Video Transcript: Week 12

hello, class. So this one, I call this chapter, team leadership. And wrap up because we've already talked about many of the of the requirements for working in teams through the different leader through our discussion of the different leadership theories. So this last chapter, we're going to talk a little bit about work teams and what they are. We're going to talk about how a team leadership model works. We're going to discuss some of the strengths and criticisms, and then we're going to kind of go through and kind of talk about some other little things that serve as a wrap up. Just maybe I'll talk about my favorite leadership theories and why I love them, even though I already did that a little bit. And then just talk about organizational context a little bit. Maybe I'll start with that. I don't know. We'll see, but let's do what we always do, and let's open in a word of prayer. First, Heavenly Father, we did it. We have made it to this last module, and we just want to give you all the glory and the honor and the praise and Lord we are so thankful. In that very first prayer, we said, Please remove distractions. Lord, please help us to be able to focus on what we need to focus on. And Lord, You are as you always are faithful. You've helped us to persevere in times of trouble, in times of tribulation, in times that are that are difficult. You've helped us to overcome those challenges and to be successful in this class. And Lord, I just want to take a moment to praise you, to thank you. I want to get on my knees and thank you for each person in this class. Lord, I want to ask you to please bless each person this class, individually in Bountiful ways that we don't even know. Lord, they have prayers that are public. They have prayers that are unspoken. Lord, and I pray that you will just answer those prayers. You'll be faithful to your people, to your brothers and sisters in Christ, Lord, Lord, thank you for helping us to get to this point. I pray that as we discuss team leadership and we talk about some other leadership concepts, and just kind of wrap up the class, that you will bless our time together, our final time together in this class. And just, I want to thank you, Lord, for all the many ways in which you bless us in Jesus name, amen. This is it. It's been a fun 12 weeks. You know, I always approach these last modules with a bit of sadness, because, you know, I feel like there's so much more that we can discuss, and so much more we can learn together. But I really wanted to approach this class from a kind of an overview perspective, and kind of whet your appetite for what you can learn about so you may, you may sit back and go, Wow, authentic leadership really resonated with me, or, you know, leadership behavior really resonated with me. Or, you know, the great man theory, Trait Theory, really resonated with me. And then you want to learn more, and that's my hope that remember that as you get your degree, as you learn, the process of learning never ends. And when you finish your degree with CLC and you move on, or maybe you don't move on, but let's say you move on and you get another degree and another degree, another degree, you're still going to learn. Or if you stop going to formal education, you stop going to school, you're still going to learn. And I think that's so important to recognize and to remember, that the learning never stops. And I hope that what you've learned over these past 11 weeks now going into 12 weeks, that you you understand that the learning never stops, and your goal is that the learning never stops. And this has ignited in you a passion for leadership that continues like it is an ignited in me, way back in 2007 when I started to study a passion of leadership that in unquenchable thirst, as they say, speaking of which, I'm kind of thirsty. See it's unquenchable. I want to learn more. So anyway, so I hope that has been the story for you, and that has been the case for you. I did say that I wanted to discuss some of some takeaways, some key takeaways, and I want to discuss those, and also want to discuss team leadership, but I want to start with these takeaways. And the reason I'm starting with them is because team leadership has really been encompassed in everything that we've learned. And when I start talking about some of the concepts regarding team leadership, I want, what I want you to do is I want you to think back to some of the theories, oh, that's part of authentic, or oh, that's part of situational, or oh, that's part of the you know, trait, or your path goal, or whatever. I want you to think about those. Remember that we started with the earliest conceptualizations of leadership, formal leadership theory started with, what did it start with? It started with the trait approach, right? The great man approach, that there are certain innate qualities that people have, whether those qualities are height or attractiveness or intelligence or whatever that that's what makes people great. And then we went to a skills approach that said, hey, it's not about the way a person looks, but it's about the skills and approach the skills that they possess. Remember, for that one, we talked about cats and we talked about conceptual skills for the CEOs were more important than technical skills. As we moved on through our leadership journey, we went into the behavioral approach, and we talked about the different behaviors that leaders need to have, and more than just leaders and followers, we've talked about the situational approach to leadership. I remember that chart with the S's, and that s1 which was highly directed behaviors, all the way through the delegating phase, which was s4 and in that phase, you needed to basically just turn it over to the person and let them go. And remember the different situations require different approaches, path goal theory, which was a little bit of a continuation of that theory. We talked about other leadership theories as well. We talked about transformational leadership. Remember, for transformational