Leading High Performance

Leading high performance team is a goal that every 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 program is founded on the concept that almost every target 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 program 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. The program 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.
Program Outline

Day 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
  • 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?

STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT

  • How do you adjust your leadership style to reflect the maturity of the team?
  • Creating a Positive Team Environment
  • Ground Rules
  • How can you establish common expectations about team behavior?

LISTENING SKILLS

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

Day 2

PROBLEM SOLVING

  • How can a team establish a common problem solving strategy? How can you employ structured techniques for group problem solving?

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

  • Team Building Activities

DECISION MAKING

  • What are decision modes and how do you use guidelines to achieve consensus?

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?”

PROMOTING CONTINUOUS LEARNING

  • How do you promote a culture of innovation? What leadership traits encourage appropriate risk taking?
Objectives/ Outcomes of program
  • 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.
  • 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.
Target audience
  • All team leaders and those who have to lead group of people for a project.