Leading High Performance Project Teams for Exceptional Results

“We hired LSA to help 65 key people understand how to better lead critical projects with a very tight turnaround. LSA’s ability to identify the key trends, leverage points, and next steps for leading high performance project teams in our unique environment was great.

They really got to the heart of the issues in a constructive and unbiased manner that exceeded my expectations. It was not an easy task with so many skeptical people with different agendas, styles, experience, and perspectives.”
Darrell Gallagher | Head of Studio | Crystal Dynamics

Description
Leading high performance project teams to improve project team performance through project leadership and project communication.

Recognizing that nearly all projects are accomplished through the concerted, coordinated work of project teams, this project leadership workshop focuses on the human factors involved project management. Whether the teams are part-time volunteers or highly-skilled professionals, their productivity and success is dramatically affected by the relationships within the team and their ability to function as a cohesive unit. This workshop provides a vision of a high performance project team and specific guidelines every project team leader can follow to improve performance.

Project teams have a special challenge: they come together for a temporary assignment in which they face a unique problem. Successful project teams build a positive project team environment and learn to work together to solve problems even in the face of conflict. This workshop focuses on project leadership styles, presents proven project communication techniques, and details project team building principles in the context of the project environment.

Combining research, discussion, and extensive use of role playing and experiential learning, participants learn the theory behind the art of managing and leading project teams.

Benefits of Leading High Performance Project Teams
Leading high performance project teams has many proven benefits to the company, the project, the project manager, and the project team.

Enhance project team performance by improving project team cohesion and project team collaboration.
Avoid costly project delays due to unresolved project issues and project conflicts.
Recognize and avoid project problems before they occur.
Manage project stakeholders — and their expectations — effectively.
Improve the bottom line by getting people to work together quickly.
Develop lasting relationships that project team members can carry forward to future projects.

Workshop Objectives
Upon completion of Leading High Performance Project Teams, participants will be able to:

Draw out effective project performance from a project team who have a range of skills, attitudes and cognitive/behavior styles.
Lead and facilitate a project team to productively solve abstract problems.
Form a group of individuals into a cohesive project team that shares a commitment to a common goal.
Create a positive, productive atmosphere within a project team.

Essential Skills for Leading High Performance Project Teams

Workshop Outline
While the workshop is customized to meet the specific needs of each client, the standard outline is listed below.

1. Introduction to Leading High Performance Project Management Teams

2. Personal Project Leadership Skills

Using behavior styles to improve project communication
Stages of project team development

3. Creating a Positive Project Team Environment

Project ground rules
Project team identity
Project listening skills
Project meeting management

4. Project Collaboration

Project decision making
Project conflict resolution
Project problem solving
Building a collaborative project decision

5. Achieving High Project Team Performance

Project team building activities
Project team closure

6. Course Closure

Target Audience:
Project managers, team leaders, and senior team members who need to effectively lead work groups and lead project teams.

Related Information

LSA’s Project Management facilitator is one of the best I have ever worked with. His efforts and work in teaching complex and intensive Project Management principles across all levels and backgrounds within our organization have been of the highest value.

Leslie Guzman
Learning and Development

We turned to LSA Global to help us take our project risk management practices to the next level. As we continue to grow and our projects are increasing significantly in complexity, it is imperative that we incorporate risk management best practices deeper into our Delivery and Project Management methodologies to continue to increase productivity, efficiency, and client satisfaction. I am really happy with the results and would recommend LSA to anyone looking to take project risk management to the next level.

Scott Wassmer
US Director of Production

We have found LSA to be highly responsive to meeting our unique project management training program needs. Their passion for high levels of customer satisfaction and quality align very closely with our core values.

Kudos to LSA Global for the custom program that they provided my team. It was exactly what I wanted, and your team did a great job of engaging our group and providing the solid Project Management skills that we need.

Laura McHugh
Director

The project management training program was fantastic. It could not have gone any better. It was extremely helpful to me as a manager to be strategic during a time of explosive growth and change. It was fully customized to our industry and our needs, everyone came out of it with a solid direction of next steps. We are excited to take the next steps with LSA Global and to implement the project management best practices in a way that works for our unique culture.

