Strong, dominant team effort is facilitated by a leader who has a clear direction and the capacity to influence his or her team to work toward the realization of a vision. This point is illustrated nicely in the article “World-Class Teams” by David Kirk.

The leader is not intimidated in the least by the competence of his or her team. Rather, a robust, confident leader involves his or her colleagues in a conversation concerning exactly what high production and superior performance look like, just what is required to perform as well as complete the task. Furthermore, the leader motivates and empowers the team to pursue self-investment and self-improvement consistently.

Let us continue by breaking all that down into parts so that the leader can understand exactly how to achieve those outcomes.

Appointing The Leader

We begin with a crystal-clear, in-charge appointed leader. I believe without a defined, in-charge leader, there is no team, only a group of people with no framework to function. There has to be somebody who is in charge and hopefully makes the best choices.

Team members might take turns being the leader. This is okay as long as every person is clear who the leader is. An additional variant of that theme is to have particular people be the leader for jobs that are in their sphere of competence. However, no matter what the situation, there can be no question among colleagues who is in charge for that the particular period (whether it’s a day, week, month, etc.).

Having The Vision

To lead one must have the vision to share. This should remind you of Stephen Covey’s second habit: “Begin with the end in mind” or, as I like to call it, “back-from-the-future thinking.” The best way to think of it is that a real leader completes the mission (from conception to final product) two times the first — mentally and then in reality.
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You cannot lead toward an unclear vision. People are not normally inspired to follow unpredictability. Simply having the vision is inadequate to influence your group or colleagues toward the same end. Good leaders understand how to aid each member in seeing just how the final product will be beneficial and what, precisely, their particular contribution is toward that end.

For example, just how does the cleaning person contribute to fans’ satisfaction at an NBA game? By offering a clean, sanitary washroom experience — that’s how. If the cleaning person sees himself as a crucial part of the big-picture goal, and receives positive reinforcement for it, then he is most likely to do the task enthusiastically.