Impact of leadership on teamwork and strategies to encourage full participation and teamwork in terms of innovation and creative thinking
Contents
Critical evaluation of the impact of leadership on teamwork in terms of innovation and creativity. 3
Analysis and formulation of the strategies for encouraging full participation and teamwork. 7
Thesis statement- To critically evaluate the impact of leadership on teamwork and strategies to encourage full participation and teamwork in terms of innovation and creative thinking
Introduction
In a team, leadership is considered as an essential aspect to develop critical thinking and innovative ideas for completing tasks. In addition, leadership also encourages teamwork by motivating team members. Teamwork is considered a collaborative effort of a group, where all participants work in a team to achieve a common goal. The main of this essay is to critically evaluate the aspect of leadership that develops an effective team in the context of innovation and creativity. In order to achieve this aim, this research study is evaluating the impact of leadership on teamwork that how it improves innovation and creativity. In addition, this study is also identifying the ways by which change and creative thinking can define the trends and needs of employees. Finally, this study is also analyzing several strategies that can be used by a leader to encourage the full participation of team members in innovation and creativity.
Critical evaluation of the impact of leadership on teamwork in terms of innovation and creativity
According to the research study of Shephard (2015), it can be said that leadership plays a vital role in the teamwork as it increases the ability of team members to complete the task with innovation and creativity. The leadership motivates the people to complete the innovative task in a team as it creates a real competition related to work among the team members. Due to work competition among team members, the effectiveness of the people also increases were innovative or creative ideas recommended by team members to achieve a common goal in an effective manner. Besides this, Price (2019) demonstrated in their research that conflict resolution is considered as the most important aspect of leadership on teamwork. It is because the team members present several innovative and creative things to other team members to overcome the conflict that is faced by other team members. All participants in the team have a common goal, and each participant wants to improve the performance of other team members to achieve this common goal in a timely manner. At the same time, Bell (2019) explained that leadership also provides direction to team members by which they can develop innovative and creative ideas to finish given tasks that shows teamwork. Due to given guidelines, the team members can develop innovative ideas to do the task in a different manner that is short and effective. However, in terms of innovation and creativity, the leadership develops a battering relationship among the team members as each member supports others to complete the project and task in a more effective manner. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
In support of this, Chuang (2016) described that creativity thrives during some people work together in a team to complete their common task. It is because if a person works solo, then it cannot focus on innovation and creativity, it has a lack of ideas to complete the same task in a different manner. In contrast, a job is completed in a group, and then each individual team member has their idea to achieve the same task in a different style. Due to this, Price (2019) also defined that brainstorming prevents stale viewpoints in a group. Each team member provides a combination of unique perspectives that is supportive of creating more effective solutions. The learning and experiences of an individual are entirely different from their coworkers, and they develop more creative and innovative ways. The teamwork is supportive of maximizing shared knowledge of the team members at the workplace and helps to learn new skills that are useful for the rest of the career of employees to develop innovative and creative ideas. On the other hand, Bell (2019) depicted that leadership not only offers a positive impact on teamwork but also it is also supportive of developing the collaborative nature of the team members. In concern of this, the collaboration of the team members creates an enthusiasm for learning due to leadership. In addition, it is seen that solitary work usually lacks without teamwork. The individual and team knowledge can be increased by the leadership in teamwork as they share discoveries with the rest of the team members excites fosters and employees (Chuang, 2016).
On the other hand, according to Price (2019), it can be said that leadership can negatively impact teamwork, or it might be challenging. In this, it is challenging for the leaders on how to gain profit from the potentials of an individual’s innovation in this competitive business environment. There is a need for each leader to retain, attracting, and developing creative talent and how to manage them in teamwork. The participative leadership style is supportive of creativity for the leader’s vision and establishes a supportive group as a team. In support of this, Shephard (2015) explained that it is essential for a leader to communicate the vision among the team members so that they can also think creatively and innovatively for achieving a common goal. In order to develop creativity, freedom, and responsibility are provided by the leader to the team members that can be misused by any team members. yIn addition, it is also essential for a leader who has weak leadership to have more creativity potential by more practicing. In a team, the leadership can be challenging to effectively manage team members and develop a positive relationship so that they can achieve organizational outcomes (Dinh, 2017). However, it can be said that leadership can enhance creativity where the team members learn several things from each other, but it might be challenging for a leader.
Examining innovation and creative thinking can be used to identify trends, needs and to recognize opportunities in teams
In order to identify trends and needs, innovation and creative thinking can be useful in different ways. For every successful organization, team innovation is the backbone that sets their business apart from the competition and also supports to prosper and grow. The leaders need to be innovative and creative that can be used to identify the trends, needs, and even for recognizing the opportunities in the team. It is because creative leadership fosters success and increase the productivity of the company. For the modern business leader, creativity is the essential quality in them. Creativity is avoiding the inflexible structure, a very attractive trait for persons in leadership positions for having in the corporate setting. In simple words, creativity refers to the ability of imagination. A leader can put aside the practical norms and can also a thing of something innovative and creative by using imagination (Fillis, 2019). However, a creative mind has to be having entrepreneurial skills for bringing those creative ideas to life in the business setting.
Creativity has become more important in this competition era for businesses to meet the teams’ trends and needs effectively. Creativity is the act to turn an artistic and exclusive thought into reality. So, it is important for businesses to taking advantage/ benefits of creative ideas for accomplishing the competitive advantage as this assists in attracting and retain the team members. However, if the leaders in the organization lack creativity, then the organization can fail to grow and compete in today’s competitive environment where the company has cut-throat competition in the market. Many companies introduce creative ideas in their business for representing their integrity both towards the environment and staff members (Lee, 2019). Creative leadership helps to increase the company’s productivity and in fostering the success by introducing creative ideas in their business. However, sometimes, the introduction of creative ideas at the business workplace can lead the company to invest a significant amount in introducing or launching creative ideas that are essential for meeting the needs of the team. Moreover, the creative ideas and strategies also support the design process and activities of the organization by perceiving the trust of team members that become easier to identify their needs and trends at the workplace. The introduction of creative ideas as the company’s decision is also used for exploring the opportunity creatively that assists in identifying the expectations and needs of team members. Therefore, the managers or leaders can use creative ideas for identifying and recognizing the trends that will support the company to recognize the opportunity.
The innovation and creativity at the workplace are the outcomes, processes, and products of attempts for developing and introducing the new and enhanced way to do things. Here, the creative process stage if the generation of an idea, and innovation to the success of introducing the ideas towards better products, practices, and procedures. Both innovation and creativity consistently lead to identifiable advantages or benefits in the workplace. Moreover, the turning of the invention into the innovation is depended on how the leaders or managers position themselves, receive the funding, and handling their business or organization for becoming successful. Innovation can refer to the process and the organization’s requirements for generating ideas in a business context (Martin, 2019). The managers and the leaders are important to identify the needs, trends, and to recognize the opportunities in the team as they are the one who is directly involved with the team members/staff members at the workplace. Therefore, this involvement of leaders with team members contributes to increasing productivity and financial gain. These leaders know exactly what the team or staff members needs and fulfill them.
Creativity is the ability to produce new and, at times, unique ideas, whereas the innovation can be considered as the achievement of that creativity, whether it is a new product, solution, process, and purpose. Creativity is the influencing force behind innovation and to look at things from diverse perspectives. Innovation is essential to solving the problems as many of the designs are generally derived from attempts to solve the previous problems/issues in the business setting. As such, when the managers or leaders encourage innovation, they open the doors to solving the issues within the team members as well as outside the organization. If the managers/leaders provide facilities/services, then they might appreciate that the team members do not have any possibility of sharing their complaints, opinions, and compliments. This assists in increasing the team members’ satisfaction level as well as increase the productivity of them and the organization (Robert Half, 2019). The innovation in the organization is an important aspect that is required to enhance the competitiveness and effectiveness of the organization as it is depended on the implementing of new ideas. Innovation is important as it provides the leaders and the organization an edge to penetrate the market in a faster way and also gives a better connection and link to developing markets that can lead to the exploitation of more opportunities.
Analysis and formulation of the strategies for encouraging full participation and teamwork
Based on the research study of Bell (2019), it is identified that a leader can encourage full participation among the team members by giving examples of others. In concern to this, if a leader wants their team should communicate with each other, keep the business moving forward by working hard, and produce healthy outcomes, then a leader must lead by example in terms of innovation and creative thinking. The leader should treat their roles and responsibilities and treat coworkers in the same way as he wants from others. But it is depicted by Price (2019) that only giving an example is not highly supportive encourages full participation and teamwork, but also it is necessary to build up mutual trust and respect. It is because of the lack of mutual trust and respect among team members, and management cannot provide satisfactory outcomes, and nothing will get done within a team or organization. However, it is essential for team members that they must have trust in each other to do their own tasks in a more effective manner in terms of innovation and creative thinking. As well, the trust of the leader is supportive of getting the right direction and guidance for completing the project and their tasks (smash.vc, 2019).
In order to encourage full participation and teamwork, a team leader should focus on the socialization. In support of this, Shephard (2015) defined that a team leader must set aside time to increase mutual trust, respect, and understanding as encouragement in socialization among team members that will be supportive for them to know one another at the more personal level. It would simple after periods of time spent by each other, and just the leader needs to talk with people about it. But Dinh (2017) not agreed with this statement as Dinh analyzed that encouraging team members for open speaking and sharing ideas is also an effective strategy in terms of innovation and creative thinking. It is because the team members can provide useful suggestions through the use of effective communication techniques to voice their opinions. In addition to this, clearly outlining the roles and responsibilities of the team members is also an effective strategy to encourage full participation and teamwork in concern to innovation and creativity. According to the research of Chuang (2016), it can be said that each team member must have a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities so that it can develop innovative and creative ideas for success. It would be supportive of limiting the confusion and time spent in delegating or organizing the team tasks, as well as the individuals will be able to focus on their jobs (Bell, 2019) simply.
The team leader can organize team processes more effectively for teamwork and encouraging full participation related to innovation and creative thinking. In support of this, Shephard (2015) also evaluated that by providing clear roles and responsibilities to the team members, the team leader should also set team processes at the workplace as it is supportive of mitigating setbacks, communicate others and give feedback. However, this guidance will be supportive of the team members to less time on innovation and creativity as a leader will provide creative ideas. At the same time, Bell (2019) also suggested that allowing team members in the decision-making process to take part actively is also an essential strategy that can be sued by the leader for encouraging teamwork in concern to creativity and innovation. Due to this, the team members will have a personal involvement sense for making a decision as the decision-making process includes a solidify connection of individuals in the team (Price, 2019). It is also supportive of team members to make me feel like an integral part of the project.
One of the most effective strategies to encourage full participation and teamwork is the use of updated technology at the workplace for innovation and creative thinking. In this concern, Chuang (2016) explained that the use of task management software might be effective in encouraging creativity and innovation. With the use of technology (Software), the team members can be able to collect and streamline the tasks, its progress, updates, and deadlines to complete the project in more productive and creative ways. Each team member responds differently in the use of several UI designs that improve the creativity level of the project or task. But at the same time, Dinh (2017) depicted that the use of technology can be creative, but the encouragement of full participation and teamwork can also be done by starting team traditions. It is seen that a productive relationship among the team members can be developed through create traditions and developing a unified sense of culture and solidarity inside the organization. In this, they informally communicate with each other and become silly and straightforward to connect with each other. There are some team traditions that can be supportive inside a team, like running inside jokes, offering a massive incentive for goal achievers, etc. that also encourage full participation and teamwork related to creativity and innovation (Shephard, 2015).
The establishment of team rule is also an important strategy that can be used to encourage full participation and teamwork. According to the research of Bell (2019), rules are everywhere to manage and keep safe everything effectively. If a team leader develops rules for the team, then the team members will be able to define how to be more forward together. Rules are supportive of providing safeguards of success, and it is also supportive of increasing team productivity. Early establishment of the rule is batter as it does not consider any change that impacts negatively on the rule adoption. On the other hand, Shephard (2015) advised that focus on team strengths is a more effective technique to encourage full participation and teamwork as it improves innovation and creative thinking among the team members. Most of the time, it is seen that if a team leader focuses on the weaknesses of their team members, then it can seriously affect to encourage teamwork. Besides this, if an employee uses their strengths, then it can provide six times more productivity in their tasks. However, it can be said that focus on the strengths of team members good strategy for a leader to motivate them and encourage working in the team.
Conclusion
Based on the above analysis, it is concluded that effective leadership can be supportive to encourage team members to work in a team and provide full participation in the team. But several factors can impact the team members to increase their creativity and innovative thinking during working in a team such as an inefficiency in the leader. In addition to this, this study has also focused on the viewpoints of different authors on how to innovation and creative thinking can be supportive of defining trends and needs of the project. In concern of this, it is concluded that innovation and creative thinking provide new ways to complete the task in an effective manner. At the same time, this study also explained some strategies that can be used by a team leader to improve the overall performance of the organization by encouraging full participation and teamwork regarding creative thinking and innovation. In this, a team leader should offer flexibility and rewards to the team members and include them in the decision-making process by defining the goals and objectives of any task and project.
Bibliography
Bell, A. (2019, May 22). 12 Effective Tools & Strategies to Improve Teamwork in the Workplace. Retrieved Dec 2019, from www.snacknation.com/: https://www.snacknation.com/blog/teamwork-in-the-workplace/
Chuang, C. H. (2016). Can knowledge-intensive teamwork be managed? Examining the roles of HRM systems, leadership, and tacit knowledge. . Journal of management, 42(2), 524-554.
Dinh, J. V. (2017). Factors that influence teamwork. The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Team Working and Collaborative Processes, 13-41.
Fillis, I. (2019, December). THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a249/25292643de97035bf40b380ec3575b535c01.pdf
Lee, D. a. (2019, December). Leadership, creativity, and innovation: A critical review and practical recommendations. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324108772_Leadership_creativity_and_innovation_A_critical_review_and_practical_recommendations
Martin. (2019, December). The Innovation Process: Definition, Models, Tips. Retrieved from https://www.cleverism.com/innovation-process-definition-models-tips/
Price, H. (2019, Dec). 12 easy ways to improve workplace teamwork. Retrieved Dec 2019, from https://blog.jostle.me: https://blog.jostle.me/blog/12-easy-ways-to-improve-workplace-teamwork
Robert Half. (2019, December). How to encourage innovation in your team. Retrieved from https://www.roberthalf.co.nz/management-advice/team/encourage-innovation
Shephard, K. T. (2015). Teaching research integrity in higher education: policy and strategy. . Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 37(6), 615-632.
smash.vc. (2019, dec). Simple Strategies for Startups to Improve Teamwork. Retrieved Dec 2019, from https://smash.vc: https://smash.vc/teamwork/