specific vital moments in terms of behavior, which show better leadership in the team and the necessary know-how, talents, abilities, and other attributes that develop team leadership. These findings underscored the need for conceptual models and further research to better understand the impact of leadership and team dynamics. Reference: “Useful lessons from last year”, https://bpedia.org/useful-lessons-from-last-year/
It is a familiar gesture to hire more qualified people in terms of knowledge, position, or experience in management positions. However, there are several such circumstances in which these formal criteria are not taken into account before appointing someone to a managerial position. Many staff members do not have elevated seniority and experience, but are still identified as team leaders.
Many researchers and theorists have tried to observe and understand such individuals who acquire leadership roles in teams. Interestingly, the study of group interaction reveals that team members appointed as leaders tend to contribute to team discussions at an early stage.
It is believed that being too quiet is not an effective strategy. In the beginning, it is often seen that the one who speaks the most in group interactions is the one who emerges as the leader of the team. The amount of their contribution shows other team members about the individual’s intention to take the leadership position. In contrast, the quality of their contribution shows whether members accept the person as a team leader. Reference: “Scandinavian leadership meets design thinking”, https://w-europe.org/scandinavian-leadership-meets-design-thinking/
There are two types of skills that team members usually look for. First, team members look for what is called socio-emotional competence. Individuals believed to have this competence seem to be able to influence group relationships and cohesion. Second, teams recognize the intensity of the ability to perform tasks in the characters, the people who seem to tend to be part of the problem-solving process, and the effectiveness of the group.
This broad division can be further divided into several more specific competencies. Naval officers demonstrate five types of competence: task accomplishment, skillful use of leadership, managerial control, counseling and counseling, and coercion.
All kinds of competencies, other than coercion, predicted whether a person would prove to be a leader. As mentioned earlier in the introductory part of the article, it is preferable to adopt transformational leadership while leading a team. Reference: “2021 was a challenging year for women leaders around the world”, https://managerspost.com/2021-was-a-challenging-year-for-women-leaders-around-the-world/
To be a team leader, the individual must encourage followers to act on specific goals that represent the values, motivations, and expectations of both leaders and followers. Transactional leadership is simply a reciprocal exchange for economic or political reasons between a leader and a follower.
There is a deeper and stronger process in transformational leadership. Here, one or more people engage with others so that leaders and followers elevate each other to higher levels of motivation and morale.
What is fundamental to transformational leadership is the two-way nature of the leader-follower relationship. There are several attempts to explain the psychological basis of this relationship. However, the call of leaders operates on a symbolic, unconscious level. Leaders represent the return of the primordial father, with whom it is easy to identify as the father of our early childhood, an authority to be admired, worshiped, and governed.
Leaders are therefore a key goal in the transfer process. In this way, leaders take advantage of the psychological confusion about who they are, as they mingle in the minds of the follower with significant personalities from their childhood.
And while transference stimulates our needs for dependence, another process, a projection, allows us to attribute our desires and fantasies to the leader. The thrill experienced by the followers of charismatic leaders is partly because they can get rid of the bans. The leader becomes their conscience.
From this perspective, any leadership is potentially charismatic. However, some leaders are more aware of these processes and can actively promote them. By speaking directly to the follower’s subconscious through metaphor, comparison, clear language, and clear contrasts, some leaders can harness the processes of transmission and projection.
Many organizations have benefited from or been saved from constructive forms of charismatic leadership.
However, many spectacular catastrophes are the result of the dark side of charismatic leadership. While some leaders may use these processes constructively, others are ultimately destroyed by them.
