There is a role for advocacy and removal of barriers that the team advisor can play. This role requires someone who is articulate, who is skilled in consensus-building, who can help explain and sell an idea, who can line up the necessary resources, and who can keep the idea from getting stalled in the bureaucracy. There is a role for facilitation and coordination that is crucial to the group process. The team advisor can be tapped to assist the team as necessary, not by giving them the answers but by helping them find the answers on their own, and to coordinate activities with others in the organization to ensure a smoothly operating enterprise. There are many development opportunities in the teams environment.
Ongoing training is needed to help develop members of the team.
They also need access to someone who can serve a mentor role and help them develop needed expertise. Team members can usually provide technical skills, but they will need help from outside the team to develop these additional non-technical skills. In the teams environment, the team advisor can focus on these aspects and thereby improve the overall effectiveness of leadership in the operation of the organization. Conclusion Managers in the traditional hierarchical structures have little to fear, per se, from the introduction of teams. Change is coming to our organizations.