So what are the challenges involved in managing creative teams? I'd say the greatest difficulty of the model is building the team and keeping it firing on all cylinders- sustainability. So the internal relationships come to mind first. Human nature would require that each sacrifice for the good of the others on the team, so maturity is required. The issue that arises from time to time is that if one individual has a morale problem, it can affect the whole team and yield gridlock quickly. Remediation for that type of team member can take incredible time and emotional energy to accomplish.
Next issue would be how the team deals with change- what happens when redirection is necessary- who takes the lead on refocusing the team after setbacks? Flip side of this is how do you foster innovation and keep from becoming stagnant? How does the team deal with change of the landscape that comes with growth or dimunition?
The other problem is when you finally have to take someone off the bus after they will not go quietly into that good night. This can be personally painful, especially if you have invested love and energy into their success.
I've been at all levels of the team oriented model and have had the attitude of meeting whatever needs came to my attention- that of completer; the completer cannot do what someone else can lest he impinge upon the others' area of responsibility. Completers keep the team functioning and have to be able to wear many (and sometimes unseen) hats. My best contribution probably would be that of discerning the outcomes and anticipating potential problems of decisions before they happen.
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