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Illinois Leadership Competencies: Interpersonal/Team: Getting Started

Effective leadership requires working with and influencing others to achieve common goals and shared vision. Leaders need to develop skills for building personal, authentic, and productive relationships.

Interpersonal/Team Level of Leadership

Leadership Competencies

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Leadership Labs on the Interpersonal/Team Level

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING IN GROUPS AND TEAMS

The Creative Problem Solving in Groups and Teams focuses on innovation, creativity, and diversity of ideas in problem-solving. Participants learn their KAI assessment results, develop an understanding of their dominant problem-solving style, and how their approach to solutions can contribute to organizations and teams.

INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP

Everyone is unique and everyone has bias, sometimes without a person realizing it. The Inclusive Leadership lab takes a fresh look at equity, equality, and inclusion.  Participants learn to recognize the values of others and identify various social identities through the scope of leadership.

NETWORKING AND PERSONAL BRAND DEVELOPMENT

Displaying solid leadership during times of personal or professional change can be difficult.  The Networking and Personal Brand Development lab provides an opportunity for current students to learn from Illinois Alums about self-management skills to employ when transition is on the horizon.  Participants also practice developing and maintaining professional networks that are often key to success.

Click here to get more information about these and other Leadership Labs

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About this Guide

The interpersonal/team competencies make up the second level of practice of the leadership competencies, which is shown on the model shown to the left. Effective leadership requires working with and influencing others to achieve common goals and a shared vision. Leaders need to develop skills for building personal, authentic, and productive relationships. But what do common goals look like? How do we communicate and build relationships more effectively? And what does followership even mean??

The resources in this guide will not only give a detailed explanation of what each competency is, but also give practical advice on how to implement them in your everyday life, at work, school, and even at home. Explore this guide to find books, videos, podcasts, articles, blogs, ILC programs, and other resources that focus on leading effective, productive, and happy teams.

"Build a Tower, Build a Team

Tom Wujec uses the "marshmallow challenge" to show how some teams work more effectively than others. Watch his TedTalk to learn about which team work best. The answer will surprise you!

Team Icebreaker Activities

Here are just a sampling of hundreds of ice breakers we have at the ILC. Stop by for even more fun activity ideas!                                                                              
Name Game                                                                                                                                                                                               Recommended group size: 5-30
 
Directions: The first person gives his or her name and lists something that they are bringing to the party that has the same first letter as their name (Beth brings blueberries, Juan brings juice, Tina brings tires). The second person states the first person’s name and what they are bringing and then their own name. The third person starts at the beginning, reciting each person before adding their own name, and so on.
 

 

 
Stepping Stones                                                                                                                                                                                         Recommended group size: 5-15
Supplies needed: Pen and paper
Directions: Picture yourself standing on one side of a wide river. There are five large stones leading across the river toward the opposite shore. Each stone represents a key event, person, career move, or time in your life that was fundamental to helping you become the leader you are today. In the space below, draw "stones." On each stone, write a brief description of each significant event/person and be prepared to share something about your leadership journey with others at your table. 

Illinois Library Resources

Our campus library subscribes to a few great scholarly journals on all aspects of leadership. You can access these e- journals through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's library:

Seminal Leadership Textbooks