Team roles can be related either to the type of activity and to the needed qualification, or the personality and characteristic behaviour. It is crucial to comprehend the essential peculiarities of the people in the team to match them successfully to their function. That will lead to high efficiency and productivity. Besides, if everyone has found their calling, their internal motivation will push the organization’s results high and above. 

There are four main role choices in a team.

  1. The leader – This is the person who gives the vision of the team, who sets the terms, the scope, and the type of work. This person also has a motivational function – when people are discouraged, they have to inspire them, to be an unbiased mediator when personal or professional issues occur. The leader sets guiding rules for working in the group, for building relations between each other in the business environment, for communication with other departments. The leader has to introduce precise goals, draw the roadmap for achieving them, provide continuous feedback on the progress. At the same time, the leader is a representative of the whole team, of its spirit and energy.
  2. Facilitator – This is usually a person who has no official leadership authority. However, he helps the team arrive at decisions and work for solutions. The facilitator supports people on their way to understanding and achieving the goals. In some organisations, the role of facilitator and leader may be covered by the same person.
  3. Coach – The coaching is individual training. If there are some issues with people in the team or a serious obstacle to teamwork, the coach is the right person to unfasten the knot. This person could be the same as the team leader, too. The role is supportive. The GROW coaching model will help you understand better the concept. Here G stays for goal, R – for reality, O – for obstacles and W is for a way forward. So, you have to understand:

# What is the purpose? What is the first goal the team wants to achieve?

# What is the current reality? Where does your team stay today?

# What are the challenges for the team?

# How can these specific limitations be removed?

  1. Members – They participate in the whole team activity, do whatever it takes – directly assigned tasks or personally initiated and coordinated ones – to achieve the team’s goals, they actively contribute to brainstorming and generating ideas. The role is extremely creative. From these team members come the rhythm of the business, here lies its essence. Whether the energy of the proposals will be mastered and the project – developed in an effective way, depends on the other three roles.

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While working, a person could become a natural leader, and the facilitator, for example, can give a brilliant idea, even though he is not assigned a member role. The division between roles should not be too formal. For a team to be effective, everyone on it must recognise the goal. Let it not just be a value, a number, an unreal dream, but a symbolic peak. Depending on your team role, provide the equipment to conquer it, give water to the climbers, take care of their emotional balance, or propose easier paths.

Read more:

Kanban vs Scrum

Idea Management Tools – Part II