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A Team of Leaders: Empowering Every Member to Take Ownership, Demonstrate Initiative, and Deliver Results
The fresh approach taught in this indispensable guide will transform passive groups of disparate people into the effective teams of leaders you didn’t know was possible to have.
Every team needs a leader, but why do we often think that means the appropriate workplace team needs to consist of one gem of a worker complemented with a bunch of obedient order-takers and yes men? What if the complementary fits between the team members were not with how well they performed the tasks handed down to them but with how they all used their unique strengths to share knowledge, push the envelope, and lead together?
The authors behind A Team of Leaders explain how the key to your company’s success is creating successful teams of leaders combining their individual talents and strengths into a single, unstoppable driving force.
The proven principles and techniques within these invaluable pages
The Five-Stage Team Development Model that maps the transition from traditional to self-directed teamsBest practices in team process designA Team Value Creation Tool that allows members to appreciate the significance of what they contribute each dayVisual Management and moreA Team of Leaders shows you how to design systems within your organization and management procedures that nurture the leadership potential of every employee, not just the ones they ear-marked as having potential for promotion.
Every team needs a leader, but why do we often think that means the appropriate workplace team needs to consist of one gem of a worker complemented with a bunch of obedient order-takers and yes men? What if the complementary fits between the team members were not with how well they performed the tasks handed down to them but with how they all used their unique strengths to share knowledge, push the envelope, and lead together?
The authors behind A Team of Leaders explain how the key to your company’s success is creating successful teams of leaders combining their individual talents and strengths into a single, unstoppable driving force.
The proven principles and techniques within these invaluable pages
The Five-Stage Team Development Model that maps the transition from traditional to self-directed teamsBest practices in team process designA Team Value Creation Tool that allows members to appreciate the significance of what they contribute each dayVisual Management and moreA Team of Leaders shows you how to design systems within your organization and management procedures that nurture the leadership potential of every employee, not just the ones they ear-marked as having potential for promotion.
226 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 20, 2014
84 people are currently reading
456 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 19, 2015
I couldn’t recommend this book more highly. As an organizational professional, I’ve read a lot of management books that I’ve never picked up again. “Team of Leaders” is a book you will want to keep on your 'ready reference' shelf, and also get an extra 'loaner' copy, because as you start understanding and applying it, you'll want to share it with everyone.
Here’s why:
1. It will help you create great places for people to work. I loved Paul's epilogue, where he talked about the 'why' for him in writing this book – in watching his own father’s challenging work experiences, he decided that his purpose in life would be to help create great places for people to work. I love that he doesn’t limit the application to corporate environments alone. He frequently cites examples from non-profits, families, churches - anyplace where people need to work together to accomplish great things. In an execution and 'do it now' focused society, leaders often blow right past talking about (let alone implementing) good design principles. Often, it’s simply because they don’t have the know-how or tools to make it happen. Paul and Stew demystify these principles in a very practical and motivational way.
2. It teaches you a very systematic, clear way to think about teams. I had so many light bulbs go on while reading this book about the teams I currently work with. Paul appropriately warns that you won’t be able to implement it all at once, but that understanding the complete roadmap is key to knowing where to start. I immediately shared it with the leader of a non-profit I’m part of. She bought a copy and started reading it right away. The next week, we met as a team and started talking about which stage we were in (stage 2) and outlined steps about how to move to the next level. She began some very strategic shifts in how we operated. While not everyone was excited about it at first, they saw the sincerity of the leader to help them develop their own leadership abilities, and really responded to that. It was so exciting. We know it won’t be easy to get to stage 5, but now our goal is clear and the tools to make it happen are available. A huge success already!
3. It is a treasure trove of tools for building excellent teams. Many books on team building that I have read are more motivational than they are practical. Here, Paul and Stew do an excellent job of describing not only the why and what, but a big chunk of the how. The beginning of the book gives vivid examples of what a stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 team look like, and then discloses all the design secrets about how and why those teams are they way they are. Then it moves to how you implement processes to keep things working smoothly after the design is complete. And then, how to assess the value your team is creating and continue growing (knowledge management). Finally, the visual management chapter is truly the icing on the cake as it gives some wonderful secrets to engaging a team visually. You could pay some serious money and spend months of many people’s time working with a consultant to figure out these insights (and still maybe never get there), or you could have it all in your hands, neatly packed into one handy book.
