Common Challenges That Team Leaders Face - Essay Example

Understand most common challenges that team leaders face Contents Contents Introduction 3 Most common challenges experienced by a leader 3 Managingpoor performance 3 Balancing organizational needs and team members needs 4 Keeping focus 4 Guiding change 5 Inspiring others 5 Measures that can be taken to overcoming the challenges 5 Providing appropriate knowledge 5 Setting Performance standards 6 Good communication 6 Motivation 6 Training and development programs 7 Managing team members needs 7 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction A team leader is a person who instructs, directs and guides other organizational members for achieving the goals and objectives of the company. Growth and success of a company depend largely on its team leaders. They play a vital role in motivating and influencing team members for delivering high quality of works. Efficient team leader is able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of team members. As per the understanding the team leaders try to improve the skills and capabilities of the team members. Based on the organizational situation the team leaders develop strategies and help to design organizational policies. The leaders of a team are also involved in providing training to the organizational members. Most common challenges experienced by a leader In the present business scenario team leaders face different types of challenges which create obstructions in their performance. In the changing business environment the complexities of the business are increasing day by day. As a result the leaders have to deal with different types of problems. The major challenges faced by the team leaders are as follows: Managing poor performance In the modern organizations, employees in most of the companies work in a team. The leaders have to manage the performance of the team members by guiding and directing them. A team leader is responsible for delivering high quality of work. So if the team does not perform well then it becomes the responsibility of team leader in improving the performance of the team (Lussier and Achua, 2009). Sometimes it becomes a tough challenge for the team leaders to enhance the productivity of the team members. The team leader needs to understand the problems of team members and provide appropriate solutions to them. In many cases it becomes difficult for the team leader to sort out the problems as he has to work according to the company policy and cannot provide any solution to the team members, which is against the company’s rules and regulations (Harzing and Pinnington, 2011). Balancing organizational needs and team members needs Organizations perform different activities for fulfilling their goals and objectives. The team leaders of a company understand organizational needs and motivate other team members in fulfilling those needs. But sometimes the needs of the team members do not match with organizational needs (Gold and Holden, 2013). They try to fulfil their own needs with their different activities. Many of the team members focus on their own benefits rather that company’s benefits. As a result their performances do not contribute much in enhancing the growth and development of the company. In such cases the team leaders face the challenge in balancing the needs of team members and organizational needs in an effective way which helps the company in fulfilling its goals and objectives (Armstrong, 2007). Keeping focus Organizational activities and functions are changing frequently as per the changing business environment. In such business environment the team leaders face the problem of maintain their focus on important business issues. There are many things in a business which influence them to divert their focus. If their focus is diverted then the performance of team will be hampered and it will create a negative impact on the performance of the company (Armstrong and Brown, 2006). Guiding change When a change is implemented within a company then it becomes the duty of the team leaders to implement those changes. If the team members are not cooperative then the team leaders face problems in implementing changes. Sometimes the team members become very adamant and they do not accept change. It becomes difficult for the team leaders in guiding that type of employees and making them understand the benefits of change (Sole and Edmondson, 2002). Inspiring others In a team different types of organizational members are involved. It is the responsibility of the team leader to inspire all team members for delivering good work. Different team members are motivated by various things. The team leaders sometimes face problems in understanding different things which motivate team members. As a result the leaders are unable to motivate employees (Polzer, Milton and Swarm, 2002). Measures that can be taken to overcoming the challenges Different types of challenges which team leaders encounter in their profession create a negative impact on the performance of the company. Therefore some necessary measures can be taken by the organization or the team leaders for overcoming the challenges. These measures are as follows: Providing appropriate knowledge Poor performance of team members can be