Building Teams That Work

Chances are you will be part of a professional or personal team at some point. This course provides you with communication, problem-solving and leadership skills to keep your team on the right track and real-life scenarios that will help you master successful team-building and management.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$190

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-Moderated

$175

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Starting April 16 | May 14

Details + Objectives

Course code: btw

Teams are becoming a staple in today's workplace. In this course, you will learn the components of a successful team and the stages of its development. You will master the skills you will need to effectively manage projects, make decisions, and solve problems in a team setting. Plus, you will have a chance to learn the pitfalls of unhealthy group interaction and minimize any of its effects on your team.

Along the way, you will follow real-life examples and scenarios to help you identify with the team-building process. There's a lot more to it than just getting several people together in a room at the same time. Are you eager to develop your leadership qualities and be a quality team participant? Many of today's teams rotate leadership roles, so it's crucial to understand both perspectives as you learn the best ways to communicate and work together for positive change.

What you will learn

Learn the components of a successful team and the stages of its development
Master the skills you'll need to effectively manage projects, make decisions, and solve problems in a team setting
Learn the pitfalls of unhealthy group interaction and minimize any of its effects on your team
Learn the best ways to communicate and work together for positive change

How you will benefit

Follow real-life examples and scenarios to help you identify with the team-building process
Develop your leadership qualities and be a quality team participant
Become an indispensable part of any organization as you learn to effectively lead or contribute to team projects

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Instructors & Support

Vivian Harte

Vivian Harte has been teaching people the skills they need to build and maintain successful teams for over 15 years. In addition to her online course, she helped students at a major university learn the skills of being a great team member and a team leader in the classroom, in the workplace, and in organizations.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

Great course. It will help me now and in the future. I liked the interaction with the instructor and classmates. It was very helpful for my non-profit work.

Great course. It will help me now and in the future. I liked the interaction with the instructor and classmates. Very helpful for my non-profit work.

I am a group leader in a warehouse environment. I took this course because the people in my department are so diverse in personality, work ethic, attitude etc. I would like to see us become more of a team, all working to get the job done efficiently and correctly. I wanted you to know that even though your lessons seemed directed toward office personnel, I found myself trying to find ways to use the information here, out on the floor with the crew I have. The course has also helped me in evaluating my way of delegating the work and trusting the people to accomplish what I give them. I'm looking forward to other courses.

Thanks so much for the insight. This course made me re-evaluate how many teams that I am on work together. I have noticed the different personalities there are within in a team and also how they affect each team member. The hardest part of being on a team is dealing with the range of personalities and those that you conflict with.

Thank you for making this course easy to understand. I will be well armed in my future with the teams that I will be on. From charters to conflict, I have it covered. The most important thing that I have learned is to stay on track and do the best to get the task accomplished in a timely manner. Thank you again.

This was a very useful course for me. Although I was familiar with a lot of the material, putting it all together in this format was very valuable.

Vivian, Thank you for an informative, well organized, and very enjoyable class. I will be recommending this course to my administration, and to my colleagues in teaching. Although I am past most of my formal team participation, I found your course very useful for more fully implementing the team concept in my classroom. This was a true growth experience - my first online course - the successful experience with you and our class has motivated me to consider more online work. I have already enrolled in a new course.

Great course. It will help me now and in the future. I liked the interaction with the instructor and classmates. It was very helpful for my non-profit work.

Great course. It will help me now and in the future. I liked the interaction with the instructor and classmates. Very helpful for my non-profit work.

This was a very useful course for me. Although I was familiar with a lot of the material, putting it all together in this format was very valuable.

Building Teams That Work

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