Episode 127 - Better Together - Challenge and Support

<p class="p1"><strong>Summary</strong></p> <p class="p2">In teams we can take either a challenging or a supportive role, but they’re even better together.</p> <p class="p1"><strong>Transcript</strong></p> <p class="p2">Welcome to episode 127 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we are exploring how challenge and support are better together.</p> <p class="p2">When working in teams, there are two main roles we can take to improve performance and build cohesion. The first is the challenging role. This is where we focus on new ideas and efficiency, while also challenging the way things are currently done. This helps the team to find new ways and implement improvements, but it can also be confronting for those who would rather leave things the way they are which, let’s face it, is most people. The second role is supportive. Here we focus on strengthening team bonds, building trust and increasing friendly interactions within the team. This helps the team to get along and work well together, but isn’t necessarily focused on performance and improvements.</p> <p class="p2">People can take on either a challenging role or a supportive role. Some even manage to take on both. But who do we really want on our teams?</p> <p class="p2">A recent study In the Journal of Management looked at both the challenging and supportive roles people took on, and their likelihood of being chosen for new teams. The study used MBA students who had worked on team projects together and asked them to then select who they would most like to work with in a future team. Who do you think were the most popular choices?</p> <p class="p2">When people were choosing between those taking on what researchers described as a challenging voice or a supportive voice, it was the supportive people who were selected most often. As the researchers described “Having a positive reputation for good work goes a long way, but so does just being a good person. People want to work with those who they feel c