Building High-Performing Teams from Coursera

Teams are essential to the modern organization, but most never reach their potential. Co-workers miscommunicate, and groups struggle to adapt to changes in the market or their organizations. When teams lack self-awareness about these challenges, performance suffers. Based on years of team culture research and consulting experience, this course helps you understand the problems that hurt productivity, and gives you tools for creating positive change. This course also guides you through creating the ground rules and structure needed to set your team up for success.

You gain the skills to diagnose issues such as conflicts, groupthink and lack of commitment in your team before they get out of control. The course offers frameworks to adjust team behaviors and get the best performance out of your people. You also understand frequent stumbling blocks for common team types, such as startups and virtual teams, and learn solutions tailored to each one.

What's inside

Syllabus

Course Overview

Welcome to Building High-Performing Teams! Teams are essential to the modern organization, but most never reach their potential. Co-workers miscommunicate and groups struggle to adapt to changes in the market or their organizations. When teams lack self-awareness about these challenges, performance suffers. Based on years of team culture research and consulting experience, this course will help you understand the problems that hurt productivity and give you tools for creating positive change. This course will help you create the ground rules and structure to set your team up for success. You will gain the skills to diagnose issues such as conflicts, groupthink, and lack of commitment in your team before they get out of control. The course offers frameworks to adjust team behaviors and get the best performance out of your people. You will also understand frequent stumbling blocks for common team types, such as startups and virtual teams, and learn solutions tailored to each one.

Setting Team Foundations

In this first module, we will talk about how to get your team started off on the right foot with a process called team chartering. This is where you lay out the rules that your group will follow to give them the best chance for success. In particular, we will talk about how to create the right goals, team roles, and group norms to get the most out of each person.

Diagnosing Team Problems

In this module, we’ll look at why good teams go bad. We’ll focus on those process losses I mentioned, and dig into the different problems that can derail your group from its goals. Since it can be hard to really pinpoint team problems and even harder to talk about them, we’ll look at some methods that will help you do both.

Coaching Emotionally Intelligent Teams

In this module, we move from discussion to action. After getting a sense of what is going wrong with your group, we will give you tools for making effective behavioral changes so that you can close the gap between how your team says it wants to work together and what you actually do.

Managing Common Team Types

In this last module, we will look at common types of teams like global teams and committees. We will discuss the challenges that each one is most likely to face and give you some tips for how to combat and overcome those challenges. We will also hear practical insights on managing startup teams from Anthony Maher, an entrepreneur, former professional soccer player, and a co-founder of Benjamin’s desk, which is the largest co-working community in Philadelphia.

Good to know

Know what's good

, what to watch for

, and possible dealbreakers

Develops an understanding of team dynamics and how to create high-performing teams, which are essential in a modern organization

Taught by Dr. Aviva Legatt, who is recognized for her work on team culture

Emphasizes the importance of setting clear ground rules and structure for team success

Provides frameworks to adjust team behaviors and optimize performance

Offers insights into common team types, such as startups and virtual teams, and provides tailored solutions for each

Reviews summary

Building high-performing teams: strategies for success

Learners say this course is well-received, engaging, informative, and insightsful. The course provides actionable strategies to build and manage high-performing teams, emphasizing the importance of emotional intelligence, clear communication, and team dynamics. Topics covered include team building, conflict resolution, motivating teams, and creating team cultures.Real-life examples and expert interviews provide practical insights.

Course length is short and manageable.

"This is my first on-line course on soft skill."

"The course is structured for me to remain disappointed and focused but not overwhelmed."

Course content is engaging, clear, and easy to understand.

"The course material was well presented."

"I was able to understand all of the concepts and get really great inputs."

"The lectures were interesting and well-organized."

Instructors are knowledgeable, articulate, and engaging.

"The professors were fantastic, easy to follow, and engaging."

"The lecture videos by both facilitators were interesting and well-organized."

"An excellent course that has met my expectations."

Course provides practical tools and strategies for building teams.

"The steps you outlined have been very helpful."

"I plan to implement improved strategies and checklists."

"The given assignments and peers' review made you think through."

Learners gain skills to build high-performing teams.

"I have made progress in skills to building a high performance Team."

"The skills learnt will be very help on my current job and beyond."

"I definitely took away things from this course."

Course content is sometimes limited and not always expanding.

"The assigned readings in this course were limited to short online articles."

"The content is okay, it only scratches the surface of almost all topics."

"The content of the course is interesting but videos are easy to follow."

Peer reviews can be helpful but may be inconsistent.

"The peer reviews is dreadful: there are not enough fellow students to review work on time."

"I had to reset my deadlines four times."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Building High-Performing Teams with these activities:

Read "The Wisdom of Teams"

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Provide insights and practical tips for improving team performance.

View High-Performance Teams: The Katzenbach-Smith... on Amazon

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Introduce the concept of team effectiveness.
Discuss the characteristics of high-performing teams.
Explore strategies for building and maintaining effective teams.

Attend a workshop on team facilitation

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Equip participants with the skills and techniques to effectively lead and guide teams.

Browse courses on Team Facilitation

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Identify a workshop on team facilitation that aligns with your needs.
Attend the workshop and actively participate in the activities.
Apply the concepts and techniques learned in the workshop to your team interactions.

Enroll in a course on team dynamics

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Provide a structured learning experience to enhance understanding of team dynamics and best practices.

Browse courses on Team Building

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Identify a course on team dynamics that aligns with your learning goals.
Enroll in the course and complete the modules.
Apply the concepts and techniques learned in the course to your team interactions.

Five other activities

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Conduct a team SWOT analysis

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Enable teams to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, leading to improved decision-making.

Browse courses on SWOT Analysis

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Gather a team of individuals with diverse perspectives.
Facilitate a brainstorming session to identify the team's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Develop an action plan to address the identified SWOT factors.

Implement a team coaching program

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Provide ongoing support and guidance to teams, empowering them to achieve their goals.

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Define the scope and objectives of the team coaching program.
Identify and recruit a qualified team coach.
Facilitate regular coaching sessions with the team.
Monitor and evaluate the progress of the team coaching program.

Facilitate a team debriefing

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Enable teams to reflect on their performance, identify areas for improvement, and enhance communication skills.

Browse courses on Team Communication

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Gather feedback from team members on the effectiveness of the team.
Lead a discussion to identify areas where the team can improve.
Develop an action plan to address the identified areas for improvement.

Create a video presentation on team conflict

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Provide a visual and engaging way to understand and address team conflicts.

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Research different types of team conflicts.
Identify strategies for resolving team conflicts.
Create a video presentation that summarizes your research and provides practical tips.

Contribute to an open-source project on team collaboration

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Provide practical experience in working with teams in a collaborative environment, fostering teamwork and problem-solving skills.

Browse courses on Project Management

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Identify an open-source project focused on team collaboration.
Contribute to the project by submitting code, documentation, or bug fixes.
Collaborate with other contributors and team members to achieve common goals.

Career center

Learners who complete Building High-Performing Teams will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Scrum Master

Scrum Masters facilitate Scrum teams and ensure that they are following the Scrum framework. This course is highly relevant to your role as you need to help your team be self-organizing and cross-functional.

See salaries and explore the career path for Scrum Master

Head of People Operations

As the Head of People Operations, you are responsible for a team of people who support employee relations, including recruiting, benefits, and training and development programs. This course will be highly impactful in your role as you need to ensure that your team is operating at a high level of performance.

See salaries and explore the career path for Head of People Operations

Startup Founder

As a Startup Founder, you need to be able to build a strong team to help you achieve your business goals. This course will teach you how to create a team charter, set team goals, and manage team dynamics. You will also learn how to diagnose and solve problems that may arise within your team.

See salaries and explore the career path for Startup Founder

Virtual Team Leader

As a Virtual Team Leader, you need to be able to build and manage a team that is not co-located. This course will teach you how to create a virtual team charter, set team goals, and manage team dynamics. You will also learn how to diagnose and solve problems that may arise within your team.

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Human Resources Manager

In HR, you are responsible for guiding your team towards the common goal of employee development and satisfaction. This course will be particularly useful as you learn how to diagnose and cultivate positive team environments and behaviors.

See salaries and explore the career path for Human Resources Manager

Learning and Development Manager

Learning and Development Managers oversee teams in creating and implementing programs to train and develop employees. This course will help you understand how to staff, build, and manage effective teams. You will also be able to diagnose problems and help your team improve their performance.

See salaries and explore the career path for Learning and Development Manager

Team Lead

As a Team Lead, you will be managing a group of people and helping them to achieve their goals. This course will help you to develop the skills you need to be an effective leader. You will learn how to build trust, motivate your team, and resolve conflict.

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Workplace Mediator

Workplace Mediators help to resolve conflict and improve communication in the workplace. This course will provide you with the skills you need to be an effective mediator. You will learn how to facilitate discussions, build consensus, and resolve disputes.

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Project Manager

As a Project Manager, you lead and manage teams to complete projects. This course will help you learn how to build a team that works well together and can achieve its goals. You will gain the skills to diagnose and solve problems, which will be essential to your success as a project manager.

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Consultant

Consultants help businesses identify issues, develop strategies, and improve their operations. Consultants work heavily with teams in a variety of roles and responsibilities. The course will help you diagnose team problems and teach you effective behavioral changes so that you can guide teams in improving their performance.

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Business Analyst

As a Business Analyst, you work with organizations to positively change their business operations or processes. Understanding how to build high-performing teams will give you a strong foundation to help you collaborate with many different departments and stakeholders.

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Manager

You work with teams to achieve organizational goals. This course is a great way to build a strong foundation in team dynamics and management. Learning how to enhance team performance can make you a more effective manager and help you achieve your own career goals.

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Agile Coach

An Agile Coach helps organizations smoothly adopt Agile methodologies and frameworks. Learning how to build high-performing teams is essential, as Agile heavily relies on collaborative teams. Conflict and miscommunication can cost teams time and resources. You will benefit from the frameworks and tools taught in this course to build more effective and productive teams.

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Trainer

Trainers develop and deliver training programs to help employees learn new skills and knowledge. This course may be useful to you as you will learn how to build and manage training teams.

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Organizational Development Specialist

This course may be useful to you as an Organizational Development Specialist as it provides you with a framework to set your team up for success. You will learn how to create ground rules and structure so that you can increase team effectiveness.

See salaries and explore the career path for Organizational Development Specialist