After you enroll, begin with Module 1: a welcome video, readings, and a 20-minute team leadership readiness diagnostic that recommends a learning path without restricting access to any module. Then work through Modules 2 to 5 and finish with Module 6’s project, in which you diagnose a real team and design the changes it needs.

A high-performance team consistently delivers strong results, adapts to change, and sustains that performance over time. Leading High-Performance Teams For Dummies treats it as the result of four decisions: the attributes the team is built on, the competencies of its leader, how it is staffed, and the culture that sustains it.

There is no standard list: sources give five, seven, or ten characteristics, and no single "5 C's" is standard. Module 2 of Leading High-Performance Teams For Dummies diagnoses a team against six attributes: clarity of purpose, trust, psychological safety, accountability, complementary capabilities, and constructive disagreement.

Psychological safety is a team climate in which members feel safe to speak up, ask questions, and admit mistakes. Leaders build it by admitting their own mistakes, inviting quieter voices, and treating failures as learning. Module 2 of Leading High-Performance Teams For Dummies covers it as a key attribute to diagnose in a high-performance team.

No single framework fits every team, so choose by the question you need to answer. Tuckman’s stages (forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning) show where a team is in its development, though a team can fall back to an earlier stage when membership or circumstances change.

Lencioni’s five dysfunctions (absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results) show what holds a team back, with trust as the foundation. Leading High-Performance Teams For Dummies covers the common models of how teams form and develop, and what teams need at different stages, in Module 2.

Leaders build a high-performance team in four stages. First, they diagnose the team against the attributes of exceptional teams, such as clarity of purpose, trust, and accountability. Next, they develop their own leadership competencies and lead the team through change. Then they recruit, onboard, and shape culture deliberately, and finally sustain performance by repairing culture, handling conflict, measuring team performance, and leading remote teams. Leading High-Performance Teams For Dummies follows this order in Modules 2 to 5.

A good team leader guides and influences people toward shared goals, though sources list the qualities differently and no single list of five is standard. Leading High-Performance Teams For Dummies focuses on competencies you can assess and build: in Module 3, communication, decision-making, delegation, feedback, developing others, and advanced strategic behaviors.

Developing leadership skills begins with an honest assessment of current competencies, followed by deliberate practice and reflection. Leading High-Performance Teams For Dummies supports this in Module 3: “The Leadership Competency Audit” assesses your core competencies, and the module then builds risk readiness and the ability to lead a team through change.

Leading high performing remote teams depends on three things: clear norms for how the team works, management by outcomes, and meaningful performance measures. Module 5 of Leading High-Performance Teams For Dummies addresses all three for hybrid and remote teams, including the lesson “Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams and Business Awareness” and the reading “The Performance Measures and Remote Leadership Guide.”

Managing high performing teams means keeping the culture healthy and the performance measurable. That involves addressing culture challenges, supporting well-being within a manager’s role, and handling team conflict, then measuring and maintaining high performance. Module 5 of Leading High-Performance Teams For Dummies covers each, including a discussion prompt on “The Measure That Rewards the Wrong Thing.”

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When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.