Excelling as a Highly Effective Team Leader
SkillPath Seminars
Delivery Method
Seminar
Target Audience
Supervisors, Managers, Leaders, Team Builders
Summary
In this two-day workshop, you’ll learn the personal leadership characteristics and skills that spark the kind of energy and enthusiasm that make productivity and performance soar.
Description/Agenda
You’ll learn …
- How to build a cohesive, results-oriented team from a group of diverse individuals
- Motivational techniques that inspire team members to want to perform at their peak
- How to grant the team more decision-making and problem-solving authority as it matures
- How to gain team member commitment to policy and procedural changes that are critical to the success of the organization
- And much more
In this two-day workshop, you’ll learn the personal leadership characteristics and skills that spark the kind of energy and enthusiasm that make productivity and performance soar. Get step-by-step guidelines and practical advice for transforming a group of individuals into a creative, results-producing team.
Day one: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Characteristics of successful team leaders
- 10 critical behavioral skills successful team leaders must master
- Transitioning to a team environment: Understanding the differences between supervisors/managers and team leaders
- How to gain the acceptance and trust of team members when you’re replacing another team leader
- Stand up and shout—or should you? How to promote your team and its accomplishments to upper management
- Understanding your team’s purpose and position within the organization
- Why every successful team leader is also a group member
- Strategies for keeping yourself motivated and energized as a team leader
How to build a team that gets results
- The 4 key words that describe every top-performing team
- How to overcome the 10 major obstacles that keep teams from effectively setting goals
- Calling a team a team doesn’t make it one: Find out the 13 key characteristics that make a successful team
- Team chemistry: Personality and interpersonal styles that lead to collaboration—and also to conflict
- Why it’s important to help your team develop a written “code of conduct”
- DIAMOND: A can’t-miss formula for planning and setting achievable team goals
- How to get the team to welcome new members without feeling threatened
- Understanding the primary reasons teams fail to accept responsibility
- 9 keys to putting an end to reverse delegation
- Benchmarks for evaluating a team’s progress, performance and bottom-line results
Creating a motivating team climate
- How team leaders sometimes inadvertently contribute to a lack of team performance
- Overcome the myth of motivation by remembering these 2 key points
- The 4 different team climates a leader can create—use this Team Leader Effectiveness Grid to find out which one you’ve fostered for your team
- The keys to building trust between team members and the team leader, especially after a negative or unpopular decision has been made
- How to renew and refuel a team that starts off with enthusiasm and energy but soon becomes discouraged
- How to recognize team accomplishments when one team member constantly tries to take all the credit for the group’s performance
- How to inspire and motivate a team that routinely has more work than it can reasonably handle
- People give when they get: Key points to keep in mind when planning incentives and rewards
The changing role of the team leader
- The 4 stages of team development—and the team leader’s role in each
- How well do you coach and counsel your team? Use this exercise to find out how you’re influencing your team’s development
- Riding the fast track to continuous improvement: How to identify and respond to team members’ needs as they move through the 4 stages of team development
- How to identify your team’s current stage of development
- How to gradually release more power, influence and authority to the team as members mature and jell in their roles
- The 2 critical factors for getting team members to accept change
- How to use delegation to push team members to take action and get results
- Understanding the single most important function of the team leader
- Understanding when to “coach” and when to “direct” in order to elicit the best performance from team members
Tuning in to critical communication cues
- The 4 components of effective communication
- 8 tips for helping team members communicate better with each other, with customers and with you
- How to get team members to listen to and accept criticism from one another
- Tips for training team members on how to get and give feedback from customers
- The common barriers to effective listening and how to overcome them to strengthen relationships among team members
- How to help team members understand the difference between “acceptance” and “agreement”
- 6 benefits of asking good questions—and the 5 types of questions to avoid
Day two: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Dealing with performance problems
- How to nip the behavior problems of individual team members in the bud before they negatively impact team performance
- Understanding the 3 major types of problems that keep team members from performing at their peak—and the specific actions you can take to counter each type
- A sure-fire approach for getting team members who choose not to perform to not only change but to grow
- How to determine when additional training is needed to smooth out rough spots in performance
- 4 critical steps to making sure your discipline sticks
- How to conduct an effective performance review
- How to deal with “eager beavers” who don’t produce
- A dozen key areas to examine when the team as a whole is experiencing performance problems
Shared problem solving and decision making
- The 3 primary problem-solving and decision-making styles most teams utilize—and the pros and cons of each
- What keeps teams from solving problems? How to identify the major obstacles that can paralyze innovative thinking and grind progress to a halt
- The team leader’s role in the rational problem-solving process
- How to use brainstorming as a tool for encouraging the free exchange of ideas and solutions
- Avoid conflict and controversy with this proven technique for making choices when several excellent alternatives are on the table
- How to establish a creative, synergistic decision-making climate
- How to identify your own preferred problem-solving style—and how it affects the team
- What to do when team members are too willing to compromise instead of working through problems
- How to gain cooperation when some team members won’t abide by the decisions made by the team as a whole
- How to finally reach consensus when one member of the team refuses to compromise
- How to get your team to make decisions when team members want to be told what to do
- The top 10 factors that influence a team’s decision-making process
Dealing with team conflict
- The key to promoting team harmony and minimizing disagreements
- How to recognize potentially counterproductive or destructive team member activities—and how to deal with them before they lead to conflict
- Why you can’t sweep team conflict under the rug
- Proven methods for structuring and conducting successful conflict-resolution meetings
- A 10-step disciplinary process that addresses misconduct openly and frankly
- The 5 levels of team conflict and what you can do to help mitigate the factors that cause them
- 10 conflict-avoidance tips team leaders can practice in any team situation
- How to deal with interpersonal problems that can threaten team cohesiveness
- How to deal with team members who spend more time competing with each other than cooperating
- What to do with team members who go directly to upper management when they disagree with a team decision
- How to get your team to work effectively with other teams so that work flows smoothly and the organization’s goals are achieved
- How to use the RISC strategy to work through conflict
- The 3 ways teams commonly mishandle anger—and how to help team members redirect it
Conducting effective team meetings
- Why the time you spend planning and preparing for a meeting is as important as the meeting itself
- 5 key elements of an effective meeting agenda
- 10 tips for leading purposeful, productive team meetings
- How to create an environment that encourages team members—even untalkative ones—to fully participate in the exchange of ideas
- Telltale clues that your meetings are floundering—and what you can do to revive them
- 2 dozen techniques experienced team leaders use to keep discussions flowing during meetings
- Facilitation techniques for ensuring that team meetings run smoothly—and which behaviors to avoid
- The “100-mile rule”: How to use it to eliminate distractions and keep team members focused on the business at hand
Managing virtual teams
- Understanding how virtual teams are revolutionizing the workplace
- The 3 phases of planning and development necessary for creating a winning virtual team
- The essential skills and technology needed to support an effective virtual team
- Understanding and supporting the dynamics of teams that reach across organizations
- How to enhance personal communications when team members meet electronically
- One of the key reasons virtual teams fail—and commonsense approaches to prevent it
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