Team leader

A team leader is someone (or in certain cases there may be multiple team leaders) who provides guidance, instruction, direction, leadership to a group of other individuals (the team) for the purpose of achieving a key result or group of aligned results. The team-leader monitors the quantitative and qualitative result that is to be achieved. The leader works with the team membership.

It is often important to note that the team membership may not directly report or answer to the team-leader, (who is very often a senior member of the organization but may or may not be a manager) but would be expected to provide support to the team leader and other team members in achieving the team's goals. A good team leader listens constructively to the membership and to the customer(s) of the results that the team is charged with delivering.

A good team leader prioritizes issues that need to be tackled and helps to identify responsible members within the team to carry out those tasks. A good team leader will coach, direct, support or delegate as is appropriate, the individual members in order that they are best enabled to deliver the necessary results. Regular reviews are held depending on the nature of the issue that the team is responsible for.

A team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks. A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize his or her strengths and minimize his or her weaknesses. A group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. By this definition, society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller.