MANUAL TEAMWORK, LEADERSHIP AND NEGOTIATION

TEAMWORK, LEADERSHIP AND NEGOTIATION

• The team must be able to understand and identify with the objectives of the organisation and the project in particular. • Team members must support each other. Team members do not simply comply, but seek to improve the team.

Leading a team

What should a good leader do, how should he or she behave, how does he or she help staff to behave as a real team and not as a group of individuals? Adequate technical training, together with the necessary skills to manage and lead a group, are essential to successfully lead a team.

CASE: WHO WILL REPLACE ME?

Maria is transferred to her company's subsidiary in Chile for two years. Maria leads a very efficient team. They were about to start an interesting computerisation project in a rural area, but now she couldn't take over and had to find someone to replace her.

Before considering potential candidates, a question arises: What competencies should the person responsible for the leadership and management of this project have?

Cooperation versus competition

A team should not allow its members to spend their time competing with each other instead of cooperating. This requires: • Adopt attitudes that favour group identification: joint celebration of successes, equal sharing of information, etc. • Encourage activities and attitudes that foster mutual support and help. • Raise the team's awareness of the premise: "you win, we all win". • The individual in the second case is very clear about what it means to work in a team. • Any member of the team has the right to give his or her opinion and the rest should listen, respect and value it.

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