Leadership for Intelligence Professionals   

Intra-Organizational vs Inter-Organizational Teams:

 Important Differences 

Intra-Organizational Team                                               Inter-Organizational Team

-The team is usually created by interested line          -The team is usually created by a

seniors to take on a required task in support of          senior staff member or leadership

the mission of the organization and is expected           team to take on a contentious task

to produce quality results.                                          involving the mission of several

.                                                                               organizations and produce  

                                                                                acceptable  results.

-The team Leader is chosen by the seniors              -The team Leader is often a senior

creating the team based on seniority and                   staff member  or offered by the

competence.                                                            leadership team member suggesting

                                                                               the creation of the team.

-The designated Leader is likely to have line            -The designated or intended Leader  has 

authority over a few members of the team                 no line authority over members and only

and, if need be, can call on someone up the              some degree of bureaucratic power to

chain who has line authority over any of the              contact those who might have line

members of the team or who has common line          authority over a member. 

authority over all of them.

-The team members are selected for their                -Team members are selected for a

expertise and experience in the competencies            variety of reasons depending on the

required to successfully complete the task.                agenda or level of interest of their

                                                                                parent organization in the task as well

                                                                                as personal availability, rank but not

                                                                                always expertise.       

-Team members know each other or of each           -Team members may not know each

other and understand the agenda of the                     other and may not understand and be

organization.                                                             suspicious of the agendas of the other

                                                                                organizations represented. 

-Team members’ participation is temporary            -Team members participation is usually

but full-time for the duration of the task or is              part-time for the duration of the task,

an extension of their regular organizational                 in addition to their regular full-time

responsibilities.                                                         work.

-Team members usually work independently           -Team members are responsible for

and cooperate by contributing to that part of             working collectively and contributing

the work of the team that requires their area of          to all the efforts of the team and are

expertise and are accountable mainly for the              accountable for the timeliness,

timeliness, accuracy and quality of only their              accuracy and quality of the entire

contribution.                                                             final product of the team.

-Team members’ participation is determined            -Team members participation is

by the extent that the activities of the team                 determined by their own personal

require it and  the demands of the  Leader.                desires and the degree of interest of

                                                                                 their parent organizations.

-Much work is done outside of meetings and            -Most work is done in meetings.

coordinated between individuals informally                 attend.

 in occasional team meetings.                            

-When meetings are held, hopefully, key                 -When meetings are held, interested          

people attend, appropriate inputs are solicited,         members attend, input is wide-ranging

discussion is focused, the Leader summarizes          discussion is extended and the team

a decision for team approval and action.                  must reach a consensus before moving

                                                                              on.

-The Leader is expected to motivate and              -The Leader is expected to offer and

guide the team.                                                      share Leadership with other team

                                                                             members as motivation to expand

                                                                              their contributions.

-When the Leader needs help motivating              -When the Leader needs help motivating

or guiding the efforts of the team, there                   or guiding the efforts of the team, there is

is organizational help available.                               little help available except from other

                                                                             team members.