Question

Write an article on how to get the best out of a team in about 150 words.

Answer 1

One of the best one-liners in football history was on the subject of leadership. When Brian Clough was asked how he dealt with players who disagreed with his tactics, he replied: “We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right.” This, in a nutshell, describes an historical approach to management in organisations across the board. Strong, autocratic leaders laid down the law and their lieutenants conveyed orders along a rigid pecking order until the message reached the grunts who carried out the work. Not anymore. New communications technology means messages now go direct from the top to the bottom in one go. But it has also empowered young people to question goings on in the higher echelons of management and to demand more involvement in key decisions. Flat management structures were not born from a new breed of benevolent leaders, they came from opportunities to save money and pressure from below. But now the new environment is here, what are the pros and cons, is it even desirable and how can bosses make it work without losing control? Nick Shaw, chartered occupational psychologist at global advisory company CEB, thinks justifying the new approach is easy. “The only way that leaders will be successful in delivering positive outcomes for companies is to work collaboratively, harnessing skills and motivating people in different teams,” he says. To achieve this, leaders must be adaptive, while those preferring rigid control jeopardise innovation, staff productivity levels and ultimately business performance. This approach also restricts the flow of information, data, insights and ideas across the firm. In part, flatter hierarchies are a response to the rise of Generation Y, the grown-up, politicised, self-empowered and technologically adept reprint of Generation X. Millennials, as they are also known, question the basis of authority and want their voices heard. Bosses are invited to encourage this group in different ways. Some will revert to clichéd templates and opt to sit among their team in a show of solidarity, others will bulk-buy ping-pong tables and bean bags or book quarterly team-building days to encourage cohesive thinking.