A team leader is a person who motivates and coordinates the efforts of others in order to achieve professional or organizational goals. There are many different types of team leaders, which makes defining a specific job description difficult; for example, someone in charge of a customer service operation, a construction crew, or a volunteer organization at a local school is bound to be very different from someone in charge of a customer service operation, a construction crew, or a volunteer organization at a local school. However, there are a few commonalities among all of them. They all usually aid in the training of employees or staff in how to work together and provide the motivation and inspiration required to achieve objectives. In most cases, they also manage personnel issues and set timelines and deadlines. They are held directly responsible for their team’s accomplishments and are rewarded for good work and punished for poor performance.
Providing Instruction
One of a leader’s most important responsibilities is to ensure that everyone on the team has the necessary skills to complete the task. Leaders who have the ability to choose their team members have an advantage here because they can more or less self-select a group of people who already have the necessary training; however, groups often already exist, which means the person in charge may need to do a little more work to get everyone on the same page.
Leaders frequently provide training to individuals as well as the entire group. This training can be formal, such as requiring members to study different approaches and learn about specific business structures, but it can also be informal, such as watching training videos or participating in more casual team-building activities.
During meetings, training is frequently conducted and monitored. Most teams meet on a regular basis, usually daily or weekly, and the agenda is almost always set the leader. He or she will issue clear directives and instructions, but he or she will also frequently solicit ideas and suggestions from the group. Meetings can also be used to check on the progress of individual members and provide feedback on how things are going.
Inspiration and Motivation
Most teams function best when all members collaborate and share the workload equally, but this does not always occur naturally. Good leaders work hard to foster a positive team spirit that encourages everyone to work toward the same goals.
There are a variety of techniques for motivating people and encouraging cooperation, but some of the most common include team-building exercises, bonding activities, and socialization outside of the workplace. Leaders typically encourage and reward not only successful project outcomes, but also successful group collaboration.
Goal-Setting and Productivity
In most cases, there is also a monitoring component to the job. The person in charge usually establishes a clear timeline for when things must occur and works hard to keep everyone on track. The timeline that leads to the ultimate goal — for example, the completion of a major report or the execution of a specific event — is frequently broken down into smaller tasks, such as the writing of specific chapters or the coordination of various vendors. Checking in with team members about how these smaller tasks are going is a good way to gauge larger progress, and if things aren’t going well, the person in charge will usually have to intervene before things get too out of hand.
Problem-Solving and Managing Complaints
A team’s leader will frequently act as the team’s problem solver. When the team runs into problems with sourcing or discovers that deadlines can’t be met, for example, the leader is usually the one who has to come up with alternate solutions. Personnel issues and conflicts between individual employees are usually resolved the leader. In these circumstances, his or her job is to find a way to keep the peace while keeping the project on track. This aspect of the job is made much easier creative problem solving and a knack for working with people.
Responsibilities
Team leaders are directly responsible to managers or executives in most organizations, which means they bear ultimate responsibility for the team’s performance, whether positive or negative. As a result, it’s in the best interests of the leader to ensure that everyone is contributing and working to their full potential.
The leader is usually required to write a final report or prepare a briefing for those higher up in the organization as soon as the team meets its goals or completes its project. He or she will almost always be asked questions about how things were accomplished, as well as advice on how things could be done differently in the future.
Core Job Requirements and Education
There are numerous ways to obtain a team leader position, just as there are numerous types of team leader jobs. Companies occasionally promote employees from within, usually those who have previously served as team members and performed admirably. It’s also possible to apply for a leadership position without any prior experience, but experience working with various groups of people is almost always required.
The type of work you do determines a large part of the education you’ll need. A person in charge of a group of sales reps, for example, will almost always need university marketing training, but this isn’t always the case for someone working with a team tasked with putting on a school carnival. However, regardless of the setting, a strong sense of organization, the ability to work well with people from various backgrounds, and a thorough understanding of the subject area are usually required.