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In my last post I reflected on what makes an effective team of teachers. This is something I've been contemplating a great deal as this year I'm leading a team of instructional coaches. We work with a number of middle schools that are "transforming" and a central element in our theory of action is that leadership and instruction will transform by way of strong, effective, high functioning teams.
At these sites, my coaches support the development of grade level teams, department teams, leadership teams, and cross-site teams of teachers and administrators.
This fall we've pursued an inquiry around our own coaching and facilitation actions. We're attempting to name the precise moves that we need to take in order to develop strong teams. We're working on creating a tool that will help us self-assess and guide our practices, as well as something that we can offer to others to help them think about team facilitation.
So what steps do we take to develop strong teams? How are these steps reflected in a meeting? I'd like to share some of our preliminary thoughts with you and I'd love your feedback! Note that I'm using the term "facilitator" to mean the person who plans and designs agendas as well as who guides a team through processes outlined on an agenda.
We determined that the first coaching action to break down is how we plan for meetings. Strong teams emerge after a series of powerful interactions -- through learning together, working together, and convening in meetings. We have all experienced meetings that result in the opposite I'm sure; so in order to foster effective teams, we know that great attention must be paid to how a meeting is designed. Here are a few of the specifics we came up with for how we plan meetings:
This last point is something we think about when considering participation. We want to ensure that all will voices will be heard and will have equal access to decision-making and input. Sometimes, if we don't structure meetings to ensure this kind of equity, we don't get it.
There's a lot more to say about how we plan effective team meetings. For example, we also want to make sure we're planning with an awareness of where the team is at in its stage of development and how we can help this team move to the next stage. (See Tuckman's Stages of Team Development.) Let's take a look at the second domain of facilitation skills that we identified.
In this section, we named many of the in-the-moment actions that a coach takes when facilitating a team meeting. Of course, they aren't spontaneous -- they should be planned for and noted in the facilitator's agenda.
In order to hold a meeting that builds effective teams, a facilitator needs to:
This domain outlines the skills that a facilitator employs during a meeting to guide or direct a team toward effective collaboration. These are the trickier skills to name and master, but they are essential to developing high functioning teams. During a meeting, a facilitator must:
What I've shared with you is just part of what's in our facilitation tool. I'm really curious to hear your thoughts -- what resonates in this list? What's missing? What's confusing? What have you seen done, or done yourself, to help build effective teams? What do you think is essential for a coach or facilitator to do in order to build strong teams that can transform schools?
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