From a personal standpoint:
- I can attest firsthand, as I have been privileged to have used Paul's model both as a consultant in the for-profit and non-profit world, as well as in my own family, that IT WORKS. I can't count the number of times I've quoted Paul in saying "organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get." People always think I'm really intelligent when I say that!
- My husband and I attended a seminar where Paul spoke about how to implement the principles in Team of Leaders in a family environment, and we immediately starting implementing some of the insights in how our family does work around the home (ask my kids in a few months how it's working - as a mom, I'm loving it :)
- My dad read the book over Thanksgiving break when he came to visit. He is a leader in a scouting organization and was really excited to start implementing it in his scouting unit.
- In particular, I have used the models and principles in the “secrets of great design” chapter about state changes time and again with various organizations, and I feel like it has enabled me to, as Paul does, help create greater places for people to work, with higher functioning teams. It’s certainly not 'easy' to implement, but then great accomplishments are never easy.
Here’s why:
1. It will help you create great places for people to work. I loved Paul's epilogue, where he talked about the 'why' for him in writing this book – in watching his own father’s challenging work experiences, he decided that his purpose in life would be to help create great places for people to work. I love that he doesn’t limit the application to corporate environments alone. He frequently cites examples from non-profits, families, churches - anyplace where people need to work together to accomplish great things. In an execution and 'do it now' focused society, leaders often blow right past talking about (let alone implementing) good design principles. Often, it’s simply because they don’t have the know-how or tools to make it happen. Paul and Stew demystify these principles in a very practical and motivational way.
2. It teaches you a very systematic, clear way to think about teams. I had so many light bulbs go on while reading this book about the teams I currently work with. Paul appropriately warns that you won’t be able to implement it all at once, but that understanding the complete roadmap is key to knowing where to start. I immediately shared it with the leader of a non-profit I’m part of. She bought a copy and started reading it right away. The next week, we met as a team and started talking about which stage we were in (stage 2) and outlined steps about how to move to the next level. She began some very strategic shifts in how we operated. While not everyone was excited about it at first, they saw the sincerity of the leader to help them develop their own leadership abilities, and really responded to that. It was so exciting. We know it won’t be easy to get to stage 5, but now our goal is clear and the tools to make it happen are available. A huge success already!
3. It is a treasure trove of tools for building excellent teams. Many books on team building that I have read are more motivational than they are practical. Here, Paul and Stew do an excellent job of describing not only the why and what, but a big chunk of the how. The beginning of the book gives vivid examples of what a stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 team look like, and then discloses all the design secrets about how and why those teams are they way they are. Then it moves to how you implement processes to keep things working smoothly after the design is complete. And then, how to assess the value your team is creating and continue growing (knowledge management). Finally, the visual management chapter is truly the icing on the cake as it gives some wonderful secrets to engaging a team visually. You could pay some serious money and spend months of many people’s time working with a consultant to figure out these insights (and still maybe never get there), or you could have it all in your hands, neatly packed into one handy book.
From a personal standpoint:
- I can attest firsthand, as I have been privileged to have used Paul's model both as a consultant in the for-profit and non-profit world, as well as in my own family, that IT WORKS. I can't count the number of times I've quoted Paul in saying "organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get." People always think I'm really intelligent when I say that!
- My husband and I attended a seminar where Paul spoke about how to implement the principles in Team of Leaders in a family environment, and we immediately starting implementing some of the insights in how our family does work around the home (ask my kids in a few months how it's working - as a mom, I'm loving it :)
- My dad read the book over Thanksgiving break when he came to visit. He is a leader in a scouting organization and was really excited to start implementing it in his scouting unit.
