Steve Eskow responded to J. B. Bryant's comment
>>I am not saying that no team can succeed with a leader nor all teams
>>succeed without them. I am saying that the most effective teams will
>>succeed either without or in spite of them.
>It is hard to imagine (hard for me to imagine) a successful football team
>without a quarterback, where some notions of equality and democracy
>require that all decisions be made by vote in the huddle before each play.
>
>Or any of the ensemble arts, like dance and drama, creating works of high
>quality without leaders and directors.
My question has to do with how we measure the success of a team if the
idea is that they succeed either without or in spite of them. I think
that is an interesting perception of team work. What I hear in this is a
conflict between leadership styles or approaches, and the functioning of
particular teams. If a team is set up to be a collaborative group of
equals, then one or more of the team members will end up being the team
leader. Someone will be first among equals at any one point in time. It
may not be the same person throughout the same meeting, but someone is
exercising a leadership role whether their is recognition of it or not, or
whether a title has been given. This is a particularly important point to
understand as what distinguishes people within a team is more and more
knowledge related.
Robert Greenleaf writes about this form of leadership in his book Servant
Leadership. Here's a portion of what he says: "...It is the form where
the principal leadership is primus inter pares -- first among equals.
There is still a "first," a leader, but that leader is not the chief. The
difference may appear to be subtle, but it is important that the primus
constantly test and prove that leadership among a group of able peers.
This principle is more difficult to find in practice, but it does exist in
important places -- with conspicuous success." (p.61)
J.B. Bryant can still be accurate in stating that a team succeeds in spite
of a leader, but not without one. I think Greenleaf's perspective is
helpful in this regard.
Ed Brenegar
Leadership Resources
edb3@msn.com
--"Ed Brenegar" <edb3@email.msn.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>