Leading More Effective Teams

High-performing teams do not happen by chance. They are built through intentional leadership, clear direction, and a culture of trust that enables people to contribute fully and perform at their best — even in the face of change, complexity, and competing priorities.

In this intensive program, you’ll build the skills and confidence to assemble, lead, and elevate a high-performing team. Discover how your leadership style — and the ways you exercise power and influence — shapes team dynamics, communication, and performance, and learn how to adapt your approach to unlock the full potential of every team member.

You’ll gain practical strategies to build the foundation for sustained team success — aligning people around a shared purpose, defining clear roles and expectations, establishing norms that foster trust and collaboration, and creating a culture of accountability. Through practical frameworks and interactive exercises, you’ll strengthen your ability to navigate the conversations that matter most, address common sources of friction, and help your team adjust in real time as priorities, challenges, and working relationships evolve.

By the end of the program, you will leave with strategies and tools to build and lead a team that communicates more effectively, executes more consistently, and delivers stronger results.

Program Benefits

• Understand your own leadership style and how it shapes the way you lead and influence each member of your team
• Design and manage team infrastructure — goals, roles, and norms — for clarity, alignment, trust, and collaboration
• Map out the conversations to build your team’s infrastructure or diagnose and strengthen an existing one
• Build practical skills in encouraging productive dissent, delivering feedback, exercising influence, and holding people accountable
• Leave with a concrete plan to address a current team challenge, backed by new tools and confidence
• Earn a Certificate of Completion from the Harvard Division of Continuing Education

Who Should Enroll

This program is ideal for mid- to senior-level leaders who are responsible for team performance and want targeted strategies to build trust, sharpen execution, and lead with influence. Whether you’re leading your first team or leading teams of teams, you’ll leave with effective approaches you can apply immediately, and a plan to sustain them.

Topics Covered

• Your leadership style and its impact on your team’s culture
• Common team pitfalls and how to avoid them
• Building your team’s infrastructure — goals, roles, and norms
• Leading teams through effective decision-making
• Encouraging productive dissent while minimizing interpersonal conflict
• Giving individual feedback for accountability and growth
• The role and limits of AI across stages of team building
• Continually assessing and improving how your team works together