A leadership group vs a team
Over the years of coaching leadership teams, it has always intrigued me how team members interchangeably call themselves the ‘leadership group’ and the ‘leadership team.’ Much can be different in a name.
A group is a collection of individuals who independently contribute to a common goal (not necessarily a shared goal), thus requiring low levels of integration and alignment. For example, a group of sales managers, each responsible for a set of accounts or a region, who work independently of each other. More typically their individual monthly and quarterly numbers get added together to represent the business unit or Division’s performance. They may share a common sales methodology and reporting system, but work independently of each other (more often in competition with one another.)
Teams, exist to achieve what no other entity can. Teams combine different, complementary skills, knowledge and perspectives to identify and seize opportunities, overcome difficult obstacles and achieve challenging objectives. Teams operate from a unifying purpose, one that inspires the team members to a cause greater than themselves. Teams commit to engage and relate when together and apart, and above all they hold themselves and each other accountable to collective performance goals they know can be achieved only by working interdependently.
I invite you take a moment to reflect on your team:
Do you operate more as a leadership group or team?
What do stakeholders require you to be, a group or a team?
To be a more effective leadership team, what is most important you commit to learning more about and to change?
To know more about the Team Better Together program , please contact me and welcome we discuss how your team could benefit and transition to become more of a high performing team and access more of the collective capacity and capability. Register for the vitual catch (details on my home page) where I will share more about the distinctions between a group and team.