Overview
Project Success Starts with Effective Leadership
Leading a team through any task or project requires special skills, and an understanding of the team dynamic and politics. This introductory-level course for managers or anyone interested in leading teams addresses the key issues surrounding leadership in a team environment.
You’ll learn how to account for the special and unique circumstances when working in a team where responsibility, accountability, communication, and leadership are shared.
When you finish this course, you’ll have the skills to:
- Increase productivity with effectively structured teams.
- Unleash team creativity throughout your organization.
- Successfully guide teams through change and conflict.
- Complete projects on time and on budget.
- Improve your company culture and team dynamics.
Learning Outcomes:
- List and identify the key characteristics and types of teams
- Recognize the benefits and challenges of empowered teams that leaders need to be aware of
- Identify differences in the primary and secondary roles filled by empowered teams and team leaders
- Recognize the key sources of motivation for empowered teams
- Explain Tuckman’s model of team development
- Recognize the key qualities and skills of a team leader
- State the value of using the “checklist for team leaders”
- Recognize and apply suggested approaches for managing conflict in teams
- Discuss the different approaches needed for leading virtual teams
Who Should Attend
- Leaders and managers of organizations with complex systems and multiple stakeholders, including in the non-profit and public/government sectors.
- Members of a newly (or soon to be) reorganized or restructured team.
- Project managers and other employees interested in increasing their teams’ productivity and performance.
Curriculum
MODULE 1: POWER OF TEAMS
Day 1 Live Session:
- Introduction to course and colleagues
- Walkthrough of technology & expectations
- Overview of concepts to be covered
- Assign teams and team projects
Coursework:
Study slides 1 through 14, including answering courseware questions.
Individual Homework Assignment:
Students will be given a rubric to reflect on their prior team experience, analyze characteristics contributing to or decreasing its effectiveness, and analyze their own behavior within the team context.
Team Online Discussion Question:
Share and discuss examples of when you were in or led an effective team. How did you know it is/was effective?
MODULE 2:
Live Session:
- Effective team characteristics
- Motivation
- Leadership styles
Homework:
Study slides 15 through 28, including answering courseware questions
Individual Writing Assignment:
Students will be given a rubric to identify and diagnose a workplace conflict they have experienced and explore ways that the conflict may have been prevented or mitigated.
Team Online Discussion Question:
If conflict is inevitable, is it possible to choose your conflicts?
MODULE 3: TROUBLESHOOTING TEAMS
Live Session:
- Types of conflicts
- Diagnosing conflicts
- Addressing and preventing conflicts
Homework
As a team, do a deep dive into your assigned aspect of effective team functioning and prepare a 10-minute presentation for the class summarizing your research findings.
Individual Writing Assignment:
Students will be given a rubric to confidentially analyze their class team’s processes alongside concepts learned in class and consider how their personal habits and preferences that surfaced in this group may show up in other teams they work with.
Team Online Discussion Question:
Tuckman’s final stages of group development are adjourning and mourning. Is this something you’ve experienced in teams you’ve worked with? How can a leader prepare a group for this?
MODULE 4: TEAM PRESENTATIONS
Live Session:
- Team Presentations
- Team Process Debrief
- Wrap-up and Learning More
Instructors
“Steve Jobs, visionary founder of Apple computers, said ‘Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.’ Yet as we know, not all teams perform well. To achieve great things, a team needs to do more than just function; it needs to consistently meet or exceed expectations. In this class, we’ll explore the characteristics that lead teams to greatness and practice tangible skills that allow people at all levels of their career to shape and sustain high performing teams.”
FAQ
Neither federal nor institutional financial aid is available for non-credit professional programs. This course has not been certified for VA benefits.
Consult your State Department of Labor to determine if there are training grants available to support non-credit certificates aimed at career change.
The tuition rate is set at $850 for all learners and does not differ based on a learner’s residency.
Discounts Available:
We offer a 20% Discount for PMI-CV, VBSR, or LCRCC Members, UVM and UVM Medical Center Affiliates.
For Vermont Residents: The Vermont Legislature designates a certain amount of grant money every year for Vermont residents who want to pursue education or training beyond high school. These grants are administered through VSAC.
Learn more about options for discounts, grants, loans, scholarships, and more on our tuition and financial aid page.
This course includes live sessions. The first live session happens on day one. You will go to Brightspace for your introduction and will gain access to the live session for that evening. All live sessions will occur on Wednesdays, 6:30-7:30PM ET.
Yes, all course materials are included in the price and materials can be accessed through the online platform Brightspace.
Yes! The course is 100% online and can be taken anywhere.
The course is set up in Brightspace. In Brightspace you will gain access to the live sessions. The course content is in Mindedge, our educational partner, and you will be given login access to that content on day one. The Subject Matter Expert (SME) will lead discussions and live sessions in the Brightspace environment.
If you are a non-credit student seeking accessibility support, please email access@uvm.edu and the UVM Student Accessibility Services team will be able to assist. In your email, please include that you do not have a 95 number/NetID.
- Have questions about taking an online or distance education course? Visit the Online and Distance Education FAQ page
- Have more basic questions about Professional and Distance Education? Visit our About Us and FAQs pages.
The tuition rate is set at $850 for all learners and does not differ based on a learner’s residency.
No refund is issued for this program.
You will be assessed on your participation in the discussion boards, completion of assignments, and comprehension of the course material. Students must successfully participate in 70% of the program in order to receive a Digital Badge. Because this is a non-credit course, there is no transcript.
Advising and Student Support
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