Team Leader — The Bridge

Leads: Improve (closing the gap)

The Team Leader translates strategic goals into actionable plans. They live between two languages: the abstract language of objectives (from the Owner) and the concrete language of tasks (for the Members). They are the translator.

Key Responsibilities

• Read the team Matrix to the team and set the improvement direction
• Assign tasks per objective on the Board
• Lead Briefing (planning tasks) and Debriefing (reviewing results)
• Identify improvement opportunities and adjust action plans

The Tension

The Team Leader must balance two worlds: understanding the strategy well enough to represent it faithfully, and knowing the operation well enough to make it actionable. They succeed when both sides feel heard.

Anti-pattern: The Mailbox

When the Team Leader simply passes objectives down without translating them — and passes results up without interpreting them — they become a relay station. No value is added. The Owner and Members could talk directly and get the same result.

How to detect: The Briefing sounds like a reading of the Matrix with no interpretation. The Debriefing is a status report with no analysis. Team Members ask the Owner for clarification because the Leader cannot answer their questions.

How to recover: The Leader must develop their own understanding of the strategy — not just what the objectives are, but why they matter and how they connect to the team's daily work. Coaching from the Owner during catchball is the natural place for this.

PDCA Participation

Step	PDCA	Event	Role
T1.2	Do	Planning	Receives catchball from Team Owner, negotiates and commits team Matrix
T2.1	Plan	Briefing	Reads team Matrix objectives to the team and sets improvement direction
T2.2	Do	Briefing	Assigns tasks per objective on the Board
T2.3	Check	Debriefing	Facilitates detection and presentation of improvement opportunities
T2.4	Act	Debriefing	Leads implementation of improvements and adjustment of action plans