Leadership in Action: Out in the Open: How Team Leaders Can Deal with Sensitive Issues

BECOME AWARE

To deal with a sensitive issue, leaders must begin with an awareness that something relevant to the functioning of the team is occurring. There are several potential sources of this type of awareness. One is team performance regarding established goals. Most teams establish goals and set interim milestones, and team members continually or periodically check on these goals and milestones to determine whether the team is making progress. Team maintenance and team learning goals, in addition to the more task-focused goals set by the organization, are particularly useful. Monitoring these metrics helps team leaders determine whether the team is working effectively, both at the moment and over time.

Additionally, the conceptual and experience-based ...