Blog four
Leadership experience: Team and leading
In this forth reflective blog I am going to look at my
experience of how groups come together and how leadership style needs to be
changed in order to complement the group’s change in dynamics. Tuckman’s 1965
theory on teams is that in order to have a successful team first they must go
through four stages of ‘team development’. The first stage is the forming stage
where the team starts to work together for the first time. Individuals are
unsure of other team members and perhaps uncomfortable. This stage allows
members to push the boundaries and find their role within the team. The second
stage is the storming stage, also known as the conflict stage. This is where
the team members start to fight for positions of power and control.
Communication within the team breaks down as team members are interested in
their own agendas to get ahead and the position they feel comfortable in. If
the team does not reach a the third stage, the norming stage then they will have
to go back to the forming stage where boundaries are re-established and
positions are re-negotiated. The team can then move forward again. Eventually
the team will come to the ‘performing stage’. This is when the team members
start working effectively as a team. They know each other better and know
exactly what their job role is. There are no disagreements and if there are
any, they are resolved quickly and the team is able to move forwards. All tasks
are well-organised and completed with little or no hassle as the team is much
more concentrated by this point.
The particular experience I feel this relates to was
whilst leading a group up Ben Nevis. Initially the leadership style was ‘Laissez-faire’, there was no need for a designated leader
as the group was relatively comfortable with each other and there were
no major issues with making decisions until getting to the halfway point on the
mountain. At this point the group had to make the decision on as to whether it
was worth carrying on, the weather was getting increasingly bad and one of the
group members was starting to struggle. After deciding to carry on the group
managed to reach the summit. Close to the summit on the decent it was clear
that group members were starting to disagree and motivation was dropping. I
think the bad weather played a key role in this and the slow pace of a
struggling team member was grinding on morale. In order to spear-head the group
back down the mountain I changed to a more autocratic and possibly a
charismatic style of leading. To do this I instructed the struggling team
member to give their bag/equipment to a stronger team member in order to speed
the group up and make it easier for themselves. I also lead from the front to
inspire and motivate the group to move forward and complete the walk. (Mind
tools, Leadership styles -
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm).
