It's critical that you understand on your team who has the final say. Here are some questions. Is the team leader's authority clear? I've worked on teams where the team leader didn't have the authority.
The way I framed that is the team leader didn't have any teeth. They could make certain decisions, but whether anyone actually respected those decisions or followed through with those decisions was questionable.
They might have had authority on paper, but people weren't following them. What if the team leader gives or bestows the authority to other team members. In other words, they choose a few people on the team who can actually make final decisions on their behalf.
What about when your team meets with other teams?
Who has the final say?
Do the other teams have more power than your team?
If the team leader, who has the authority, doesn't go to those meetings… is it clear that the people who have gone in his or her place have the same authority to make a final decision that the team leader has?
Going into politics, could it be that someone outside of the team is making the decisions? This could be good because people outside of the team might have more authority at the corporate level, but if they're not involved in the discussions and understand what the problems are, they might make some very poor decisions.
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