Quotes from Pat MacMillan

If I had to add anything, it would be that team leadership may be the most challenging of all leadership roles. In this arena, the team leader must lay aside his or her mantle of positional leader and take on the role of a servant leader, serving the task of the team as well as the individual members.

Solid team relationships (trust, respect, acceptance, courtesy, and mutual accountability) are the glue that holds the team together.

Further, we often make the mistake of treating listening as merely waiting for our turn to talk. While other team members are making their points, we're preparing our rebuttal. It takes practice and discipline to withhold the urge to jump in with our opinion and really concentrate on what the other person is saying.

Differences in personal style can impose formidable barriers to communication.

History is clear that, in most endeavors, success is a product of uncompromising attention to purpose.

Trust is the glue in any relationship and is clearly the non-negotiable element of interdependent relationships. We will not be interdependent with those we don't trust. Trust is somewhat like a thermometer, reflecting the current state of a relationship.

Confused communication and unity of purpose cannot live together.

As a leader, remember that one of the most significant strategies for building the qualities of solid relationships into the relational fabric of the team is for you, the team leader, to model them. Let team members see them in practice.

If a person does not trust another, they will not be vulnerable and transparent and the possibility of misunderstanding and misinterpretation increases. Low trust situations weaken the connection between what we feel and what we say. Other team members pick up on this lack of trust on their intuitive radar screens, raise their defensive shields, and respond in kind. Trust and communication spiral down together.

Leadership plays a significant role in creating culture.