Page 260 - The extraordinary leader

Developing Leadership Teams • 237

competencies well?” If every competency is critically important to the suc-
cess of an organization, and no leader is perfect, how does each get accom-
plished? That is where a team comes to the rescue. Teams that value people
with unique abilities can assemble the right mix of talent to solve virtually any
problem.
Not all teams, however, are well balanced. Some teams are overloaded on
just a few of the competencies. The effect of a poorly balanced team is sub-
optimal performance. At this point, you may be wondering what the profile
looks like for your team. That is an important question, and it is important to
get an accurate answer.

The Team Tent

Based on a composite of the strengths of each team member, we are able to
draw a customized leadership tent for each team (Figures 11-5 and 11-6).
The leadership tent provides a visual picture of the effectiveness of a team.
We know that individual 360-degree feedback can provide invaluable help
to people who desire to improve their leadership effectiveness. By aggregat-
ing the individual feedback and analyzing it for teams, valuable additional
insights can be generated. Teams start to more clearly understand their cul-
ture and personality. People with whom we spend time and with whom we
interact have a profound impact on us. We unconsciously mimic each other
in both our strengths and our weaknesses, but these differences are rarely
apparent to group members. The leadership team profile provides a helpful

Figure 11-5 Team A Tent