Everything does not rise and fall on leadership!

Everything does not rise and fall on leadership! In a team it does not. Does that mean John Maxwell was wrong; you can decide for yourself after reading this piece. In a football team, the team wins or loses together, regardless of the individual contribution of the players including the captain. The attack cannot blame the defense for letting in goals as the defense can counter by accusing the attack of not scoring enough goals. Individual accountability is critical in teams but one of the essential characteristics of teams which separate it from other work groups which are erroneously called teams (for example a task force) is the principle of mutual responsibility and accountability.

My definitions for two terms, which are important to understand in people management is the key to grasping this concept. First, I define a team as a small group of people (usually fewer than 20) working together on a shared purpose with both individual and mutual responsibility: using the synergy of their individual resources which produces a better performance than the sum of their individual efforts. Second, I define leadership as a set of behaviors (not position or charisma) which facilitate the achievement of a shared purpose within the group.

Right away you can understand that it is possible to practice leadership behaviors without being a leader for the purpose of achieving the group’s shared purpose. That is, it is possible to lead from the top, bottom or middle. A lot of times I have observed someone apart from the leader lead a team effectively by practicing such behaviors as: taking responsibility; thinking outside the box; modeling performance and facilitating the group’s social dynamics while the ‘leader’ looks on feeling good to be in a position. A lot of teams do not achieve their set performance goals simply because of the very notion that everything rises and falls on leadership which causes team members to think certain behaviors such as initiating or creating new ideas, facilitating team work values and making decisions are the exclusive responsibility of the man at the top.

Today in the workplace and in other organizations where people have to work together, many feel not responsible, confused and a lot of times without the capacity to engage for the benefit of the group not knowing exactly when they will be seen as being presumptuous and infringing on the top dog’s turf. The concept of everything rising and falling on leadership further makes it comfortable for team members to do just enough to keep them on the team but never taking ownership, accountability and hence leadership for the team’s performance.

Understanding that in teams everything rises and falls on the team causes a definite paradigm shift in the way team members approach the group’s tasks. It destroys the need to play politics and definitely nips sabotage in the bud in the heart of those who do not agree with the leaders. It sounds absurd as to think of a defender scoring an own goal so as to spite his captain or a goal keeper not jumping high enough and letting a goal in because he had an argument with the team’s captain. As absurd as this sound this is what sometimes ensues in work teams that believe everything rises and falls on leadership. It also make the leaders prone to not sharing praise around the team as well as believing they must be responsible absolutely for the team’s success which further alienates other team members to the detriment of the teams performance.

Does this mean a leader is not needed on a team and what is the role of individual accountability you may be asking? One of the most important roles of the team leader is team selection and making sure every member of the team is pulling their weight in performing the tasks. Since performance depends on the individual contributions and the synergistic sum of it, the strength of the team depends on the strength of the weakest link in the chain and usually, since the team leader is the first link in the chain it becomes her role to get the right people on the team. One of the very important criterions among many in selecting team members is the individual’s unreserved belief in the teams’ purpose as it determines their commitment. A lot of teams don’t deliver, with the blame coming on the leader because people on the team do not share in the group’s purpose.

If ten of us are in a locked room where a fire incident happens and I get up to try and break down the door to get out, how much leadership do I need to exhibit to get the other people in the room to join me and put in their best efforts to break the door? You see, the principle of shared purpose is the most critical in a team’s performance. Most leaders use imperative communication to bring the best out of their teams using words like “we must” “we have to” “you should”. They see their team members as people who need to be coerced and shoved into positions. Of course they will get the blame and glory for the outcome of the group’s effort hence their need to strongly communicate and emphasize the need to focus on the team’s goals.

However if there is shared purpose, the leader understands that all members of the team are committed to the cause, the leader’s role becomes that of facilitation. Once the leader realizes that the people have performance potential in them it becomes a matter of just drawing it out. Now this is a very critical thought because usually there are two kinds of leaders. The one who does not believe in the potential or commitment of the team and the one who does and just needs to ensure the team has the resources to perform. Everything a leader does including communication style and reward systems will depend on how he sees the team.

As much as I do not believe in using a team’s time for interpersonal therapy, getting every member of the team to do their best must actually take a detour for it to be effective. Empowerment is the path to organizational teamwork. Though structures, accountability and common goals are necessary to a successful organization yet organizations must make room for choice. The problem with imperative thinking is the erroneous believe that people can and will be controlled hence the emphasis on ‘strong’ leadership. Imperative thinking and communication overlooks a powerful attribute of the human personality: the yearning to be free. For people to feel a sense of ownership and hence have their creativity unlocked, they need to believe their own principles and values are an integral part of their efforts. Once every member of the team feels this, leadership becomes a shared responsibility. This is why in every real team every member of the team leads at one time or the other though their still exist ‘the leader’. In teams like this there is such a feeling of shred responsibility that leadership actions emanate from every part of the team.

To go back to our football team analogy, once the ball is in the opponent’s goal area, the top striker takes over the team’s leadership and the reverse happens when the ball is in the team’s goal area- the goal keeper takes over the leadership. Everybody on the team plays to the advice of the person leading at that particular moment including the team’s captain because each team member owns their part of the field. In highly effective teams therefore, everything does not rise and fall on leadership, rather, everything rises and falls on ‘the practice of leadership’