Mastering Business Excellence · Soft Skills

Mastering Leading High-Performance Teams

Mastering Leading High-Performance Teams turns capable individual contributors into leaders who set direction, coach, delegate and hold a team accountable.

Register Now opens this course on the Blue Ocean Academy website in a new tab.

Mastering Leading High-Performance Teams course
  • Course codeMLHPT
  • LevelProfessional
  • Learning time31 hours
  • Modules20 modules
  • FormatSelf-paced online
  • CredentialMBE credential

About this course

Why it matters

The best engineer, the top salesperson and the sharpest analyst get promoted, and within a year many of them are drowning: still doing the work themselves, unsure how to coach, reluctant to delegate and uncomfortable holding peers who became reports to account.

The program addresses that transition head-on. It gives new and established leaders a shared model for setting direction, diagnosing a team, creating the safety that lets people speak up, adapting style to each individual, and keeping standards high without burning anyone out.

How it runs for your organization

Delivered as 31 hours of self-paced online learning on the Blue Ocean learning platform, it fits around the operational load that makes leadership programs hard to schedule. An HR business partner or L&D lead enrolls the cohort under a corporate license and tracks enrollment, progress and completion on the administrator dashboard.

Participants apply each module to the team they lead: diagnosing it, running a coaching conversation, delegating real work, and finally building a 90-day action plan. On completion of the modules and assessments they earn a digital, verifiable MBE credential.

What you will learn

  • Redefine personal value as outcomes delivered through the team rather than individual output
  • Translate company strategy into team goals people understand and connect to their daily work
  • Model the behaviors that make it safe to dissent, report problems and admit mistakes
  • Match leadership style to each person's readiness instead of leading everyone the same way
  • Coach with the GROW model and delegate along a spectrum from instruction to trust
  • Give candid feedback, manage underperformance step by step and mediate conflict between team members
  • Choose team metrics and OKR cadences that drive the right behavior without gaming
  • Lead hybrid, global and AI-assisted teams through change with sustainable workloads

Skills you will build

  • Leadership transition
  • Goal cascading
  • Psychological safety building
  • Situational leadership
  • Coaching with GROW
  • Delegation design
  • Performance conversations
  • Team metrics and OKRs

Who this course is for

Newly promoted supervisors are the obvious first cohort, since the opening module is about the transition they are living through. Team leaders and line managers with a few years behind them gain a structured way to fix habits picked up by trial and error.

Department and functional heads and operations and service managers use the motivation, delegation and accountability modules to lift output across several teams at once, and project and program managers apply the same tools to people they do not line-manage. HR business partners can support leaders with a common vocabulary. Running leaders from one function together builds consistency; mixing levels exposes where expectations differ.

Course outline

Over 20 modules, a leader moves from the first weeks in the role to a team that runs on shared commitments. Module one covers the shift away from personal output and the first 90 days. Modules two to five deal with direction, the foundations of high performance, team development and psychological safety.

Modules six to ten form the people toolkit: adapting style, motivation, coaching, delegation and accountability. Modules eleven to fourteen take on underperformance, conflict, change and pressured decisions. Modules fifteen to nineteen widen the lens to hybrid, global and AI-enabled teams, performance data and wellbeing, and module twenty combines it all into a personal playbook.

