Starting a Team
In this assignment, you need to complete a team assignment, with a group of four to five people of your choice. The purpose of your team assignment is to experience working in a group and to apply very specific concepts you are learning about leadership to this experience. This week, you will choose to form a group or you will select the team to join. Each week, you will be asked to perform specific tasks or analyses in your team. It is suggested you read ahead and look at the upcoming assignments to ensure your success with this important assignment.
For your first assignment:
I. Select one of the two options below:
A. Join a team already formed and operating in your place of work or community.
Examples:
Join a United Way committee, quality improvement team, or other task force at work
Join a church group, scouts, or other club/organization in your community
Volunteer at a homeless shelter, humane society, or other community non-profit organization
II. OR
A. Form a team of three to five members to change something either at work or in your community.
Examples:
Establish a new procedure or improve a current one, create a newsletter, or other special task force at work
Coordinate a community fundraiser, a neighborhood watch, or fundraiser/yardsale
III. Based on the option you selected, answer the following questions:
What is the purpose of the team? Who are the members in your team with whom you will interact during this course?
Do you already interact with these people? If so, do you typically act in a leadership role with these individuals or non-leadership role? What role are you taking in this assignment? (It is recommended you switch to a role you do not usually have. This will give you a different and more meaningful learning experience).
What will your role be in this group? What characteristics of effective leaders do you hope to practice? Since leadership is about influencing change toward a common goal, what change will you try to influence?
From the South University Online Library or the Internet, review seven habits of a successful leader by Stephen Covey (1990). How will you incorporate these habits in your leadership approach?
When thinking about the dissonant and resonant leader styles, which is the most appropriate to use in this group and why? Would you possibly have to use both?
Submit your answers in a 3- to 4-page Microsoft Word document.