WHAT IS TEAM LEADERSHIP? 

Team leadership means exactly what you think it means: leading a team. In corporate world, it means successfully managing a group of employees. Team leaders have to give employees the necessary tasks and then keep track of the progress. Here are some important qualities that you should work on to become a better team leader: 

• Communication skills 
• Industry expertise 
• Relationship building 
• Problem solving –abilities 
• Time management skills 
• Decisiveness 
• Collaboration (Indeed.com).

This essay was inspired by a paja (workshop) that I hosted for our team. While preparing for the paja, I came up with a question that I wanted to ask our team. What is the difference between leadership and team leadership? Or are there any differences? In the paja, everyone was pretty quiet. The question clearly created some thoughts and confusion. Aren’t they the same thing? In my perspective, they are not. Let’s start with the team leadership. It means that you have a clear role with certain responsibilities. You and your team have tasks to do, and as a team leader, you have to make sure that those are done correctly. Leadership on the other hand, doesn’t mean a certain role. Anyone can take leadership, anywhere, anytime. For example, you take leadership when you see a grandma needing help with carrying the groceries, or when you answer a question in class. Leadership = stepping up when needed. Do you see the difference?  

Any one of us can step up when needed to. Sometimes it’s hard and scary. Most of the time we expect someone else to step up, because we aren’t brave enough. In Finland, I think some people are even embarrassed to step up. Drawing attention to yourself is something that Finnish people avoid (stereotypically speaking).  

Being a team leader is an important role, that comes with its pros and cons. Famous writer and public speaker Simon Sinek said this in one interview: 

When something goes right, you have to give away the credit, but when something goes wrong, you have to take the responsibility. (Sinek, 2024) 

That is quite frustrating, but true. When you are the team leader, you are expected to lift up your team members. That is your job as a leader. You are expected to create good team spirit, which sometimes means giving away your own credit. Of course, you can sometimes take some credit for yourself, but usually you have to put your team members before yourself. This means also taking responsibility when someone in your team messes up. Again, the line is blurry and every situation is different, but as a team leader, you are supposed to be on your team’s side.  

WHO IS A GOOD LEADER? 

After studying Entrepreneurship and team leadership for two years now, I have made some of my own observations about different leaders. First of all, the general leading style has taken a turn in the past 10 years. Nowadays, the employees expect more soft skills from their employers and team leaders. Especially the younger generations want leaders, who listen and understand them. I also think that a good leader emphasizes soft skills in their leading style. A good leader is easy to approach, positive and optimistic. A good leader creates a safe environment in the workplace or the team, and can take constructive criticism. Also, a good leader wants to know their employees. This is something that makes the leading easier. When you know your employees, you understand their behavior better, which makes your job as a leader easier.  

Of course, you can’t be the leader if you don’t have the necessary hard skills. You have to know your field, but you also have to have good management skills. This means that you have to be organized and stable. When the shit hits the fan, you should be the calming force as a leader. That calm energy will spread to others eventually. As a leader, you should be on track of everything that’s going on and also have good time management skills. A team leader needs to manage the team’s schedule, but also their own personal schedule. This requires a person who is naturally well-organized, or has become well-organized. I think that management and organizing are also just regular skills that anyone can learn.  

When we flip this around, we’ll find out who is a bad leader. A bad leader is rude, pessimistic and chaotic. No one wants a leader who spreads negativity around them or complains about everything. Sometimes it’s okay to be stressed out, because we are just human. But I don’t think that it’s good leadership to always panic and show your stress to the team members. So, to become a good leader, you should work on your pressure tolerance skills. All the leading positions come with high-pressure situations, so all the leaders should have their own tools to manage them. Those tools look different to everyone.  

One question that I also asked our team in the paja, was that can you learn to be a leader? Are leadership skills just something that a person is born with? This created good conversations. I think the general opinion was that, yes, you can learn to be a leader. For some people, leading comes naturally, and for some people it just needs a little more work. Simon said in his interview that some of the best leaders he has met were not the most charming or outgoing ones (Sinek, 2024). I also agree with him. I think that anyone can become a leader, but the question is, where are you leading? What is the environment that suits your own leading style the best? When we find that place, I think we can all thrive as leaders, if we so decide to. 

BIGGEST CHALLENGES AS A LEADER 

Team leadership comes with its challenges. We all know that. Here is a list of some of the things that team leaders can struggle with: 

1. Feedback. How to deal with negative feedback and how to give it to someone else?  
2. Team spirit. When the team members are not feeling motivated, is there something that you can do as a leader? Can you lift up the team spirit with your own actions? 
3. Conflicts. How to handle conflicts between team members, or between you and the team members? How do you handle hard 1:1 conversations as a team leader? 
4. Failures. Do you talk about failures inside the team and how do you move forward from those? Can you stay optimistic as a leader when things don’t go as planned? 
5. Extreme situations. How do you handle extreme or traumatic situations as a leader? Can you stay calm in high-pressure situations, if everyone else panics?  

SOURCES 

Indeed.com. 2022. Web page. Team leadership (Definition, Importance and Skills). https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/team-leadership  

Sinek, S. 2024. Video. What It Takes To Be a Great Leader. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGdb11YxUBQ