20 modules · 80 topics

Module 1From Contributor to Team Leader
  • Why Great Individual Contributors Often Struggle as Leaders
  • Redefining Your Value: From Output to Outcomes Through Others
  • The Authority Trap and Earning Legitimate Influence
  • First 90 Days: Diagnosing the Team You Inherit
Module 2Defining a Compelling Vision and Goals
  • The Anatomy of a Vision People Will Follow
  • Cascading Strategy into Team-Level Goals
  • Connecting Daily Work to Purpose and Meaning
  • Communicating Direction So It Sticks
Module 3The Foundations of High Performance
  • What the Research Says: Google's Project Aristotle and Beyond
  • The Performance Equation: Clarity, Capability, Commitment
  • Team Norms, Rituals, and Operating Agreements
  • Diagnosing Where Your Team Stands Today
Module 4Understanding Team Dynamics and Development Stages
  • Tuckman's Stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing
  • Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions and Their Antidotes
  • Roles, Interdependence, and the Cost of Social Loafing
  • Reading Group Mood and Intervening at the Right Moment
Module 5Building Psychological Safety as a Leader
  • Amy Edmondson’s Research and Why Safety Is Not Niceness
  • Leader Behaviors That Build or Break Safety
  • Inviting Voice, Dissent, and Productive Conflict
  • Responding to Failure Without Punishing Honesty
Module 6Situational and Adaptive Leadership
  • The Hersey-Blanchard Model: Directing to Delegating
  • Diagnosing Individual Readiness and Competence
  • Adaptive Leadership: Technical vs. Adaptive Challenges
  • Avoiding the One-Size-Fits-All Leadership Trap
Module 7Motivation and Engagement
  • Self-Determination Theory: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose
  • The Limits of Carrots and Sticks
  • Recognition That Actually Motivates
  • Diagnosing and Reversing Disengagement
Module 8Coaching and Developing Your People
  • The Manager-as-Coach Shift
  • The GROW Model and Powerful Questions
  • Stretch Assignments and Deliberate Development
  • Building Individual Development Plans
Module 9Delegation and Empowerment
  • Why Leaders Fail to Delegate and What It Costs
  • The Delegation Spectrum: From Tell to Trust
  • Matching Tasks to People and Setting Guardrails
  • Empowerment Without Abdication
Module 10Setting Expectations and Driving Accountability
  • Making Expectations Explicit and Mutual
  • Accountability as a Team Value, Not a Threat
  • Follow-Through Rhythms and Progress Reviews
  • Recovering When Commitments Are Missed
Module 11Feedback and Performance Management
  • The Neuroscience of Feedback and the SBI Model
  • Radical Candor: Caring Personally, Challenging Directly
  • Managing Underperformance Step by Step
  • Fair Performance Reviews and Continuous Feedback
Module 12Navigating Conflict and Difficult Conversations
  • Sources of Team Conflict: Task, Process, and Relationship
  • The Crucial Conversations Framework
  • Mediating Between Team Members
  • Turning Conflict into Innovation and Alignment
Module 13Leading Through Change and Uncertainty
  • Kotter and the Psychology of Change Resistance
  • Communicating Change and the Emotional Curve
  • Building Team Resilience and Adaptability
  • Leading When You Don’t Have the Answers
Module 14Decision Making Under Pressure
  • Cognitive Biases That Sabotage Team Decisions
  • Decision Rights: Who Decides and How
  • Frameworks for High-Stakes, Time-Boxed Choices
  • Learning from Decisions Through After-Action Reviews
Module 15Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams
  • The Distributed-Work Landscape and Its Trade-Offs
  • Async-First Communication and Documentation
  • Building Connection and Belonging at a Distance
  • Managing Performance and Fairness in Hybrid Teams
Module 16Leading Diverse and Global Teams
  • The Business Case for Inclusive High-Performance Teams
  • Cross-Cultural Fluency and Erin Meyer's Culture Map
  • Inclusive Leadership Behaviors and Countering Bias
  • Bridging Time Zones, Languages, and Working Styles
Module 17Leading Teams in the AI Age
  • From Automation Fear to Augmentation Mindset
  • Redesigning Roles and Workflows Around AI Tools
  • New Human Skills That Rise in Value
  • Ethics, Trust, and Oversight in AI-Assisted Teams
Module 18Measuring and Managing Team Performance with Data
  • Choosing Metrics That Drive the Right Behavior
  • OKRs and Goal-Setting Cadences That Work
  • Team Health Dashboards and Leading Indicators
  • Avoiding Metric Fixation and Gaming
Module 19Sustaining Performance and Wellbeing
  • The Burnout Epidemic and Its Warning Signs
  • Designing Sustainable Workloads and Recovery
  • Modeling Wellbeing as a Leader
  • Building a Culture That Lasts
Module 20Your High-Performance Leadership Playbook
  • Integrating the Frameworks into One Operating System
  • Assessing Your Team Across the Performance Dimensions
  • Building Your 90-Day and 12-Month Action Plan
  • Committing to Continuous Leadership Growth

Frequently asked questions

Our new managers still do the work themselves. Does this help?

That pattern is the subject of module one and returns in module nine. The opening module shows why strong contributors cling to output, how to redefine their value as results through others, and how to earn influence that does not depend on title. Module nine then tackles delegation directly: why leaders avoid it, what the team loses, how to match tasks to people and how to set guardrails without taking the work back.

Which leadership and team models does the program draw on?

Several well-established ones, each tied to a practical use. Tuckman's stages and Lencioni's five dysfunctions help diagnose a team. Amy Edmondson's work underpins the psychological safety module. The Hersey-Blanchard model drives the situational leadership module, self-determination theory explains motivation through autonomy, mastery and purpose, and the GROW model structures coaching conversations. Later modules bring in the SBI model for performance conversations, Kotter on change and Erin Meyer's culture map.

How does psychological safety differ from simply being nice?

Module five makes the distinction central. Safety means people will raise a risk, disagree with the leader or admit an error because they expect a fair response, not a comfortable atmosphere where nothing hard gets said. The module covers the specific leader behaviors that build or break it, how to invite dissent on purpose, and how to respond to failure in a way that keeps honesty flowing.

Is it suitable for experienced managers, not just new ones?

Yes. Experienced leaders tend to get the most from the second half, where underperformance, conflict, leading change, high-stakes decisions, remote and cross-cultural teams, and performance data challenge habits that have gone unexamined for years. Enrolling managers at several levels together makes the vocabulary for expectations and development plans consistent from supervisor to department head.

What does accountability look like in practice after the program?

Module ten treats accountability as a team value rather than a threat. Leaders learn to make expectations explicit and mutual, to set up follow-through rhythms and progress reviews so nothing drifts silently, and to handle a missed commitment in a way that restores performance without humiliation. Module eleven follows with managing underperformance step by step and fair reviews, and module eighteen adds metrics and OKR cadences that make progress visible.

How long does it take and how do we track it?

The program holds 31 hours of self-paced content on the Blue Ocean learning platform, available on web and mobile, so each leader progresses around their operational calendar rather than a fixed timetable. Your administrator dashboard shows enrollment, progress and completion for the whole cohort. Leaders who complete the modules, knowledge checks and practice assessments receive a digital, verifiable MBE credential issued by Blue Ocean Corporation.

How do individual learners register for this course?

Use the Register Now button on this page. It opens Mastering Leading High-Performance Teams on the Blue Ocean Academy website, where individual learners can enroll directly.

How does a corporate license for this course work?

Your organization licenses seats for a cohort or a whole team. Participants study the self-paced modules on the Blue Ocean learning platform, on web or mobile, and your administrator follows enrollment, progress and completion on a dashboard.

Can we start with a pilot cohort before a wider rollout?

Yes. A pilot cohort in one department is a practical first step. Use the corporate license form, and a program advisor will map the relevant courses and license options to your teams.

Ready to get started?

Ask about a pilot cohort of newly promoted managers, or request a corporate license to put every people leader through the same program.

Register Now opens this course on the Blue Ocean Academy website in a new tab.

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