Leadership and teamwork
Leadership and teamwork are essential components of the business environment because they ensure effective communication in the workplace. These two concepts significantly affect the ability of a company to achieve its mission and corporate targets. As such, organizations need effective facilitators to ensure that everyone in the team has a sense of shared vision and commitment towards attaining the same goals. Leaders should have excellent listening and communication skills, among other facilitation skills to help build and inspire a group of followers in an attempt to create effective teamwork.
Cufaude’s article emphasizes the need for a greater collaboration in today’s workplaces, where diversity remains a serious concern for organizations. As such, the author elaborates on the role of facilitative leadership in managing and controlling multi-functional teams aimed to maximize others’ contributions. In this regard, the article focuses on group dynamics by demonstrating that leadership is a link between managers and employees.
Moreover, the author recognizes the fundamental difference between leadership and management. He encourages contemporary leadership to embrace both to maximize employees’ potential, skills, and competencies. In other words, facilitative leadership engages employees by leveraging their talents and contributions. Facilitative leaders help guide a team of workers by listening to their concerns and incorporating such into the decision-making. For this reason, they must understand the dynamics of a diverse group by effectively communicating the strategic plans to them. Through honest conversations, employers can feel a sense of identity and recognition within the company.
Cafaude also argues that facilitative leaders should play a critical role in the success of the organization. They facilitate learning and teamwork in the workplace. However, he does not emphasize the time and commitment needed to build a team with a strong identity. Besides, the author acknowledges that sometimes teamwork reduces individual creativity and productivity. Based on this fact, he encourages employee-based coaching strategies to boost performance. Cafaude advocates for employee engagement and distribution of responsibilities to prevent workers from depending on teamwork.
In conclusion, the article highlights the principles of facilitative leadership and their roles in corporate communication. Cafaude uses a straightforward approach to demonstrate how leaders can maximize employees’ skills, competencies, and contributions to achieve predetermined goals. However, he emphasizes coaching and employee engagement as critical factors in building effective teamwork because they reduce any form of dependency in the workplace.