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Job description: Team Leader

All the best teams need good direction. As a Team Leader, it's your role to help your team to work together and get the best results.

High performance is key to any business, and as Team Leader you'd play a vital role in helping the business run smoothly. You'd organise your team and its workload and make sure performance is kept to a really high standard.

Whatever business you work in, your workload would involve delegating tasks, monitoring the team's performance, helping their training and development, completing paperwork and handling complaints.

You could work in all kinds of businesses and environments, for example leading a sales team, managing a team in an office or call centre, or leading a section in a factory, restaurant or shop.

Other duties vary depending on the type and size of the organisation, but the job can include financial responsibilities, stock ordering and taking part in special customer promotions or events.

In some cases you'd carry out the same work as your team members, whilst in others you'd only be responsible for managing your team. You could also have wider duties such as personnel or reporting into senior level management.

Hours/Environment

Working full time, your week would be between 35 and 40 hours. If you're looking for part-time work and job sharing, this is also often available. Depending on the industry you work in your hours would be divided in two ways. You could either work a standard Monday to Friday week, or your work could split your time into shifts.

Your working environment would also depend on your industry - you could work in an office, shop, factory or call centre, for example. In some companies the team leader manages staff based at different locations, so you may need to travel between different sites.

Skills and interests

To be a good Team Leader, you must have:

the ability to motivate people
good spoken and written communication skills
a responsible attitude
good 'people skills' for building relationships with colleagues at all levels
the ability to plan and prioritise your own work and other people's
an understanding of computer systems and cash registers, for some jobs
calmness under pressure
decision-making ability
accuracy with record keeping
IT skills

Entry

Experience is typically the main route to becoming a Team Leader. This would mean gaining a good experience in your workplace and proving that you have leadership skills and can handle responsibility. You should check entry requirements for each job with individual employers.

In most industries, you don't need particular qualifications to become a Team Leader. An employer would usually ask for a good standard of general education, but your skills and experience would be more important than your academic qualifications. Skills like leadership, organizational ability and time management are important in all types of business.

Training

You will usually develop your leadership skills on the job. Some employers also run their own structured in-house training programmes for supervisors.

You may have the chance to gain recognised qualifications in management whilst you are working. You could work towards NVQs at Level 2 in Team Leading and levels 3, 4 and 5 in Management, or you could study part-time for qualifications from the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) or the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

ILM qualifications include:

Level 2 Certificate in Team Leading
Level 3 Certificate in First Line Management
Level 5 Diploma in Management.

CMI qualifications include:

Level 2 Introductory Certificate in Team Leading
Level 3 Introductory Certificate in Management
Level 4 Introductory Diploma in Management
Level 5 Diploma in Management.

See the ILM and CMI websites for more details about their qualifications.

If appropriate, you may also be able to take NVQs and other qualifications aimed at management in your own industry. This is common in the call centre, retail, care and hospitality industries.

Opportunities

Almost every organisation employs Team Leaders and so there are plenty of options open to you. Retail holds the widest range of opportunities, though many places are open within hospitality, offices, factories, warehouses, call centres, and the public sector.

With experience, you could progress to more senior management positions in your own organisation, or move into a different type of business to gain more responsibility or a higher salary.