Team Members and Leaders

Team Members and Leaders

What is group communication? Group communication is the interaction of three or more interdependent members working to achieve a common goal (Engleberg, Wynn 2010). If we stop and think about it we are involved in group communication in a variety of settings throughout our lives. We are in groups at school, church, work, family members, friends, sports, clubs, and classrooms. Individual achievement was once the hallmark of personal success; today, success often depends on your ability to work in groups (Engleberg, Wynn 2010). The successful ability to either lead or follow within a group is a critical skill that will drive success as you steer through life. In this paper I will discuss a professional team in which I was a part of. I will discuss team member roles, group task roles, leadership within the group, and the group management method used.

Team Purpose

When a new Tier I client is signed my senior management team along with the new customer hold a planning meeting in which we discuss topics of interest that will be discussed each quarter at a Executive Steering Committee Meeting (ESCM). In that meeting we discuss the Service Level Agreement (SLA), which in most cases is written into the contract we have just signed with the customer. The SLA consists of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) we have promised to hit and potential fees at risk if we do not hit those targets. This particular meeting was the first ESCM I attended in my new role as contract manager. There were three group members who stood out from the pack and made a lasting impression. One member had the group task role of the “Clarifier-summarizer”, another the group maintenance role of “Tension releaser” and the “Group leader”.

Clarifier