leadership cares carrot, charisma and transactional leadership are some of the terms that we learned. We talked about charismatic leaders and what does look like? I use President Obama for an example, certainly not as a political statement, but because he's less controversial than some others. We talked about President Obama in the United States, by the way, we talked about leader member exchange theory, which I said was one of my favorites, because I think it's a reality of how organizations operate. Remember the in group versus the out group, and how as leaders, we are called to treat everybody and make sure that they are feel part of the team and part of the in group. Remember we have incredible influence over others. I remember we talked about authentic leadership and how authenticity and being true to yourself and true to your followers is so important. And I made the distinction that even though some people may say that this has nothing to do with followers, that it absolutely does. I mean millennials, it absolutely does. Because especially these times, especially as we've lost the moral compass of our country and of our world, really that a lot of people are clamoring for authenticity and truth. We talked about servant leadership, right? We talked about what it means to give up of yourself and to put your followers first and to completely subject yourself to those of your followers needs and desires, and how that has very positive organization outcomes, how it's been tested in every single context, from authoritative context all the way down to shared leadership contexts. We talked about the concept of complexity, right on adaptability, and how you had to be adaptive as a leader, and you have to be adaptive as follower. And there's all these internal and external forces that are coming on to you. And now we're going to be talking about team leadership. But the one of the things that I wanted to point out before we talk about team leadership, and again, we've already addressed a lot of this team leadership stuff is that leadership is incredibly complex and difficult and hard, and it's also not right. It's also about very simple concepts. Take care of those around you, realize the awesome responsibility that exists when it comes to influencing others. Remember it's not always about yourself. Remember that leadership in situations require different approaches. It's not all about one approach all the time. Remember that leadership is an ethical practice, and one that we have to work hard for whether we are Christians in a secular organization, whether we're in a spiritual organization, we still have an awesome responsibility to live God's principles all the time. Remember that leadership is not meant for some special people, whether you're six foot four or whether you're attractive, or whether you're really smart, or whatever leadership is for everybody, and you don't need special traits or or characteristics to make you a good leader. God has made. Each of us a leader, and he has given each of us a heart, and he's given each of us an ability to lead. And I want you to really, really remember that it is so sad when I hear people say, I am not a leader, and I always say, I disagree. You are a leader. You may not be in a formalized leadership role, but you are a leader. You have influence over others, and I want you to remember that as we move into talking about team leadership, I just want to say as a summary one more thought I said a few years ago to somebody that there is different assessments that exist for these different leadership theories. But one of the things that I've always wanted to know is what leadership theory am I? I think I told you during this that I would like to think that I'm an authentic leader. I'd like to think I'm a servant leader, or values based leader. I would like to think on those things, but am I? I don't know. Someday, somebody is going to come up with an assessment, and that assessment is going to tell me exactly what kind of leader I am. And through the knowledge of that assessment, what I'm going to learn is self awareness, and I'm going to learn some things that are going to help me be a better leader in the future. And that is what I want you to think about, that in a way, as we've gone through these 11 weeks. This has been a self assessment. This has been an assessment. This has been a test that you've taken that has said at the end of the time you are this kind of leader. And what I want to ask you is, what kind of leader are you really and what kind of leader do you want to be? And I hope you really take some time to reflect on that. I really do, because to me, if you aren't a leader that's in God's will, if you're not a leader who who wants to serve others or take care of others. If you're not a leader who's not authentic and true to yourself, if you're not a leader that's adaptable, if you're not a leader that understands that there's different situations in which you need to operate, then are you the kind of leader that is destructive, or are you the kind of leader that is empowering and doing good for this world, for society and for your organization. So I want to challenge you that is you take this last module, as we discuss team leadership, which we're going to touch on, but not discuss in great detail what we're going to touch on, because we've already talked about it, but as you take this last module, I wanted I want you to pause, and before you do anything else, I want you to take some time and think about being the assessment of leadership and everything you've learned over these past 11 weeks. What leader are you and what leader should you be if I'm true to myself and if I'm being truly authentic? And I will tell you that I am not the leader I want to be. I will tell you that I make mistakes every day. I will tell you that I fail. As I said, I would love to be considered an authentic leader. I'd love to be considered servant leader. But do I think I am? I don't think so. Am I always in God's will? I am absolutely not always in God's will. Am I perfect? No, I am not perfect. I am imperfect, and thank God for grace. And just as God has shown me a bunch of grace in my life, so too, as leaders, must we show grace to our followers, just as God has forgiven my sins, so too, must we forgive the sins of our followers? So when I yell at my teammates, when I publicly humiliate them, when I fail them, I am out of God's will. So what kind of leader are you and what kind of leader do you want to be with that? Let us talk about team leadership. It's kind of hard to switch. That is, I certainly have challenged myself with what with the words that God just gave me, and it's something that I'm gonna think about in very meaningful ways over the next few weeks, months, years. You know what? When we talk about team leadership, let's just sum it up like this, and we will talk about a little bit more, but let's sum it up like this, being part of a team boils down to one thing, all those things we talked about, caring about others, concern for others, working together, being authentic, being humble, putting others' concerns above yourself for organizational outcomes, influencing leading and caring. With that. What is a team? A team is a group that works together toward a common goal. We've already discussed that in chapter one with what is definition of leadership. Remember that when we're talking about teams, that there's different kinds of teams, though we don't we're not just talking about teams that are that are face to face, that are in the same room, like this beautiful room here, although I'm the only one in here, but we're talking about teams that that could be hybrid in all of my organizations, some of my team members are together, and some are virtual. We can be talking about completely virtual team, and that has benefits as well. You get a global perspective, you get the best talent. You can collaborate quickly across different time zones. The work never stops. Obviously, there are some advantages to face to face teams. There's nothing like going out to lunch together. I play pool with my team every two weeks, the game billiards, and we play every two weeks. In fact, we're going next Thursday. I'm really looking forward to it. And that is, you know that can be replicated when you're talking about virtual teams, but remember that that teams have struggles, whether it's a virtual team and you have technology struggles, or whether it's a face to face team and you have interpersonal conflicts. Remember it's a leader's responsibility to remove barriers, to remove obstacles, and a performance on one's duties. Remember that organizational teams that work really well are productive, are resource efficient, make better decisions and problem solving. They have quality products and services and they're innovative and creative. Remember that there's a lot of work that needs to be done in the in the team model and the shared and distributed leadership model, but basically remember that everybody has to work together. And when we talk about team dynamics, there's very famous Tuckman stages of group dynamics, where we talked about the coming together, which is the storming phase, there is the performing phase, and there are all these different phases where the team has to learn how to work together. There they have to get through those dynamics, and then they come together for a joint purpose, and then they adjourn. So what I'm saying to you by saying that is this, remember that when you get placed on a new team, or you're the leader of a new team, remember that there has to be a period of turbulence before you can get through the turbulence. And think about all those things that we talked about, whether it's adaptability and working through those challenges, whether it's talking about situational leadership or you have to operate in a certain situation, which applies to team dynamics as well, and certainly you're going to treat different members of the team differently. So don't forget that those are all critical components of team leadership and team dynamics. Remember that with teams, you want to get results right. You want to have unifying commitment. Commitment is very important to leadership. You want to have a standard of excellence, and you want to make sure that the leaders operate under principled terms, so you treat all team members equally. So think about those things as you think about team leadership. Think of those about those things as we conclude this class. And I hope that that this class has been good for you, that it's taught you a lot, and I hope that you are able to apply the things that you've learned. So you know, please, please, please communicate with me. Communicate with the leaders, Christian leaders, and let them know what you think of the class and what we can do to make it better. And certainly, if there's ways I can make these lectures more effective, please let us know. That as well. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your attention. God bless each and every one of you, and thank you so much for helping us get to this point. You know, I thought about not closing in prayer for our final class and and our final lecture, but how inappropriate would that be to not thank God for getting to this point, so please join me in our final prayer, Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for this class. Thank you so much for everything you have taught us during the last 12 weeks. Thank you for how you have helped us to grow. Thank you for how you have helped us to learn from your example, Lord, and thank you for removing all the distractions that have been the pressures in our life. Lord, as we leave this class, I would ask us to listen to that voice and what you're trying to tell us and teach us about what we've learned in Jesus, your infinite and beautiful name, we pray. Thank you, Class. As I fade to black, I just want to say one last thing, thank you. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for influence and thank you for being a wonderful example of leadership in this class. Thank you.