Groups vs. Teams
A leader emerges when a team gathers to accomplish any sort of objective. A handful of key principles will assist a leader to lay a good foundation for his or her personal leadership style. Understanding the difference between a group and a team will help the leader identify where the team is in the development process.
Listed below are some differences between groups and teams:
- The biggest difference is that groups are people united by a common cause, but are not productive. United by a common cause, teams work to achieve a common goal.
- Groups are motivated but directionless, whereas teams are motivated and have a clear direction, with clear goals.
- Groups mull around with no leader, with no specific role for any individual. Teams define specific roles and clear responsibilities for each member.
- A group draws individuals by their interest in a shared cause, while a team selects individuals for their skills and abilities to accomplish specific outcomes.
- Conflict will easily divide a group, whereas conflict in a team creates an environment for refined consensus and tests rapport to form trust.
- Group individuals focus on themselves, whereas teams focus on the achievement of objectives.
- External forces and influences (such as police or stadium ushers) control group discipline. Teams are responsible for their own discipline, managed intrinsically.
Using an example of a soccer match played at a local stadium will help us differentiate between groups and teams even further. Imagine you are at the stadium to support your local soccer club. In the stadium, you notice that the fans have gravitated to people who support the same club, identified by clothing, colours, or badges. People gravitate towards likeminded individuals, forming a group united by a common cause. The cause in this case is to support the local soccer club.
The fans are excited, and demonstrate it by signing team songs in chorus. The crowd is enthused and expectant. Yet, no one in the crowd has a specific role or title that relates to a function. No one appoints crowd members for their personal skills or achievements. They are there to support their team – on an emotional level. There is no leader. There is no goal or objective, but there is an expectation for the team to win.
The group gains nothing should their local club win. The group may celebrate the clubs’ success, but receives no prize and no reward for their support of the club. Once the game is over, the group will break up and disperse.
This is very different to the players on the field. The soccer players are a team, also united by a common cause, but share a common objective or vision – to win the game. The team owner approaches and employs each team member to occupy a specific position, based on skills, ability, and reputation. Each person in the team will use his or her skills to contribute to achievement of the goal. The team members collaborate and work hard to win, earning their rewards. Once the team achieves the vision, members leave to follow his or her unique path in life.
The leader guides and directs the team to win. The leader gives birth to and ensures the vision’s achievement. The leader doesn’t come from within the team’s ranks. He or she was in position before inviting members to join the team. Whether the leader was born, or made, the role of the leader is to take the team to greatness.
As a society, we owe a lot to the dreamers and to the vision-givers. The dreamer, the painter, the sculptor, the innovator, and the scientist imagine a better world in which we can all live. Their flights of fantasy give rise to progress. We live in the world the dreamers have imagined, and it is beautiful.
The imagination of dreamers has built cities, created vehicles, and invented tools. Because of the dreamer, the labourer has work and earns wages to care for his family. The dreamer imagines tomorrow, but it is the team that turns the dreamer’s vision into a reality.
When people chose to join the dreamer, to collaborate their efforts for a single vision, they lay down the tracks on which the train of civilisation runs. When people align their efforts to the vision, the team affects change. When change happens, the team’s success becomes the foundation on which the next generation builds their tomorrow.
A leader emerges when a team gathers to accomplish any sort of objective. A handful of key principles will assist a leader to lay a good foundation for his or her personal leadership style. Understanding the difference between a group and a team will help the leader identify where the team is in the development process.
Listed below are some differences between groups and teams:
- The biggest difference is that groups are people united by a common cause, but are not productive. United by a common cause, teams work to achieve a common goal.
- Groups are motivated but directionless, whereas teams are motivated and have a clear direction, with clear goals.
- Groups mull around with no leader, with no specific role for any individual. Teams define specific roles and clear responsibilities for each member.
- A group draws individuals by their interest in a shared cause, while a team selects individuals for their skills and abilities to accomplish specific outcomes.
- Conflict will easily divide a group, whereas conflict in a team creates an environment for refined consensus and tests rapport to form trust.
- Group individuals focus on themselves, whereas teams focus on the achievement of objectives.
- External forces and influences (such as police or stadium ushers) control group discipline. Teams are responsible for their own discipline, managed intrinsically.
Using an example of a soccer match played at a local stadium will help us differentiate between groups and teams even further. Imagine you are at the stadium to support your local soccer club. In the stadium, you notice that the fans have gravitated to people who support the same club, identified by clothing, colours, or badges. People gravitate towards likeminded individuals, forming a group united by a common cause. The cause in this case is to support the local soccer club.
The fans are excited, and demonstrate it by signing team songs in chorus. The crowd is enthused and expectant. Yet, no one in the crowd has a specific role or title that relates to a function. No one appoints crowd members for their personal skills or achievements. They are there to support their team – on an emotional level. There is no leader. There is no goal or objective, but there is an expectation for the team to win.
The group gains nothing should their local club win. The group may celebrate the clubs’ success, but receives no prize and no reward for their support of the club. Once the game is over, the group will break up and disperse.
This is very different to the players on the field. The soccer players are a team, also united by a common cause, but share a common objective or vision – to win the game. The team owner approaches and employs each team member to occupy a specific position, based on skills, ability, and reputation. Each person in the team will use his or her skills to contribute to achievement of the goal. The team members collaborate and work hard to win, earning their rewards. Once the team achieves the vision, members leave to follow his or her unique path in life.
The leader guides and directs the team to win. The leader gives birth to and ensures the vision’s achievement. The leader doesn’t come from within the team’s ranks. He or she was in position before inviting members to join the team. Whether the leader was born, or made, the role of the leader is to take the team to greatness.
As a society, we owe a lot to the dreamers and to the vision-givers. The dreamer, the painter, the sculptor, the innovator, and the scientist imagine a better world in which we can all live. Their flights of fantasy give rise to progress. We live in the world the dreamers have imagined, and it is beautiful.
The imagination of dreamers has built cities, created vehicles, and invented tools. Because of the dreamer, the labourer has work and earns wages to care for his family. The dreamer imagines tomorrow, but it is the team that turns the dreamer’s vision into a reality.
When people chose to join the dreamer, to collaborate their efforts for a single vision, they lay down the tracks on which the train of civilisation runs. When people align their efforts to the vision, the team affects change. When change happens, the team’s success becomes the foundation on which the next generation builds their tomorrow.
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