Aimee
[closed] Can anyone shed some light on the topic of office synergy and working with teams?
Hello,
My name is Aimee and I have an associate's degree in business administration and a major of management. Soon, I will be obtaining my bachelor's degree in business administration as well. I know a little bit in general about sales, marketing, management, and communication. The career that I inspire to be in is office management. I want to take this opportunity to ask how to work well with people in a group setting. I want to enjoy working with others instead of fretting the possibility that others will not prepare for presentations or meetings and not do anything helpful once they say they will do something. My academic professors have been reaching out to me to step and be a leader so that others can follow in my footsteps. Therefore, it would be my pleasure to do my best at helping other people. There are several different leaderships styles, and not one fits all. Some people can be quiet independent leaders and others can be more direct and outgoing. Either way, I would love to encourage others to push themselves to uncomfortable limits and go the distance (meaning achieving more than normal).
#business-administration #leadership
1 answer
Matt Sakaguchi
Matt’s Answer
Hi Aimee,
Your question about leadership styles and building team synergy is a passion of mine at Google. I've been a manager and leader for 25 years, the last 15 in Technology. I teach workshops about leadership and team building both inside and outside of Google. It's a challenge for all companies, and there are literally hundreds of books on the topic. One article I recommend reading is from the New York Times, where Charles Duhigg outlines what Google's research revealed about building high performing teams: http://goo.gl/Fb14Cu
I didn't do the research, but I am very familiar with it, and am highlighted in the article, along with Julia, the Principal researcher. What she and her team found is that high performing teams all had common characteristics, and it didn't matter WHO was on the team, but HOW they worked together. Those attributes, in order of importance:
1) Psychological Safety: team members feel they can take risks, make mistakes, without repercussions
2) Dependability: individuals on the team can depend on others to complete their part, share the load, reliably
3) Structure and Clarity: it's clear what people are supposed to be doing, and there is enough structure to prevent chaos, but not so much as to stifle creativity
4) Meaning: the work done by the team matters to them, it has importance in the bigger picture, beyond just their immediate team
5) Impact: the projects, output the team accomplishes is recognized as vital to partner teams, and/or the company as a whole
IMHO, the leader's job is to facilitate these attributes, and instill behaviors in the team to enhance their ability to mesh as a group. Every team presents unique challenges, and it's up to good leaders to ascertain the best way to get the team from where they are now, to high performance, keeping the above list in mind.
I hope you get the chance to read the article, and that it answers some of the questions you may have about teams, synergy, and leadership.
Best of luck in your studies and career,
matt