Date

Wednesday 20 & Thursday 21 August 2025 (bookings close at 12noon Monday 18 August 2025)

This two-day foundational skills course will focus on the power of high performing teams and what needs to be in place for this to occur. Starting with the foundations of team performance, we’ll work through frameworks that help set up a team for success as well as diagnose challenges. We will also discuss what can undermine team and group performance, the complexities in team dynamics, and how to navigate diversity and inclusion. Dealing with tension and conflict productively is a key skill of high performing teams, so in our action-packed course, we’ll cover this, too.

What will you gain?
You will:
• Learn about what high performing teams means for your work contexts;
• Explore what diversity and inclusion mean in an organisational context and how that translates to performance outcomes;
• Explore models designed to provide insight about how teams function and how to support meaningful performance;
• Understand the role of team leadership for the team leader and team members;
• Know how individual capability can contribute to team effectiveness, and what to do to build your own capability;
• Understand the importance of relationships in effective team functioning and everyone’s roles in building and sustaining them, even when people disagree;
• Learn crucial concepts when engaging in challenging situations; and
• Begin your own roadmap to help your team be high performing.

Course structure
This course uses group discussions about real-world examples to help you understand why team make-up and performance matters, how it looks when done well, some of the challenges you may face and how and where to start when new teams are created. You will gain tools and techniques to take away and apply in your team immediately.

Course Facilitator - Kristen Cooper

Kristen Cooper’s career spans middle and senior manager roles in marketing, planning and human resource management. She has been running her own consultancy practice for over twenty-five years and has gained experience, including in executive leasing engagements, in a broad range of organisations. As well as working with clients on practical business matters, Kris is a regular facilitator on the University of Otago Executive Education courses in leadership and people, and has taught Leadership, and People and Performance papers on MBA programmes for the University of Otago and University of Canterbury. Kris’ current consultancy work is primarily in leadership development and conflict resolution.

Kris has a Master of Commerce (with a thesis in leadership), is a trained adult tutor, accredited mediator, Member of New Zealand Institute of Management, a Chartered Member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand, where she has also served as National President and Board Chair. Kris is currently on two non-profit boards, one as Chair.

This course is $2100pp including GST and Humanitix booking fees.
Course fees include catering (all dietary requirements catered for) and booking fees.