We moved to a more functional team-based organizational structure and our team leaders are suffering. Each team leader has been to a one week training course that covers skills like effective meetings, conflict resolution, problem solving and giving feedback, but it just isn’t working. They aren’t behaving differently. What should I do?
The Team Doc Says…
Obviously you saw some potential in each team leader or you would not have placed them in this leadership position. You’ve made the mistake that many organizations make by believing that sending a team leader to one training course will make them good at the skills they learned.
Frankly, as you’ve seen, it doesn’t happen that way. Training is only the beginning. The team leader needs to begin practicing what they learned in the training and will need prompting to do so.
One of the best ways to ensure that the lessons taught in the team leader training are carried back to the work place is for each team leader to pick one skill to work on each month. They’ll also need consistent feedback from you about how they are doing applying the skill.
Peer sharing works great too. Have the team leaders get together once a week for at least 30 minutes to discuss the issues they are having with their new skills and to leverage the strengths of their fellow team leader team members.
A constant cycle of practice and feedback is the best way to learn a new skill. A good resource sheet that the team leaders can keep handy works wonders too. You can get one at Seven Secrets to Being the Team Leader Everyone Wants to Follow.
Best regards,
Denise O’Berry
aka “Team Doc”
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