ncfe level 2 &huwlÀfdwhlq sample … leading knowledge...emma likes challenging herself and...

Part A

NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Principles of Team Leading

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Disclaimer:This resource uses real life case studies where specifically stated and referenced. All other references to individuals, groups and companies contained within these resources are fictitious.

These learning resources and assessment questions have been approved and endorsed by NCFE as meeting the requirements of the Level 2 Certificate in Principles of Team Leading.

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Principles of Team Leading Introduction

Certificate in Principles of Team Leading

Welcome to this Level 2 Certificate in Principles of Team Leading.

As you start to read through each page you will be able to make notes and comments on things you have learnt or may want to revisit at a later stage. At the end of each section you will be asked to answer the relevant assessment questions.

Once you have answered the questions, go to the next section and continue studying until all of the assessment questions have been completed.

Please make sure that you set aside enough time to read each section carefully, making notes and completing all of the activities. This will allow you to gain a better understanding of the subject content, and will help you to answer all of the assessment questions accurately.

Good luck with your study. Now let’s begin!

We hope you find all of the information contained in this resource pack interesting and informative. This learning resource and the assessment questions have been approved by NCFE as a great way to meet the learning outcomes for this qualification. (A complete list of the learning outcomes can be found on the last page of this resource.)

The course is made up of three parts (A, B and C). This is Part A which contains two units:

UNIT 1: Principles of team leading

UNIT 2: Understand business

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Principles of Team Leading

Unit 1: Principles of team leading

Welcome to unit one.

Section 1: Understanding leadership styles in organisations

Section 2: Understanding team dynamics

Section 3: Understanding techniques used to manage the work of teams

Section 4: Understanding the impact of change management within a team

Section 5: Understanding team motivation

This unit contains five sections. These are:

Section 1: Understanding leadership styles in organisations

This section will explore the following:

• Characteristics of effective leaders

• Different leadership styles

• Ways in which leaders can motivate their teams

• The benefits of effective leadership for organisations.

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Characteristics of effective leaders

Leaders are hugely important to the success of an organisation. They set the direction for the organisation and encourage people to pull together to deliver results.

There are a huge number of different leaders in the world. From politicians and business leaders, to people who lead charities or sports teams. There are also many different ways that people fulfil the role of leader. This can make it hard to define exactly what makes a leader effective. Rather than focusing on their different styles and techniques, it can be useful to focus on what they do as a leader.

Activity 1: Effective leadersGive three examples of people who inspire you as great team leaders and explain why. Your examples can come from any area of life – such as sport, politics, culture and the arts, industry or science. However, the examples must be people who can lead others to achieve things – not just great individuals in their own right.

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STOP AND THINK!

What do you think makes a leader effective? What do they do? Use the space below to make some notes.

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Did you think of any of these characteristics?

• They lead and inspire other people

• They stand for something

• They are able to communicate with and influence others

• They take responsibility for things

• They collaborate with others

• They focus on a meaningful and ambitious goal

• They are committed to achieving their goal.

Different leadership styles

Whilst many leaders share a number of characteristics, they can also have hugely different styles. The way they approach situations and people, and what they say and do, can be very different.

Here are examples of some well known leadership styles:

• Authoritarian – Authoritarian leaders tell other people what to do and demand that they do it. They closely monitor performance and put in place negative consequences for people who do not do what they are told. This style is also sometimes known as ‘command and control’ or ‘directive’.

• Paternalistic – Paternalistic leaders assume the role of a dominant parent who looks after their employees and tells them what to do. Employees are expected to be loyal and obedient and in return the leader will look after their best interests.

• Democratic – Democratic leaders proactively engage their employees in decision making and in setting the agenda for the organisation. They encourage debate and the sharing of ideas, and allow employees a lot of freedom to organise their own work.

• Laissez-faire – Laissez-faire leaders devolve almost all decisions to their employees. They delegate tasks without providing much guidance and allow employees to decide how best to approach work, although they are available to provide guidance and support when requested.

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STOP AND THINK!

What do you think it would be like to work for a leader who follows each of the four different leadership styles? Make your notes in the space below:

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• Authoritarian

• Paternalistic

• Democratic

• Laissez-faire

More recent studies have found that the most effective leaders are able to adapt their leadership style to meet the needs of a particular situation or employee. This is known as situational leadership.

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Style Description When to use it Weaknesses

Directive Telling people what to do.

When you need immediate compliance or results.

Can create an unpleasant workplace and lead to disengagement in the long-term.

VisionarySetting a vision for the team to work towards.

When you need to align the team or set a new direction.

The leader can spend a lot of time explaining this.

Participative

Involving the team in making decisions and organising their work.

When you need to get ideas from employees, or draw on their expertise.

There sometimes isn’t time to be participative when immediate action is required.

Pacesetting

Setting high standards and role modelling great performance.

When you need to get things done quickly and accurately.

Takes up a lot of the leaders time and can disengage employees.

Coaching

Supporting employees to develop, and solve problems themselves.

To improve performance of the team over the long-term.

Can take a lot of time, not suitable in a crisis.

Affiliative

Creates harmony and builds relationships.

When you need to heal divisions within the team or when the team is under a lot of pressure or stress.

Not suitable when there is a strong need for delivery. Does not promote clarity or direction.

Key Fact

There are many ways of being an effective leader and the best leaders are responsive to the needs of the situation and their team.

The following table looks at various different leadership styles in more detail:

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Differences between leadership and management

Managers and leaders share a number of characteristics:

• They both work with people and aim to bring out the best in them

• They must both be able to communicate with others and understand their perspective

• They both have to deliver results.

Both leaders and managers are needed within an organisation, and sometimes an individual might need to demonstrate elements of both leadership and management in their role, but they are very different skills. It is possible to be an effective manager without being a good leader, and similarly, it is possible to be an effective leader without being a good manager.

Some of the main differences between leaders and managers are summarised in the table below.

Managers focus on: Leaders focus on:

• The short-term

• Goals and objectives

• Getting things done

• Asking ‘How?’

• Organising people

• Producing predictability and order

• Communication

• React to change.

• The long-term

• Visions

• Creating ideas and possibilities

• Asking ‘Why?’

• Aligning people

• Producing change

• Persuasion

• Create change.

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STOP AND THINK!

When you are at work, how much of your time do you spend being a manager and how much of your time do you spend being a leader? Note down your thoughts in the space below.

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Key Fact

Leadership and management are different skills and organisations need both leaders and managers to be effective.

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Ways in which leaders can motivate their teams

One of the key roles of a leader is to deliver results through their team. This means that they need to be able to motivate their teams to perform.

STOP AND THINK!

There are lots of ways that leaders can motivate their teams. Write down all of the ways you can think of in the space below.

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Different people will value some of these techniques more than others. For example, some people really want to be thanked and to have their effort acknowledged by their leader, whereas other people may prefer it if leaders demonstrate respect for their abilities by letting them organise their own work and delegating new tasks to them.

Did you think of any of these approaches?

• Team building

• Setting clear targets or goals

• Measuring performance

• Providing encouragement and feedback

• Rewarding good performance

• Inspiring their team

• Empowering their team

• Providing support

• Coaching individual team members

• Promoting creativity

• Providing meaningful and challenging work

• Offering training and development.

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People may have more than one thing that motivates them, but usually, they will have a principal driving force.

STOP AND THINK!

Think about the different members of your team or a team you are familiar with. Make a note of each person and what motivates them in the spaces provided.

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Team members Motivation

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Activity 2: Motivating a teamThink about each of the four case studies listed in the table and note down what you would do to motivate each team member. The first one is completed as an example for you.

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Team members Techniques for motivating them

Taban is very ambitious and is keen to develop and progress within the organisation.

Provide lots of learning opportunities, delegate new tasks to him, and have regular personal development discussions.

Emma likes challenging herself and enjoys trying new things.

James needs to feel that his work is making a difference and that his manager appreciates the effort he is putting in.

Lucy can be easily distracted and needs help to prioritise and remain focused.

Key Fact

The most effective motivational techniques are those that match the specific needs or wants of the individual.

Check your answers at the end of this workbook.

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The benefits of effective leadership for organisations

Good leaders have a huge impact on the performance of an organisation. Leaders who are able to create a strong strategic vision of the organisation and motivate and engage employees can deliver outstanding results.

One way that they do this is by creating the conditions where employees want to do their best and work harder and better, perhaps because they feel pride or loyalty towards the organisation or leader. Engaging employees in this way has been linked to a range of organisational benefits including:

• Higher productivity

• Increased profits

• Greater revenue growth

• Fewer conflicts

• More innovation

• Lower accident and sickness rates

• Lower employee turnover

• Improved customer service

• Increased efficiency.

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Activity 3: The benefits of effective leadership for organisationsDownload ‘Nailing the Evidence’ from the Engage for Success website using the link below. Make a note of some of the benefits associated with leaders who fully engage their employees.

www.engageforsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/The-Evidence.pdf

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Further Research: Engage for success

The benefits of employee engagement and the actions that individuals and organisations can take to engage employees have attracted a lot of attention in recent years. The ‘Engage for Success’ movement has emerged from government research into employee engagement and their website contains a wealth of excellent information, ideas and tools. You can access this website at: www.engageforsuccess.org

Key FactThe benefits of great leadership can be seen across a number of organisational dimensions. Together they create tangible benefits to organisational performance.

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Check your answers at the end of this workbook.

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Let’s Summarise!

Take a few minutes to answer the following questions to help you summarise what you have learnt in this section. This will help you answer the upcoming assessments.

1. Make a list of at least five things that effective leaders do.

2. Match the following leadership styles to their definitions, by drawing a line to match each style to the correct description.

3. What are the main differences between a leader and a manager?

Authoritarian They assume the role of a dominant parent who looks after their employees and tells them what to do.

Paternalistic Leaders adapt their style to meet the needs of the situation and people they are dealing with.

DemocraticThey devolve or delegate almost all decisions and work to employees, allowing them to organise their work as they think best.

Laissez-faire Leaders tell other people what to do and demand that they do it.

Situational They proactively engage their employees in decision making and setting the agenda for the organisation.

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4. List three ways that a leader could motivate their team.

5. Tick all of the benefits below that have been associated with effective leadership.

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CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE NOW COMPLETED SECTION 1. PLEASE NOW GO TO YOUR ASSESSMENTS AND

ANSWER QUESTIONS Q1 TO Q4.

Check your answers by looking back over this section.

Higher productivity

Increased profits

Greater revenue growth

Fewer conflicts

More innovation

Lower accident and sickness rates

Lower employee turnover

Improved customer service

Increased efficiency.

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ncfe level 2 &huwlÀfdwhlq sample … leading knowledge...emma likes challenging herself and...

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