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The differences between department leads and team leaders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a department lead and a team leader. Additionally, a team leader has an average salary of $68,817, which is higher than the $42,113 average annual salary of a department lead.
The top three skills for a department lead include cleanliness, safety procedures and customer service. The most important skills for a team leader are customer service, ladders, and patients.
| Department Lead | Team Leader | |
| Yearly salary | $42,113 | $68,817 |
| Hourly rate | $20.25 | $33.09 |
| Growth rate | - | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 204,534 | 197,336 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A department lead's responsibilities will vary in an organization or company. It will, most of the time, revolve around overseeing the progress of work in a particular area and evaluating department staff's performance. Other responsibilities include setting goals and implementing the company's policies and guidelines. They may also carry out administrative tasks such as approving and signing paperwork, producing reports and presentations, and crafting guidelines and strategies to help reach goals. Furthermore, as a department head, it is important to encourage staff and shape them into valuable company members.
Team leaders are responsible for managing a team for a specific project or work component. They primarily guide the team members and ensure that they are still working towards the set goals. Team leaders create strategies to reach goals, cascade the goals and strategies to team members, assign tasks, conduct periodic check-ups on the roadmap towards the goals, foster an engaging work environment, motivate and coach team members, monitor team performance, evaluate the strategies and come up with mitigating plans as needed. They are also responsible for reporting the team's progress to higher management.
Department leads and team leaders have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Department Lead | Team Leader | |
| Average salary | $42,113 | $68,817 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $79,000 | Between $37,000 And $126,000 |
| Highest paying City | New Haven, CT | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Tufts Medical Center | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | - |
There are a few differences between a department lead and a team leader in terms of educational background:
| Department Lead | Team Leader | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY College of Technology at Delhi | SUNY College of Technology at Delhi |
Here are the differences between department leads' and team leaders' demographics:
| Department Lead | Team Leader | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.7% Female, 45.3% | Male, 55.0% Female, 45.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 17.8% Asian, 6.9% White, 61.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 7.2% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |