PEARSON EDUCATION School Team Development Manual: A Practical Guide to Developing and Managing an Effective Team

Schools are under constant pressure to find new and more effective ways of operating in order to improve results. One way to raise the level of achievement in your school is through effective teamworking, bringing about team spirit and improving morale, commitment and loyalty. Effective teamworking demands the skills of building, supporting and leading a team as well as being a team member. From the School Management Solutions series, theSchool Team Development Manual will provide you with the necessary guidance and resources to develop these essential skills enabling you to get the very best from your teams. This practical manual has been designed as a working document. All the advice within this activity-based guide is supplemented with photocopiable resources such as templates, case studies, checklists, questionnaires and activities. It examines: how to develop the skills of teamwork when and when not to use teamworking the coaching role of the leader decision making in the team giving and receiving feedback tackling individual poor performance handling conflict team time management Written by David Trethowan, a specialist in team leadership and management, the School Team Development Manual is essential reading for all headteachers, deputy headteachers, heads of department, governors and education management students. CONTENTS INCLUDE: SECTION 1 GETTING INTO TEAMWORK 1. What is teamworking? When and when not to use teamworking The 80/20 rule of teamworking How competitive does your team need to be? Natural phases in team development 2. Team leadership What does a team leader do? Styles of team leadership Style flexibility within teams The coaching role of the leader What will teamworking mean for you as the leader? 3. Team roles What are the process contributions and task contributions? The process contribution of team members The task contribution of team members Roles in setting up a new project Roles in an established team 4. Teamworking Ensure the team has a clear purpose Give people roles - an opportunity to participate Develop a team behaviour code Set up sound procedures Develop the review habit Preparing a team for teamworking S SECTION 2 DEVELOPING THE SKILLS OF TEAMWORK 5. Building a team Step 1 Situation awareness - What's the problem? Step 2 Data collection and diagnosis - What is behind the problem? Step 3 Action planning - What do we do? Step 4 Action taking - Lets get on with it Step 5 Evaluation - Did we do it? 6. Giving and receiving feedback Feedback is for development How to receive negative and positive feedback How to give negative and positive feedback Developing the feedback culture 7. Target Setting Team goals and the school mission Checklist for successful goal setting for teams Using subjective and objective criteria Tackling individual poor performance through target setting Causes of poor performance 8. Team meetings Planning the meeting Processing the meeting Following up the meeting Evaluating the meeting Briefing the team 9. Decision making in the team The seven-stage analysis of team decision making Deciding who to involve in the decision Three key guidelines for decision-making options Levels of decision making SECTION 3 TACKLING THE TOP FIVE TEAM PROBLEMS 10. Conflict in the team Styles of handling conflict Problem solving A conflict case 11. Groupthink in the team What is groupthink? Is there groupthink in your team? What can a leader do to prevent groupthink? Team survey 12. Crises in the team The harmful effect of crises Team strategy for handling crises Crisis analysis record 13. Communication within the team Team communication categories How to analyse team talk How to use the analysis of team talk 14. Team time management Know your objectives Examine your activities Plan your time Personal team timewaster analysis SECTION 4 CONCLUSION 15. Conclusion The effectiveness of the team Final words