Where can I find a good team leader training course?

Where can I find a good team leader training course?

You may be looking for a good team leader training course.

You yourself may be a team leader, or you may be searching on behalf of someone else.

The reason for your search is that the role of team leader is a difficult one to fill. It is a demanding role. The team leader needs to be technically proficient and knowledgeable with reference to the specific product and service provided by the organisation. But in addition to technical skills and knowledge, the team leaders need to develop their personal skills that will enable them to get the best performance from each individual team member, and also, from the team as-a-whole.

What are the personal skills that combine to make a good team leader training course?

The list of personal skills is long, but they can all be subsumed into the following:

1. The ability to focus on a goal long enough to achieve it; goal focus.
2. The ability to think systematically and build practical plans of action that are capable of achieving the goals.
3. The ability to communicate accurately and clearly, in both the written and verbal form, so that instructions and delegated tasks are fully understood and complied with.
4. The ability to inspire coordinated action in others.
5. The ability to give constructive criticism and handle difficult conflict situations.
6. The ability to give appreciation and praise.
7. The ability to manage adaptive change and inspire continuous improvement.

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1. The ability to focus on a goal long enough to achieve it; goal focus

Success is defined as the achievement of a goal. And often it takes years to achieve any goal of consequence. And therefore it is imperative that the team leader is the type of person who is able to focus on a goal, and keep it in focus, over an extended period of time.

Many people are not goal focused. They are instead, drifters. Many people drift into work. And drift around at work, and drift home again.
The team leader must be a non drifter type. The team leader must be a goal focused individual.
Therefore, the team leader training course must have a section on setting and achieving goals.

2. The ability to think systematically and build practical plans of action that are capable of achieving the goals

All goals require plans. A goal without a plan is useless. A goal with a perfect plan is an unstoppable force.
The team leader will need to be able to plan, organise, prioritise and delegate tasks.

Plan means; think on paper and figure out what needs to be done
Organize means; get everything in the right place at the right time.
Prioritize means; put the tasks into the right sequence.
Delegate means; give the right tasks to the right people.

All good team leader training will need a section on planning, organizing, prioritization and delegation.

3. The ability to communicate accurately and clearly, in both the written and verbal form, so that instructions and delegated tasks are fully understood and complied with.

An ambiguous instruction is any instruction that can properly be interpreted in more than one way.

Imagine that you sent someone an instruction that was worded in an ambiguous manner. The message was capable of being properly interpreted in more than one way. You meant it in one way and they interpreted it in a different way. They go off and do the wrong thing. You may later blame them for doing it wrong but the fault may lay in the ambiguity of the original message. Ambiguous instructions such as "Send it to me A.S.A.P." will cause too many avoidable errors.

All good team leader courses therefore have a section on accurate language.

4. The ability to inspire coordinated action in others

All teams must work as a coordinated union. If there is a lack of coordinated unified action then the team is ineffective because some elements of the team are acting against other elements of the team.

Any team with internal divisions and opposing personalities will be operating counter productively and will eventually fail to hit the target.
All good team leaders need to forge a good team spirit; one that will inspire a cooperative and unified atmosphere.
All good team leader training courses therefore have a section covering how to inspire a productive and positive atmosphere.

5. The ability to give constructive criticism and handle difficult conflict situations

Perfection is impossible. Errors will always, to some degree, be apparent. Therefore, it will be necessary for the team leader to give corrective feedback in the form of constructive criticism, to other members of the team.

The problem is that many members of the team won't like any form of criticism. Some people can't handle criticism. They take all criticism as "a putdown" or "an insult".
All good team leaders are skilled at giving constructive, not destructive criticism.
Giving constructive criticism is a noble art. Not many people know how to do it well.
So, all good team leader training courses have a section covering the noble art of giving constructive criticism.

6. The ability to give appreciation and praise

Most people are motivated to come to work by money. But they are not only motivated by money. Money is not the only motivator. There are in addition to money, the social motivators.

What are some of the social motivators?

Pride, security, achievement, comradeship, praise and appreciation.
Praise and appreciation are major motivators. They are easy to give. They are easy to neglect to give.

If you give praise and appreciation to others, then you will motivate them.
If you neglect to give praise and appreciation to others then you will DE-motivate them.
So the art of proper praise and appreciation is an important skill for any team leader.
Therefore, all good team leader training courses will have a section covering the proper use of praise and appreciation.

7. The ability to manage adaptive change and inspire continuous improvement

You have set your goals.
You have formulated your plans.
You have communicated the goals and the plans to the team.
You have created a positive and productive work atmosphere.
You know how to give constructive praise.
You know how to give constructive criticism.

All is going well.

Then something happens and the boss says that you have to make some major changes.
The goal posts are moved and therefore your plans must change.
Your actions must change.

You must learn to continually adapt, alter and change, as you progress.
Therefore the team leader is comfortable with continual adaptation, continual alterations, and continual changes in conditions, circumstances, and environment.
The problem with continual change is this: most people hate change.
Most people hate change and yet want things to stay the same (but get better).
So, all team leaders must be able to manage the stress caused by continuous change.

Therefore all good team leader training courses have a section on change.

All good team leader training cover these themes:

1. The ability to focus on a goal. Goal focus.
2. The ability to build practical plans of action that are capable of achieving the goals.
3. The ability to communicate accurately and clearly.
4. The ability to inspire coordinated action in others.
5. The ability to give constructive criticism.
6. The ability to give appreciation.
7. The ability to manage change and inspire continuous improvement.

What knowledge and skills are required by team leaders.

For more information about team leader training visit the Corporate Coach Group website

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