managed by the team leaders by providing them appropriate knowledge about the work they have to perform. This detailed knowledge will help the team members to understand their job responsibilities and duties properly. They will be able to know what to perform and how to perform for improving their performances (Morgeson, Reider and Campion, 2005). Setting Performance standards Team leader can set specific performance standards for its team members. By this process the team members will try to achieve the performance standard which will help them to improve their performance. The team members will be able to know what kind of work they need to deliver for making their performance better (Moon, 2013). Good communication Team leaders need to maintain good communication with their team members. This will facilitate them in understanding the team members. Based on this the team leaders can influence the team members for handling various problems with them (Mondy, 2008). Communication will also help the team leaders in building strong bonding with team members. This will facilitate the team leaders in making the team members understand about the importance of implementing different changes with the organization. Effective communication contributes a lot in influencing people (Molyneux, 2001). Motivation For inspiring all team members to work properly a team leader can try to know the various things which motivate its members. He can give both monetary and non monetary rewards to the team members for inspiring them. These rewards will influence the team members to listen to the team leader and work as per his guidance for achieving more financial and non financial rewards. This process will facilitate the team leaders to overcome the problem of inspiring others (Armstrong, 2009). Training and development programs The organization needs to guide and train its employees for new process and policies. The team leaders should try to arrange different training and developmental programs for making the team members understand about the benefit of implementing change (Sparrow, Harris and Brewster, 2004). With the help of these programs the team leaders can try to chance the old perceptions of employees and facilitate them in developing new perceptions (Schneider, 2007). Managing team members needs The team leaders can insist the top managers of the company to design the organizational needs, strategies and policies in such a way which will help the employees in fulfilling their needs. If this process is implemented then employees will be interested to work for the benefits of the company. Therefore company needs and objectives will be achieved by the employees. It will help the team members to fulfil their needs and requirements (Price, 2011). As a result the leaders will be able to solve their problem of balancing organizational and employees’ needs. Conclusion Team leaders are important members of an organization. They help the organization in developing and implementing different organizational policies and practices. In a team a team leader has to work with many team members. He plays a vital role in motivating and influencing the team members. In this essay different problems are highlighted which a team leader generally faces. These problems reduce the productivity of a company and create conflicts among the organizational members. Various solutions for handling those problems are mentioned in this essay. References Armstrong, M. and Brown, D., 2006. Strategic Reward: Making it Happen. Philadelphia: Kogan Page Publishers. Armstrong, M., 2009. Armstrongs Handbook of Performance Management: An Evidence-Based Guide to Delivering High Performance. Philadelphia: Kogan Page Publishers. Armstrong. M., 2007. A Handbook of Employee Reward Management and Practice. Philadelphia: Kogan Page Publishers. Gold, J. and Holden, R. et. al., 2013. Human Resource Development: Theory and Practice. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Harzing, A. and Pinnington, A. H., 2011. IHRM 3rd Edition. London: Sage. Lussier, R. and Achua, C., 2009. Leadership: theory, application, & skill development. USA: Cengage Learning. Molyneux, J., 2001. Interprofessional teamworking: what makes teams work well?. Journal of interprofessional care. 15(1), pp. 29-35. Mondy, 2008. Human resource management. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Moon, J.A., 2013. A handbook of reflective and experiential learning: theory and practice. New York: Routledge. Morgeson, F. P., Reider, M. H. and Campion, M. A., 2005. Selecting individuals in team settings: The importance of social skills, personality characteristics, and teamwork knowledge. Personnel psychology. 58(3), pp. 583-611. Polzer, J. T., Milton, L. P. and Swarm, W. B., 2002. Capitalizing on diversity: Interpersonal congruence in small work groups. Administrative Science Quarterly. 47(2), pp. 296-324. Price, A., 2011. Human resource management. UK: Cengage Learning. Schneider, B., 2007. The People Make the Place. Personnel Psychology, 40 (3), pp.437–456. Sole, D. and Edmondson, A., 2002. Situated knowledge and learning in dispersed teams. British journal of management. 13(S2), pp. S17-S34. Sparrow, P., Harris, H. and Brewster, C., 2004. 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