Karen M. Inzilla
Director, Sales Operations

The customized Program Management Leadership workshop was exceptional—highly engaging, practical, and immediately actionable. The team gained valuable strategies to strengthen execution excellence, elevate program leadership, and drive meaningful impact on the company’s growth.

Scott Bordelon
Senior Principal Engineering Program Manager

LSA recently designed and delivered a project postmortem for a highly strategic project with a group of 25 team members from engineering, design, marketing, product management, sales, manufacturing, purchasing, business development, research, and finance. The pre-workshop diagnostic, interviews, and experiential session greatly exceeded our expectations.

We were able to honestly and effectively get everything out on the table, agree upon key lessons, and create a targeted action plan that made sense for our unique situation, team, and culture. The whole process made a very complex and potentially political situation a big success. We could not have done the retrospective without LSA.

Eric Vernon
Director of Operations

LSA did a great job. The project management solution was really well done from both a content and approach perspective. Overall a very positive experience that provided a lot of value. They really understood the art and science of project management and the specifics of our industry.

Laxmi Peri
VP Technology & Product Development

Thanks for a great and valuable session. The Project Management expertise and methodology that you brought to the table was perfectly targeted to our needs and our company. You definitely helped us launch an important step in driving best practice company standards around project management. I highly recommend this workshop to anyone looking to improve project management skills and methodologies.

Bill Thayer
VP Field Operations

LSA’s ability to do an effective project postmortem and then help us to use those insights to define and plan our next strategic project were invaluable. Their practical approach and built-for-purpose project kickoff and definition methodology have definitely taken our project definition, project planning, and project management skills to the next level.

I bet they helped us to move 4 times faster than we would have without their help.

Elizabeth Smith, PMP
Senior Project & Portfolio Manager

We hired LSA to design and deliver a Project Postmortem for sixty five key people on a mission critical project with a very tight turnaround. LSA’s ability to identify the key trends, leverage points, and next steps was remarkable.

They really got to the heart of the issues in a constructive and unbiased manner that exceeded our expectations.

It was not an easy task with so many skeptical people with different agendas, styles, experience, and perspectives. But they nailed it. Thank you!

Darrell Gallagher
Head of Studio

We recently designed and implemented two high value Project Management Workshops with LSA. The goal was to improve the fundamental project management skills for less experienced project managers and team members and to prepare our experienced project managers to become PMP certified. The programs were very well received and additional sessions have been requested. Both facilitators were excellent, building strong rapport with our scientists and taking time to encourage & answer questions. Based upon the results and the feedback around the company, the next workshops are already full. I highly recommend LSA to any company looking to take their project management skills to the next level.

Stacey Porter
Senior Manager Learning & Development

FAQs

High performance project teams share a clear purpose, strong collaboration, open communication, mutual accountability, and the ability to solve problems effectively. They establish trust quickly, manage conflict constructively, and align around common goals while adapting to changing project demands.

Project leaders can improve team performance by creating a positive team environment, setting clear expectations, facilitating effective communication, resolving conflicts early, and adapting their leadership style to the needs of the team. Successful leaders also focus on stakeholder management, team cohesion, and collaborative decision-making.

Effective communication helps project teams align priorities, share information, address risks proactively, and avoid misunderstandings that can lead to delays or rework. Strong communication also builds trust, improves collaboration, and enables team members to work together more efficiently under pressure.

Rather than avoiding conflict, high performing project teams address disagreements openly and constructively. They use established processes for conflict resolution, encourage diverse perspectives, and focus on solving problems rather than assigning blame. This approach helps maintain momentum while strengthening team relationships.

Project managers, team leaders, project sponsors, and senior team members all benefit from learning how to lead high performance project teams. These skills are especially valuable for leaders responsible for cross-functional, temporary, or complex projects where collaboration, stakeholder alignment, and rapid execution are critical to success.