I have always found the team leader role to be vital and yet undervalued.
When I talk to leaders and team leaders there is a common thread to their frustrations.
They don’t feel the team leader position is working at capacity and they just don’t know what to delegate. This is human nature, we can easily feel overwhelmed with the task of delegation, that we are the best person for the job or we can struggle to give over control. In some situations where there is a culture of blame, we are just plain scared to hand over control in case it all goes horribly wrong. Not being confident the team leader will do a good job can be a real barrier to effective delegation.
Sometimes we just feel its easier and quicker to do it ourselves. Finding the time to really upskill a new team leader can quickly find its way into the too hard basket.
The problems faced by team leaders are similar. They tell me that their role isn’t clear. Often, they feel that their manager doesn’t trust them and doesn’t give them any autonomy. Sometimes the role has evolved over time and there is no clear position description, so tasks are assumed and can be forgotten or duplicated.
Problems also arise when people are promoted into a team leader position and are suddenly expected to manage people who were previously their peers and friends. One team leader explained that he was bullied by the staff he worked with when he became the team leader. He was forced to take extended leave and eventually left the organisation.
One team leader told me that they were suddenly expected to undertake supervision of the team with no training. Staff did not take them seriously as a manager because other than the title of the role nothing had really changed.
Team leaders can feel like the meat in the sandwich. There are expectations from above and below and trying to meet them can feel impossible. This is compounded when the role is only given a few hours a week of administration time and an expectation that they continue in their old role.
Leaders tell me that sometimes the inconsistency in performance of team leaders can be a frustration which causes then to lean more heavily on ‘good’ performers which creates problems of overwhelm in some and resentment in others.
So, what’s the answer? Do we need a team leader role? If we do need it what support and training should we provide?
In my experience simply promoting someone into the team leader role isn’t enough, without a planned approach to supporting people to level up it’s all a bit hit and miss and you end up crossing your fingers and hoping for the best, creating burn out for team leaders and their managers.
The Peter Principle satire written by Laurence J Peter (1969) was a fake theory which still attracts attention today and talks about an organisations propensity to select candidates for promotion based on their performance in their current role. The theory is that the promotion puts them in a position where they can no longer perform competently and therefore eventually everyone in an organisation is working in a role they are not competent to perform.
The key is supporting people to be really clear about their role, provide support and training to ensure the person is competent even when promoted.
The team leader role can be invaluable in helping the executive leaders be more strategic, freeing them from the operational activities of the day to day and giving them time to do the deep thinking and strategizing needed to keep pace with external changes and support growth in an ever-changing business environment.
Upskilling your existing workforce provides an opportunity to retain them and their intellectual property. This knowledge and history with the organisation can lead to a deeper and stronger culture. The authors of more than a paycheck argue that people want “to learn new skills and to understand how their work contributes to the organisations success”. Which supports the argument that upskilling employees into more of a leadership role can have positive effects when managed well.
If you have team leaders how are you supporting them? If you are a team leader how does your organisation support you?