Introduction

This course explores the nature and benefits of innovative and collaborative teams. Increasingly, companies see innovation and collaboration as a key source of competitive advantage, with benefits for motivation and engagement and developing talent, as well as team and organizational performance. However, achieving these benefits places new demands on leaders, and requires new leadership practices.

This course will feature:

• The benefits of innovation and collaboration
• Building the innovative and collaborative team
• Creating the right environment for innovation and collaboration
• Inspiring shared purposes and common goals
  • Leadership practices for innovative and collaborative teams

objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Appraise the key features and benefits of innovative and collaborative teams
• Asses their team’s current and aspired innovation and collaboration skills and create an appropriate development plan
• Evaluate key approaches for creating the right environment for innovation and collaboration
• Examine common approaches to developing shared purposes and goals
• Apply leadership practices which inspire and support team innovation, collaboration and success

Contents

Day One

The Benefits of Innovation and Collaboration

• The nature of innovation
• Collaboration vs. competition
• Learned behaviours
• Innovative and collaborative teams
• The innovative and collaborative team mindset

Day Two

Building the Innovative and Collaborative Team

• Innovative and collaborative team values
• High performance goals and metrics
• Innovation and collaborative skills
• Appraising team skills
• Designing a team development programme

Day Three

Creating the Right Environment for Innovation and Collaboration

• The new role of leadership
• Individual creative work
• Individual strengths and blind spots
• Trust and communication
• Recognition and feeding forward
• Productive conflict: a source of creativity and team cohesion

Day Four

Inspiring Shared Purposes and Common Goals

• Individual preferences and goals
• Developing a team picture of success
• ‘Force field’ analysis
• Strategic priority areas
• Monitoring progress and achievement

Day Five

Leadership Practices for Innovative and Collaborative Teams

• Guiding principles: drawing on great experiences
• Communication with and within your team
• Team gatherings
• Team decisions and the leader’s decision making process
• Personal and team accountability
• Developing a personal and team action plan