Strategic Leadership Teams & Making Strategy a Learning Process
Strategic leadership involves the responsibility setting visions, aligning and deploying all organization resources towards the achievement of organizational goals. In my experience managing people in groups and other forums, various challenges develop especially arguments, disagreements and time wastage. However, in the long-run small groups when well managed are more productive than an individual making all the decisions alone. Freedman, M., & Tregoe, B. B. (2003)
Advantages of an SLT in Relation to Individual Leadership
Strategic learning teams have been used especially in the training process of human resource planning in cases where experienced personnel are deployed into strategic learning teams to share their knowledge with the trainees therefore making training and development easier.
In an organization, managers employ learning teams to develop new skills in their workforce and to share ideas that ensure that all the team members get the same information first hand. This technique of strategic learning teams as it gives the employees a sense of autonomy.
Disadvantages of an SLT in Relation to Individual Leadership
In my experience with learning teams, the team is overwhelmed with ideas and therefore a lot of time is wasted in arguments. Sometimes other team members do not contribute any ideas thus making the team counter-productive.
Strategic learning teams give a platform for one member of the group to give themselves the boss role. These self-proclaimed titles make the group very slow especially when quick decision-making is needed in an organization.
According to Freedman, M., & Tregoe, B. B. (2003), Strategic leadership and strategic learning teams are used mostly in the training and development of new staff, in the training and implementation of new styles into the organization, and especially in the operation of new machinery/ technology . The manager trains a specific group of people and uses them as the strategic leaders in the strategic learning teams to integrate the workforce into the action plan of the organization. Collins, J. C. (2001).
References
Collins, J. C. (2001). Good to great: why some companies make the leap--and others don't. New York, NY: HarperBusiness
Freedman, M., & Tregoe, B. B. (2003). The art and discipline of strategic leadership. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hughes, R. L., & Beatty, K. C. (2005). Becoming a strategic leader your role in your organization's enduring success. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
