Leading High Performance Teams

  • Length: 2 - 3 Days ( 15 - 22.5 PDU's )
Improve team performance through leadership and communication.
The flexibility and perseverance of the high performing team set it apart from a team which is merely productive.

Course Description

Leading high performance teams is a goal that every project leader can attain.  High performance teams result from a conscious effort to build trust and the behaviors and skills necessary to solve problems cooperatively.  

This course is founded on the concept that almost every project is accomplished through the concerted, coordinated work of teams of people.  No matter if the teams are part-time volunteers or highly-skilled professionals, their productivity and success is drastically affected by the relationships within the team and their ability to function as a cohesive unit. This class not only provides a vision of a high performance team, but also specific guidelines every team leader can follow to improve their team’s performance.

Project teams have a unique challenge: they come together for a temporary assignment in which they face a special problem. Teams that are successful build a positive team environment and work together to solve problems, even in the face of conflict. This course presents proven communication techniques, explains leadership styles, and details team building principles in the context of the project environment. The course combines lecture, discussion, and practice; participants learn the theory behind the art of managing teams. We make extensive use of role playing and experiential learning to help participants internalize the skills more rapidly.

Leading high performance teams is a very achievable goal. It requires an understanding of the characteristics of high performance, and a solid understanding of the steps to put those in place.

Benefits

  • Enhance team performance by improving cohesion and collaboration.
  • Avoid costly delays due to unresolved issues and conflicts.
  • Recognize and avoid problems before they occur.
  • Improve the bottom line by getting people to work together quickly.
  • Develop lasting relationships that team members can carry forward to future projects.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Draw out effective performance from a team of people who have a range of skills, attitudes and cognitive/behavior styles.
  • Lead and facilitate a group of people to productively solve abstract problems.
  • Form a group of individuals into a cohesive team that shares a commitment to a common goal.
  • Create a positive, productive atmosphere within a project team.

Audience

Project managers, team leaders, managers and senior team members who need to effectively lead work groups.

Leading High Performance Teams Course Outline

1. Introduction to Leading High Performance Teams 
Understand the critical contribution of a high performance team. Introducing a high-performance team model.

Personal Leadership Skills 
2. Leadership Styles and Behavior Styles 
Why do diverse team members demand a variety of leadership styles? How can you use behavior styles to improve communication?

3. Stages of Team Development 
How do you adjust your leadership style to reflect the maturity of the team?

Creating a Positive Team Environment 
4. Ground Rules 
How can you establish common expectations about team behavior? 

5. Listening Skills 
How to improve your active and empathetic listening skills. How can listening skills reduce conflict and increase trust?

6. Team Identity 
How do you increase goal identity? How do you best utilize diverse skills and experiences? What’s the value of understanding a project’s context?		 7. Problem Solving 
How can a team establish a common problem solving strategy? How can you employ structured techniques for group problem solving?

8. Meeting Management 
How do you prepare and run a meeting? What’s the right way to handle meeting closure, action items and meeting minutes?

Team Collaboration 
9. Decision Making 
What are decision modes and how do you use guidelines to achieve consensus?

10. Conflict Resolution 
What is the value of conflict and what are some common responses to it? How can you move past deadlock? How do you avoid “Groupthink?”

11. Promoting Continuous Learning 
How do you promote a culture of innovation? What leadership traits encourage appropriate risk taking?

12. Team Building Activities