Building Teams That Work (Self-Guided)

Lesson 1

Learning All About Teams

If you're on a team, this course is for you. Only by understanding teams fully and completely will you be able to create an outstanding team that works effectively and with high energy. In your first lesson, you will learn the characteristics of teams, the ways they can transform your workplace, and how to deal with resistance.

Building an Enthusiastic and Productive Team

Do you want to know the secrets of building passionate and dynamic teams? It's not as hard as you might think. You will begin this lesson by going over the basics: The different kinds of teams and the optimal number of members. Then, you will discover how to choose participants and clarify everyone's roles and responsibilities.

Developing a Strong Team

Don't go into a team blind. In this lesson, you will learn all the stages that teams go through and how to move successfully through each one. You will also learn the importance of creating a strong charter that will guide your team in accomplishing its goals. What can you do if members don't live up to your charter agreements? This lesson will also discuss how to approach them and get the best response.

Cultivating Leadership Skills

Are you aspiring to be a team leader, or do you already have a team to direct? A lot of today's teams even have rotating leadership where everyone gets a chance. In either case, this lesson is for you. By the end of this lesson, you will be confident enough to accept a leadership role with poise and purpose.

Ramping Up Team Spirit

Everyone needs to understand how to work well with other teammates. At the beginning of this lesson, you will measure your affinity for working with a team and learn how to develop strong relationships. Team spirit comes along with those strong relationships, rounding out your interactions to be complete and fulfilling.

Holding Great Meetings

Have you ever attended a meeting that made you yawn and want to dash for the door? Nobody likes to sit through those. In this lesson, you will learn how to avoid these types of meetings by understanding the ground rules. Then, you will learn about the problems that derail meetings from their full potential.

Making Decisions and Solving Problems

Your team exists in order to make good decisions and solve one or more problems. Communication is the key to accomplishing both. In this lesson, you will learn how to communicate in a team setting as well as different techniques your team can use to make the best decisions possible and solve problems effectively.

Completing Team Projects

Your team's job is to deliver the properly completed project on time, within budget. This lesson will show you how to create this plan. You will also learn how to share your plan with stakeholders, people who aren't on the team but experience the effects of your decisions, and how to interview those stakeholders so you can take their input into account.

Assembling a Virtual Team

Have you heard of virtual teams? With these teams, members live and work in different places. In this lesson you will discover what virtual teams are, what technology they use, and how teammates can work well in this environment.

Avoiding Obstacles

You have your team up and running, and then things start going awry. It's better to know how to avoid negative traps before you fall into them. In this lesson, you will learn how to deal with common team obstacles, including the bandwagon effect, the Abilene Paradox, core group domination, and escalation of commitment.

Dealing with Interpersonal Conflicts

This lesson deals with conflict. You may think that because teams come together to achieve a common goal, everyone should be working for the greater good and harmony should rule. Nothing could be further from the truth. You will look at what conflict is, how it comes about, how to handle it, and how it can actually benefit your team.

Assessing Team Progress

The final lesson explores methods of assessing team progress. How do you know your team is doing what it's supposed to be doing and if there's room for improvement? The best way is to assess your team's progress and use different methods to realign when necessary.