- In particular, I have used the models and principles in the “secrets of great design” chapter about state changes time and again with various organizations, and I feel like it has enabled me to, as Paul does, help create greater places for people to work, with higher functioning teams. It’s certainly not 'easy' to implement, but then great accomplishments are never easy.
April 11, 2014
For anyone working in any type of management position this is a must read. The 5 stage team development model has been a guiding principle in my work and proven extremely valuable.
Teams are perfectly designed to get the results they get, this book helps you design systems and processes to get the results you want. Taking the time will be a great investment!
Teams are perfectly designed to get the results they get, this book helps you design systems and processes to get the results you want. Taking the time will be a great investment!
April 19, 2014
This is the second book I have read by Gustavson. He has great ideas and has had a significant impact on many organizations. To me this book is more about creating an environment where a team a leaders can flourish rather than how to create a team of leaders. I think of it in terms of planting a garden. The gardener really has no control over why a seed sprouts and grows, the gardener can only control the soil, the water, and make sure the plant gets the right amount of sunshine. Like plants, people will grow and amaze you if given the right environment.
The challenge of this book is that it has a hundred things to do. Each chapter has lists of ways to help grow teams of leaders. You have to pick and choose what you think might work for your team. It can be a bit overwhelming.
Bottom line, it is worth your time to get a copy and read it. Pick the things that you can implement and start to grow your team of leaders. Note: the index in the back does not work on the Kindle version.
The challenge of this book is that it has a hundred things to do. Each chapter has lists of ways to help grow teams of leaders. You have to pick and choose what you think might work for your team. It can be a bit overwhelming.
Bottom line, it is worth your time to get a copy and read it. Pick the things that you can implement and start to grow your team of leaders. Note: the index in the back does not work on the Kindle version.
November 16, 2018
Organizations often struggle with employees making decisions on their own because either the employee does not have the knowledge or understanding to make informed decisions or leaders don’t trust the employees to make decisions on their own. The lack of knowledge or trust can lead to employees feeling as though they are being micromanaged and leaders feeling as though their workforce is not competent. Instead of the environment where the supervisor tries to get everyone to produce, the environment should be one in which everyone works together, takes the initiative, assumes ownership, is willing to deal with difficult issues, and accepts accountability for the team’s results.
A Team of Leaders helps to address these concerns by providing a framework that leaders can to nurture the leadership potential in their employees and build a self-managed team of employees working toward a common goal, whose members identify, plan, and manage their daily activities and work under limited or no supervision.
How do you build a team of leaders? The authors developed the Five-Stage Team Development Model which identifies the five distinct stages of team development:
• Stage One: Being Directive – team members receive assignments and follow orders. Leader’s role is traditional with one-on-one interactions with each member of the team.
• Stage Two: Journey Starts – employees begin to interact with each other and start to learn new team processes. Supervisor begins to coach and develop the team and the team members.
• Stage Three: Progress – leadership begins to be shared with a few team members step up providing leadership on tasks and assignments. Supervisor continues to lead on most of the leadership activities and providing coaching to team members who have assumed leadership responsibilities.
• Stage Four: Almost There – leadership is shared with most team members taking responsibility for most of the leadership activities. Leader plays the role of coach to team members, becomes involves with high-value work outside the team, and begins transitioning difficult people issues to the team.
• Stage Five: Everyone a Leader – all leadership tasks are led by the team members, many leading multiple activities and leaders on all issues, and performance is pushed to the next level. Leader becomes advisor to the team, remains the person to team reports to for accountability, and contributes to the organization by focusing on higher-level work and managing multiple teams.
To build a team of leaders, you must consider the following key principles discussed in the remainder of the book:
• Team design – for everyone to become a leader, the team’s management systems and design choices must be designed, aligned, and properly implemented.
• Team processes – all your processes must support the goal of making everyone a leader.
• Team Value Creation Model – people are much more likely to become leaders if they understand the value they contribute to the team.
• Developing and managing knowledge – to build leaders, you must determine the knowledge they need, decide how to acquire it, and then manage its distribution.
