WRITTEN BY DR. DAVID WATTERSON, FOUNDER OF ERC'S AFFILIATE, WATTERSON & ASSOCIATES, INC.

Cohesive team building is not an easy feat. It takes time, energy, and commitment of the team members to truly achieve the desired results. It also takes awareness to realize you need to put the teams at your organization through a cohesive team building program.

According the 2017 State of the Industry report from the Association for Talent Development, organizations spend an average of $1,273 per employee for direct learning expenditures. Organizations smaller in size spend more per employee and larger organizations spend less per employee but smaller organizations have a much smaller training budget than those larger organizations.

New managers may have a hard time adjusting if they are equipped with the proper tools, tips, and tricks that enable them to reach success. Getting off on the right foot for new managers often sets the tone for the they are managing for the foreseeable future.

Leadership development and professional development are not new concepts, yet their evolvement has been less than progressive. Many organizations focus on the horizontal development of leaders by investing in soft skills and technical skills training with a focus on broadening tools and competencies used. Horizontal development is a key part of leadership development and organizational success.

Online training and e-learning have become increasingly popular over the past decade. There are a number of advantages when it comes to technology-based training but do they really overshadow the advantages of traditional, classroom-based training?

Leadership teams have the ability to shape and drive their organization when they can be effective but with individuals coming from many different backgrounds and roles, challenges are bound to arise. Differing opinions lead to conflict, distrust amongst team members, ineffective communication techniques, lack of accountability, and destructive criticism. All potentially result in setting your team up for failure. In order to address these potential pitfalls, you need to identify them first. Here’s 5 common leadership pitfalls and how to avoid them: