¶ … Teams Over the last several years, the role of leadership delegation has been increasingly brought to the forefront. This is because of the continuing need to use these skills sets in achieving critical objectives. According to Lussier (2010) this is an essential tool that is utilized as a part of their position with him saying, "To execute both roles effectively is a challenge. It is not an easy task, given the high potential for conflicts and ambiguities. Leaders are held responsible for everything that happens in work unit. Yet, they are also required to delegate considerable responsibility and authority to their followers to empower them in resolving problems on their own. In effect, leaders are asked to train and develop followers, who may eventually want the leader's job." (Lussier 2010)

Over the long-term, this allows organizations to train other individuals who can easily fill these roles. This makes them stronger and more capable of adapting to a variety of challenges they are facing in the global marketplace. To fully understand the importance of these tools requires examining the role of effective delegation of key tasks to team members. Together, these elements will offer specific insights that will highlight the significance of these techniques in reaching critical organizational objectives. (Lussier 2010)

According to Lussier, delegation is occurring more frequently inside the workplace. This is because managers have more responsibilities, less time and must use the skills of employees to evolve with critical challenges. As a result, delegation of authority has become more frequently utilized by various organizations to accomplish these goals. This means that today's leaders must be using tactics that will encourage and enhance these practices. (Lussier 2010)

The best way to reach these benchmarks is to focus on a number of critical areas that will enhance leadership skills. The most notable include: setting the example, having strong communication and meeting the needs of employees. The combination of these factors can help firms to create an atmosphere that is flexible enough to evolve with various issues.

Setting the example is when the leadership will engage in actions that will show how they are supporting the policies, procedures and behaviors of the firm. This is used by employees to determine what kind of attitudes should be embraced. For example, Bass (1990) concluded that a transformational leadership is considered to be to controlling. As the management will impose polices that are not seen as fair and engage in activities that hurt the interests of the firm. This is because they are behaving in a way that is supporting their own self-interest vs. those of the company. When employees see this, they will often focus on how supervisors will only become involved when something is wrong. While, the rest of the time they are not interacting with staff members (which enhances these negative perceptions). (Bass 1990)

Evidence of this can be seen with Bass saying, "Transactional leadership is a prescription for mediocrity. This is particularly true if the leader is relying on passive management techniques such as intervening only when polices, standards or objectives are not being met. They may use disciplinary procedures to enforce compliance. A technique that is ineffective and doomed to fail over the long run. Moreover, avoidance techniques and the promises of rewards can only be so effective in reaching out to staff members." (Bass 1990)

As a result, Bass believes that a transformational leadership style should be utilized. This is because it has been shown to empower employees to think creatively. The way that this is accomplished is to have them involved in the process by performing various tasks and giving them new responsibilities. This empowers the individual to think creative and provide upper management with critical ideas that will help to keep the firm competitive over the long-term. (Bass 1990)

For example, in the mid 2000s Google was facing tremendous challenges with competitors creating platforms that mirrored Ad Words. This a marketing program which allowed business to target consumers based on the keywords they used in the search for various items online. The problem was that others were using a similar approach, which was slowly taking market share away from the company. (Rad 2010)

To prevent this, Google rolled out a new application that was more focused on showing individual ads based upon where someone visits online. This is raised privacy concerns about tracking someone over the Internet. However, if the firm did not roll out this kind of a program, there was a chance that they could fall behind competitors inside the marketplace. In 2009, the company announced that this was going to become...

The results are that this has transformed they way advertisers are reaching out to clients by providing them with specific information. This reduces their costs and it is streamlining productivity. (Rad 2010)
What helped executives to change their approach is the transformational leadership style. This occurred by them setting the example and showing employees how anything was possible. The only way that that was achieved is by working with everyone to address critical challenges impacting the firm. Over the course of time, this created an atmosphere where everyone was willing to share their ideas to benefit the company. (Rad 2010)

What helped to make the firm so successful was the fact that managers built a different kind of relationship with staff members. This meant setting the example and engaging in consistent actions. That will support empowering behaviors and ideas. It is at this point that managers can delegate various responsibilities for employees to perform and have them successfully achieve these objectives. In this aspect, leadership is critical for establishing practices which are empowering for everyone. (Rad 2010)

Having effective communication is helping to enhance areas of specialization. This is because team members will develop confidence and support for the activities of each other. Those who have a history of working together will have a sense of confidence and trust in their abilities. Over the course of time, this enhances their performance and capacity to troubleshoot a variety of challenges. (Chong 2007)

Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Chong (2007) who said, "There are differences in behaviors of team members when classified according to team performance. These can be associated with the stages of team development. The high performing teams are associated with the 'team trust' and 'team dynamics' stages of development. Further research is required to establish definitive behaviors characterizing the team development stages." This is illustrating how teams which have been working together are more capable of dealing with a variety of challenges. The main reasons are from their experience, relationship with each other and confidence in different members. (Chong 2007)

Leadership delegation makes this possible by forcing everyone to think creatively in helping to address critical challenges. When this happens, they will have greater responsibilities and must coordinate. Communication is playing a central role in addressing misunderstandings and ensuring that everyone is focused on reaching the same objectives. This allows managers to effectively streamline their time and concentrate on improving productivity. (Chong 2007)

In the case of Google, this is occurring with company using different solutions to communicate with employees. For example, the firm is utilizing a schedule that allows the individual to determine when they will work. This is provided that they are continually meeting key benchmarks established by executives. In a number of cases, many employees can work from home and telecommute to various meetings via online conferencing. This allows them to create the projects on a schedule that is most convenient for them and it is improving communication. (Girrard 2009)

The basic approach ensures that the Google can delegate authority to employees and create procedures for monitoring their productivity. This helps the company to increase the number of functions they perform and more effectively meet the needs of stakeholders. Moreover, this is ensuring that the employees have a forum for making certain their voices are heard. This means that any kind of issues can be addressed and new ideas implemented into different practices. It is at this point that the company can meet the demand of stakeholders and achieve critical objectives in the process. (Girrard 2009)

Meeting the needs of employees is when firms are focused on what is important to them and then begins addressing all of these issues. This helps them work harder and more creatively (based upon the improved benefits they are receiving). At which point, the company will ask more of the employees. This is achieved by delegating greater responsibilities and practices onto them. Then, they are having a discussion with the individual about their performance and the best ways to improve it. (Jones 2001)

This gives firms the ability to attract and retain the best individuals, who are motivated to do more with their lives. These desires are harnessed to enhance performance and collaboration on an organizational level. When this happens, teams can be created which are focused on achieving common objectives, trust and working together. It is at this point that they will evolve with new challenges…