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Developing team leader skills

With this CPD course, you'll learn about the different types of teams that exist in organisations, the skills needed to lead and operate within a team and the importance of developing a learning culture to increase the team's resilience. You'll have opportunities to consider your own practice as a team leader or team member and develop your teamwork skills and tools to enable better performance. The course includes a variety of videos, case studies, discussions, quizzes and activities for you to use based on your own experiences and learning as a team member and/or team leader.

Standalone study only

You will not be awarded credits for studying this course. It is available for standalone study only and cannot be counted towards an OU qualification.

Short course

Short course code

BGXS012

Credits

This is a non-credit bearing course.

Study method

Short course cost

Entry requirements

What you will study

Teaming, teambuilding, and teamwork are often interchangeably used terms to ensure a group works together. However, teams are no longer defined by functional areas but as groups of people working collaboratively and taking on responsibility for a shared goal. So, while the team leader guides the process of defining goals and establishing learning and achieving the wellbeing of the team, according to Dyer and Dyer (2020) it is team members who ‘set goals, make decisions, communicate, manage conflict and solve problems in a supportive, trusting environment in order to accomplish their objectives’. This, in turn, can involve teams in managing their own learning and ensuring their collective wellbeing.

This Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course comprises four units:

Unit 1: How teams perform

We begin with looking at the value and characteristics of teams today, the importance of a shared team purpose and the current challenges of teamworking in the VUCA world (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), often leading to dysfunctions of a team.

Unit 2: Developing team skills

Based on the findings of the challenges and dysfunctions of teams, we explore teamwork skills and how to communicate effectively to build trust, handle conflict, and act respectfully within a team.

Unit 3: Delivering value to the organisation

Once the basis of communication and trust is formed, the team is ready to commit and deliver value to the organisation. You'll explore the value of well-designed objectives, the importance of empowering team members through leadership, and some of the techniques behind decision making which enables the growth of both the team and the organisation.

Unit 4: Building a resilient team

Establishing a resilient team is key to remaining competitive as an organisation. This unit takes the next step into team resilience by exploring approaches of agile teams and the value of team coaching and team diversity.

You will learn

On successful completion of this CPD course, you should be able to:

  • understand the challenges of teamworking in an ever-changing environment
  • apply a variety of techniques to develop your teamworking skills in practice
  • create a team charter with agreed goals, roles and responsibilities
  • build team resilience
  • reflect on key learning and applications to your professional practice.

Learner support

This course was designed to be independently studied with no tutor support. StudentHome is a dedicated website that provides general study support and there is a computing helpdesk.

Teaching and assessment

Assessment

There an end-of-course quiz to test your knowledge and understanding. Once completed and successfully passed you will receive a digital badge and a course completion certificate which you can download as a record of your learning.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.


Entry requirements

There are no formal academic requirements.

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact us.

Course length

The course will require around 10 hours to complete.

You can begin at any time during the life of the course and study at your own pace.

Register

Start End England fee Register
At anytime before registration end date Jan 2026 - see Entry requirements for more detail £150.00

Registration closes 31/07/2025

Register

Ways to pay

Credit/Debit Card – We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Visa Electron.

Sponsorship – If this course is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could ask your employer to sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees. Your sponsor just needs to complete a simple form to confirm how much they will be paying and we will invoice them.

The fee information provided here is valid for short courses starting in the 2024/25 academic year. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.

Can you study an Access module for free?

Depending on eligibility and availability of places, you could apply to study your Access module for free.

To qualify, you must:

  1. be resident in England
  2. have a household income of not more than £25,000 (or be in receipt of a qualifying benefit)
  3. have not completed one year or more on any full-time undergraduate programme at FHEQ level 4 or above or successfully completed 30 credits or more of OU study within the last 10 years

How to apply to study an Access module for free

Once you've started the registration process, either online or over the phone, we'll contact you about your payment options. This will include instructions on how you can apply to study for free if you are eligible and funded places are still available.

If you're unsure if you meet the criteria to study for free, you can check with one of our friendly advisers on +44 (0)300 303 0069, or you can request a call back.

Not eligible to study for free?

Don't worry! We offer a choice of flexible ways to help spread the cost of your Access module. The most popular options include:

  • monthly payments through OUSBA
  • part-time tuition fee loan (you'll need to be registered on a qualification for this option)

To explore all the options available to you, visit Fees and Funding.

What's included

All learning materials, exercises, study support and end of course quiz are delivered entirely online. 

Computing requirements

You'll need broadband internet access and a desktop or laptop computer with an up-to-date version of Windows (10 or 11), or macOS Ventura or higher.

Functionality may be limited on mobile devices. For example, voice recorder activities, which are common in language short courses, may not work on iOS/Apple devices.

Our module websites comply with web standards, and any modern browser is suitable for most activities.

Our OU Study mobile App will operate on all current, supported versions of Android and iOS. It's not available on Kindle.

It's also possible to access some module materials on a mobile phone, tablet device or Chromebook. However, as you may be asked to install additional software or use specific applications, you'll also require a desktop or laptop as described above.

If you have a disability

The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet you are advised to contact us about support which can be given to meet your needs.

The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying BGXS012 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.