Action-Centred Leadership: Task, Team and Individual Training Course

Programme Summary

Action-centred leadership of task, team and individual is a five-day training course for senior managers and heads of function working at managerial and strategic level, culminating in a three-circle leadership plan for the team they lead. Many experienced leaders drift towards one dimension, driving results while morale erodes or protecting harmony while deadlines slip. The approach uses John Adair's model to diagnose that imbalance and to apply the core leadership functions deliberately across all three needs. Mars Training Centre UK delivers this programme in action-centred leadership.

The Business Case

Teams under pressure fail in predictable ways: objectives are unclear, cohesion breaks down or capable people disengage. Each failure is costly and often traced back to a leader who attended to one need and neglected the others. Leaders who balance task, team and individual deliberately sustain delivery while keeping their strongest people and building teams that can perform without constant intervention.

• Delivery Against Objectives: Improves on-time achievement of team goals through clearer planning, briefing and control.
• Team Cohesion and Engagement: Reduces conflict and disengagement by attending to team maintenance alongside results.
• Retention and Capability: Keeps and grows capable staff through deliberate attention to individual needs and development.

Principles and Evidence Base

• Action-Centred Leadership (John Adair): Provides the three overlapping needs of task, team and individual used throughout, and the diagnostic in Session 1.
• Adair's Leadership Functions: Planning, initiating, controlling, supporting, informing and evaluating structure the practice in Sessions 2 and 3.
• Tuckman's Stages of Team Development: Explain how team needs change from forming to performing in Session 3.
• Situational Leadership and the GROW Model: Guide how leaders adapt style to each person and coach individual development in Session 4.

Intended Participants

• Leaders responsible for the results of a department, division or project portfolio.
• Senior managers who lead other managers and set the leadership tone of their unit.
• Heads of function rebuilding or merging teams after restructuring.
• Leaders whose teams combine strong performers with low engagement or high turnover.

The programme serves operations, engineering, finance and public service functions in energy, healthcare, construction and government organisations.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will be able to diagnose the balance of task, team and individual needs in their own leadership practice.
2. Participants will be able to construct plans and briefings that set clear objectives, roles and standards.
3. Participants will be able to evaluate the development stage of a team and select actions to strengthen cohesion.
4. Participants will be able to adapt leadership style and coaching to the needs of individual team members.
5. Participants will be able to justify a three-circle leadership plan for their team to a senior sponsor.

Programme Structure

Day 1: The Three Circles of Action-Centred Leadership

What does a team need from its leader, and where is the current balance?

• Task, Team and Individual Needs as Overlapping Circles
• Leadership Levels: Team, Operational and Strategic
• Three-Circle Self-Diagnostic
• Warning Signs of Neglected Needs
• Leadership Qualities Versus Leadership Functions

Day 2: Achieving the Task

How are objectives set, briefed and controlled so that the team delivers?

• Defining Objectives and Success Criteria
• Planning Function: Options, Resources and Contingencies
• Briefing Function: Structured Team Briefings
• Controlling Function: Standards, Monitoring and Intervention
• Evaluating Function: After-Action Reviews

Day 3: Building and Maintaining the Team

How does a leader build cohesion and keep it under pressure?

• Tuckman's Stages of Team Development
• Team Norms, Roles and Working Agreements
• Supporting Function: Morale and Team Spirit
• Informing Function: Communication Rhythms
• Handling Conflict Within the Team

Day 4: Developing the Individual

How are each person's needs met so that they contribute fully?

• Situational Leadership Style Matching
• Adair's 50:50 Rule of Motivation
• GROW Coaching Conversations
• Delegation and Stretch Assignments
• Recognition and Feedback Practices

Day 5: Applying Action-Centred Leadership

How are the three needs balanced in the leader's own team?

• Applying the Three-Circle Diagnostic to a Participant Team
• Leadership Function Audit of a Live Project
• Rebalancing Scenario: Deadline Pressure Versus Team Strain
• Peer Review of Individual Development Actions
• Three-Circle Leadership Plan Presentation

Methodology

The programme relies on structured exercises and simulation. Participants work through team tasks that expose how they lead under time pressure, then review what happened against the three circles and the leadership functions. Case analysis from several sectors and peer feedback build towards the plan presented in Session 5.

• Suggested activity: Leading a timed team task and reviewing it against the three circles.
• Suggested activity: Briefing a hospital operations team on a new service target.
• Suggested activity: Coaching role-play with a disengaged engineer using the GROW model.

Capstone Output

Each participant completes a three-circle leadership plan for their own team. It contains a needs diagnostic, task objectives and briefing plan, team development actions, individual development notes for key members and a review rhythm, ready to agree with a line manager or sponsor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the action-centred leadership programme suitable for experienced senior managers?

Yes. It is designed for leaders of teams and managers at managerial and strategic level. It assumes leadership experience and uses it as the material for diagnosis and practice.

Which models does the action-centred leadership programme rest on?

It rests on John Adair's Action-Centred Leadership and his leadership functions, supported by Tuckman's stages of team development, Situational Leadership and the GROW coaching model.

How is the three-circle leadership plan from action-centred leadership training used at work?

You use it to set priorities for your team over the coming months, agreeing objectives, team actions and individual development with your sponsor and reviewing progress against it.

How does action-centred leadership differ from a general leadership development course?

It works through one practical model, the balance of task, team and individual, and the functions that serve them, rather than surveying many leadership theories.