Leadership and Team Parameters
The explicit regulation of team parameters usually is, at least in hierarchical contexts, reserved rather exclusively for the formal leader: employment and dismissal.
The first tends to be emotionally easier, the second many find difficult. If one looks for the inner, psychological competences which people need to employ and dismiss well, one quickly finds that these demands have their challenges. For each, two particularly important ones should be named.
When employing:
- One cannot ‘merely’ decide according to one’s own preference but must keep an eye on the fit with the entire team. Therefore, one needs the ability of being able to create a relationship with very different people.
- At the beginning one must not make promises which one then cannot keep. Therefore, one requires the ability of not manipulating, even when it would be of benefit.
When dismissing:
- One must be able to hurt people that one may like. For this, one needs the competence of sympathy as well as being able to experience, at the same time, a clear ‘no’ in oneself.
- One must be able to withstand people being sad, accusing, hurt, offended, anxious, despairing, ashamed or angry, without becoming defensive, hard, unapproachable, opinionated or pseudo-appeasing.
You can see that in this position, too, no leader has yet fallen from heaven. Such abilities must be developed within oneself. However, as this frequently does not happen, much unnecessary pain, unnecessary disappointment and unnecessary revenge dynamics occur during the regulation of the team parameters.