Building and Leading Effective Teams

Catalog description

This course develops what it takes to build and lead high-performing teams in today's conditions. Organizations are navigating simultaneous pressures that have made the team leader's role more demanding, and more consequential, than at any prior point in most students' careers. Against this backdrop, the team leader has become the person who translates organizational uncertainty into direction, and direction into performance. Drawing on research in organizational behavior, psychology, management, and entrepreneurship, students build a working toolkit for forming teams, reading where people actually are, and creating the conditions for trust, communication, and sustained performance. The course addresses the core work of team formation, culture-building, and conflict resolution, and develops students' skills in communication, motivation, and adaptive leadership. Applications span entrepreneurial ventures, family enterprises, and corporate organizations, and all coursework is applied to each student's own team. By the course's conclusion, students will be equipped to build and lead teams that thrive amid uncertainty and change — positioning them for success as leaders in any organizational context.