Leadership and Followership in Teams Settings Discussion

Within teams, leadership and followership go hand in hand, for not everyone in an organization can be a leader, and there can be no leaders without followers (Levi & Askay, 2021, Section 10.5). However, having a good understanding of each role can benefit the functioning of an effective team.

For this discussion, address the following in your initial post:

*Explain two traits of a good team leader and how those traits can help a team.

*Describe which model of leadership, outlined in Section 10.3 of the textbook, would best suit the work in your organization or industry. If you are currently without an organization or industry, describe the model of leadership that would best suit the work in an industry that you would like to affiliate yourself with.

*Explain why the model of leadership you selected would be effective.

*Describe two qualities of a good team follower and how those traits can help a team.

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THIS WEEK’S LECTURE
Being prepared to work with diversity in teams is very necessary in the 21st century work environment. The aforementioned statement holds true at the local, regional, national and international levels for organizations and businesses. Diversity can include education levels, knowledge levels, and experience levels in any given profession or industry. Diversity can also include but is not limited to differences in gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, race, income, ethnicity and national origin.
Tasheva and Hillman (2019) have found that not only can diversity have positive effects on the team, but also negative effects can occur in team settings. Thus when serving on a team, each member must prepare for both conditions to occur either simultaneously or at different times. Levi and Askay (2021) have found that years of research questions “whether diversity helps or hinders team performance…?” (p. 268). It is a good question for leaders to give consideration to as they work to accomplish organization and team goals.
Within team settings, leaders must prepare to lead a group of followers who could be, not only dissimilar demographically, but dissimilar because of some other factor or factors from one another. Followers can also be different from the leader because of several factors. Each leader must determine what approach he or she should use in order to improve the chance that diversity will have positive effects on the team. Leaders must not only pay close attention to what is working right for the team, but also to any dysfunctions that may be hampering team performance. Leaders must watch for the development of stereotypes, prejudice and the possibility of discrimination occurring on the team.
Teams can be successful or fail because of diversity and non- diversity related issues. Practicing good leadership and also practicing good followership are helpful to fostering a successful team. Good followership and dysfunctional behaviors on teams are polar opposite behaviors. Studying the dysfunctions, as developed by Lencioni (2002) that inhibit great team performance can be highly beneficial to any team leader and team members. At the same time, also studying what constitutes healthy team followership as developed by Levi and Askay (2021) can be equally beneficial to leaders and team members. Creating and maintaining productive diverse teams should increase the ability of any organization or business to be more successful at achieving its mission and goals.

Please view the teams diversity video at link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HvQI13ucHQ

References:
(Course Textbook) Levi, D. & Askay, D.A. (2021) Group Dynamics for teams (6th ed.). Sage.

Linkdin Talent Solutions (2018, October 25). From Insights to Inclusion: On Building Diverse TeamsLinks to an external site. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HvQI13ucHQ

Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. Jossey-Bass.

Tasheva, S. & Hillman, A.J. (2019, October). Integrating diversity at different levels: Multilevel human capital, social capital and demographic diversity and their implications for team effectiveness. Academy of Management Review. 113(4).