How can you be a team leader?

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Ok. we are doing group assinments in Criminology class. Our topic is Violent Crime and I've chosen murder while another (of the 4 including myself) has chosen rape as topics for speeches. My plan/idea was for each of us to do a speech on a violent crime topic and then do a presentation combining all our topics. The assigment is 15 min. and we have until March 19th so PLENTY of time. I was super psyched for the assignment since Criminology is a special interest so the group made me team leader. I've discussed this plan/idea with the students but otherwise how do I be a good teamleader? Thanks.

This sounds like it will be a cheery presentation! Haha.

First off, I'm always for keeping the mood as light as you can, but still focused and not too far from the topic. I mean, don't be a task master - you can joke around and have some fun (actually, in moderation this can make you all more productive because it makes people more at ease), but be aware of how much time you spend doing this. If you meet up to organize responsibilities, make sure everyone knows what is expected of them so that there are no nasty surprises on the day-of and no delayed outrage the week before - in my experience, lists for each person's name really help since they are so clearly delineated. I'd try to give copies of everyone's responsibilities to everyone to avoid confusion. Don't split up until everyone understand what the plan is as concretely as possible.

Secondly, take charge when needed, but try not to be a dictator. One of the things that is the most difficult is to be a leader but not to come across as if you think you're better than everyone else. For group projects, especially when working with strong personalities, I try to see myself as more of a mediator than a "boss". Get people on the right track, let them decide what they want to do and after people figure out what parts they want to do and you reach a point where only the icky or boring parts are left, I'd carefully relieve the stalemate by making gentle suggestions on how to divvy up the less fun parts and see what others think of these suggestions. Avoid making people feel trapped into certain responsibilities, but try to guide them to a solution that you feel is most efficient. Unrelated, but I also suggest adopting a similar self-view when tutoring or mentoring others. Remain open to suggestions if others want to make them, but, again, make sure you each have an equally concrete idea of the plan before you split up to work independently.



There are a million ways to skin a cat on your own, but you have to agree on how to do it if you want to do group work efficiently. It's important to make sure that you 1) remember to skin all parts of it thoroughly and 2) don't upset any of your co-skinners. If possible, meet up a few days before it's due to do a practice run through of your presentation - there will be rough spots and it's nice to discover them before you stand in front of the class.


I speak as a fellow student who has had to participate in many group presentations, tutors one-on-one and in front of groups often, and works in a lab with many personalities/ages/levels of education.