• Visual management – visual management, also known as visual performance management, is a program that uses the senses to reinforce the previously described principles, drive performance, and build future leaders.
The main takeaway from the book is that building a team of leaders cannot be done overnight. Leaders must be patient and understand that it can years for a team to progress from one stage to the next. Understanding which stage your team is at today can help you develop a strategy for moving your team to the next level.
You can complete the A Team of Leaders Assessment (link below) to determine where your team is at in the Five-Stage Team Development Model and receive a free leadership report.
You can also download a free chapter from the book and find other resources by visiting www.ateamofleaders.com.
A Team of Leaders Assessment: https://survey.qualtrics.com/jfe/form...
A Team of Leaders helps to address these concerns by providing a framework that leaders can to nurture the leadership potential in their employees and build a self-managed team of employees working toward a common goal, whose members identify, plan, and manage their daily activities and work under limited or no supervision.
How do you build a team of leaders? The authors developed the Five-Stage Team Development Model which identifies the five distinct stages of team development:
• Stage One: Being Directive – team members receive assignments and follow orders. Leader’s role is traditional with one-on-one interactions with each member of the team.
• Stage Two: Journey Starts – employees begin to interact with each other and start to learn new team processes. Supervisor begins to coach and develop the team and the team members.
• Stage Three: Progress – leadership begins to be shared with a few team members step up providing leadership on tasks and assignments. Supervisor continues to lead on most of the leadership activities and providing coaching to team members who have assumed leadership responsibilities.
• Stage Four: Almost There – leadership is shared with most team members taking responsibility for most of the leadership activities. Leader plays the role of coach to team members, becomes involves with high-value work outside the team, and begins transitioning difficult people issues to the team.
• Stage Five: Everyone a Leader – all leadership tasks are led by the team members, many leading multiple activities and leaders on all issues, and performance is pushed to the next level. Leader becomes advisor to the team, remains the person to team reports to for accountability, and contributes to the organization by focusing on higher-level work and managing multiple teams.
To build a team of leaders, you must consider the following key principles discussed in the remainder of the book:
• Team design – for everyone to become a leader, the team’s management systems and design choices must be designed, aligned, and properly implemented.
• Team processes – all your processes must support the goal of making everyone a leader.
• Team Value Creation Model – people are much more likely to become leaders if they understand the value they contribute to the team.
• Developing and managing knowledge – to build leaders, you must determine the knowledge they need, decide how to acquire it, and then manage its distribution.
• Visual management – visual management, also known as visual performance management, is a program that uses the senses to reinforce the previously described principles, drive performance, and build future leaders.
The main takeaway from the book is that building a team of leaders cannot be done overnight. Leaders must be patient and understand that it can years for a team to progress from one stage to the next. Understanding which stage your team is at today can help you develop a strategy for moving your team to the next level.
You can complete the A Team of Leaders Assessment (link below) to determine where your team is at in the Five-Stage Team Development Model and receive a free leadership report.
You can also download a free chapter from the book and find other resources by visiting www.ateamofleaders.com.
A Team of Leaders Assessment: https://survey.qualtrics.com/jfe/form...
March 23, 2025
'A Team of Leaders' relies on the premise that high impact teams are comprised of leaders: people who take initiative, accountability, and work together to create a motivating and psychologically safe environment where people can collaborate with a high degree of confidence and trust in one another.
The framework the author introduces boils down to training members of the team to become more and more autonomous, relying on delegation initially, and coaching throughout. In an ideal situation, that would mean that the lead frees up a lot of their time in order to deal with aspects outside of the team and continue growing their skill set too.
For me, this wasn't groundbreaking. I see the job of leaders to be specifically that: make teams autonomous and resilient, essentially making themselves redundant. The method that Paul Gustavson suggests is intuitive, so if you have put any thought into the how of the journey, there will be no surprises here. I also thought the examples were repetitive and exhausting to read through by being virtually identical. I did like that he emphasised that this is not an easy path: your managers and your team will doubt you, especially if they haven't seen high-performant teams before and have trouble identifying the potential for leadership in non-managers.
What is at the heart of it? Trust. Trust that you hired capable people. Trust that people can take ownership of their work. Trust that people can grow. Trust that people can adapt to change. And trust that given extra responsibility, people will rise to the occasion.
The framework the author introduces boils down to training members of the team to become more and more autonomous, relying on delegation initially, and coaching throughout. In an ideal situation, that would mean that the lead frees up a lot of their time in order to deal with aspects outside of the team and continue growing their skill set too.
For me, this wasn't groundbreaking. I see the job of leaders to be specifically that: make teams autonomous and resilient, essentially making themselves redundant. The method that Paul Gustavson suggests is intuitive, so if you have put any thought into the how of the journey, there will be no surprises here. I also thought the examples were repetitive and exhausting to read through by being virtually identical. I did like that he emphasised that this is not an easy path: your managers and your team will doubt you, especially if they haven't seen high-performant teams before and have trouble identifying the potential for leadership in non-managers.
What is at the heart of it? Trust. Trust that you hired capable people. Trust that people can take ownership of their work. Trust that people can grow. Trust that people can adapt to change. And trust that given extra responsibility, people will rise to the occasion.
August 10, 2020
Paul Gustafson's book definitely opened up a wide understanding of my team functionalities, the success road maps as well as the challenges currently faced. Excellent organisations promote leadership values for all its teams regardless and Paul to a large extent did justice to this view.
The Power of visualisation and the team value creation model were my biggest take homes of all models brought forward.
Pity the book didn't do much justice on coming up with new ways of changing the old culture to the desired ones. Also his views lay more on the management's role to achieve the desired dream team at stage 5, a perspective on the employees roles to support management in this drive would have enlightened us a little bit more.
Generally a good read.
The Power of visualisation and the team value creation model were my biggest take homes of all models brought forward.
Pity the book didn't do much justice on coming up with new ways of changing the old culture to the desired ones. Also his views lay more on the management's role to achieve the desired dream team at stage 5, a perspective on the employees roles to support management in this drive would have enlightened us a little bit more.
Generally a good read.
August 23, 2020
The book generically touched on every aspects of being the team leader, and how the leader ought to use goals, system, process, knowledge management, performance management etc to enable the team to all act like a leader. I feel that it is a refresh of many things that I read before but I feel it lacks a focal point. It will help first time people manager / team leader though.
April 15, 2014
What separates good teams from great teams is when every member of the team is a leader. In this insightful book authors Paul Gustavson and Stewart Liff identify key principles in creating a team of leaders in any organization. These helpful tools can not only be applied in business, but can be used by coaches, communities and families.
Teams are perfectly organized to get the results they are getting. Are you happy with your results? Do you see room for improvement? A Team of Leaders helps organizations identify ways to improve regardless of where they are on a scale of effectiveness. Low functioning 'Level 1' teams can become high functioning and engaged 'Level 5' teams following the simple principles outlined in the book.
Using stories from their decades of experience the authors share insights into how companies have adopted these principles on their way to greater success. A Team of Leaders is not only for the manager but every member of the team. I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
Teams are perfectly organized to get the results they are getting. Are you happy with your results? Do you see room for improvement? A Team of Leaders helps organizations identify ways to improve regardless of where they are on a scale of effectiveness. Low functioning 'Level 1' teams can become high functioning and engaged 'Level 5' teams following the simple principles outlined in the book.
Using stories from their decades of experience the authors share insights into how companies have adopted these principles on their way to greater success. A Team of Leaders is not only for the manager but every member of the team. I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
May 13, 2014
A very important book for those who work in teams and they are leaders too, the technique given in this book is very much effective, specially 5 stage team development model.And the most important for leaders "How to get most from employees" a very corporate influence, methods which if applied by Leaders will surely be the most effective one.
February 9, 2016
If you want a handbook on leadership, this is the one. Such a great tool to help your team become self-reliant and empowered. A must read.
April 26, 2015
Make your employees independent to unlock more productivity
January 11, 2021
Great book on management style.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews