Honing Your Leadership Skills

Overview/Description
 You didn't sign up for the job, but they made you a team leader. Congratulations. Now what should you do? You might start by examining your leadership style. Then consider the times when you'll need to take control and the other times--the majority of the time--when you need to fade into the background and allow the competent members of your team to lead themselves. After all, you're not the boss, just the leader. Leadership involves a complicated set of skills. First, you'll need to have the people skills to foster teamwork and build team spirit. You'll also need to be able to guide the team through its management of the task your team was formed to accomplish. Another part of your job may be to facilitate meetings. You need to know how to put your team members' time to its best use--how to keep meetings short and effective. Discover how to be an effective team leader in Honing your Leadership Skills.

Target Audience
 Project team leaders, project team members, team leaders, team members, junior executives

Expected Duration
3.0 hours

Lesson Objectives:

The Reluctant Team Leader

  • recognize the importance of developing skills in leading a project team.
  • match the leadership styles to their descriptions.
  • select the skills of the empowering team leader.
  • match the extent of leader participation in team decision-making with the corresponding scenario.

    • The People Leader

  • recognize the value of developing leadership skills for handling the more human aspects of the team.
  • select the methods of leading people to success in their team roles.
  • identify the strategies for fostering teamwork.
  • select the appropriate tips for building team spirit.

    • The Task Leader

  • recognize the importance of developing leadership skills for dealing with the task aspects of the team.
  • select the tips for managing the task issues on the team.
  • identify the tasks involved in setting up a team communication system.
  • select the guidelines for choosing between making a decision by yourself and involving others in that decision.

    • The Meeting Facilitator

  • recognize the advantages of facilitating meetings effectively.
  • select the guidelines for beginning meetings effectively.
  • choose the strategies for helping your meetings be more productive.
  • identify the tips for dealing with problem team members in meetings.

    • Course Number: TEAM0136