Module 1 Strand B2
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Module 1 Strand B2
Learning About Team Building
Role of Team Members
Learning About Team Building
One way to learn about team building in other schools is to listen to respected colleagues in your school board talk about their team building process.
Key Factors In Team Development
Commitment:
Team members see themselves as belonging to a team rather than as individuals who operate autonomously. They are committed to group goals above and beyond their personal goals.
Team members have faith in each other to honor their commitments, maintain confidences, support each other, and generally behave in a consistent and predictable acceptable fashion.
The team understands how it fits into the overall business of the organization. Team members know their roles, feel a sense of ownership, and can see how they make a difference.
Communication refers to the style and extent of interactions both among team members and those outside the team. It also refers to the way that members handle conflict, decision making and day-to-day interactions.
Everyone has a role in the team. Despite differences, team members must feel a sense of partnership with each other. Contributions are respected and solicited, and a real consensus is established before committing the team to action.
Once a team has a clear purpose (why it is together and where it is going), it must have a process or means to get there. The process should include problem-solving tools, planning techniques, and a clear idea of the 'ground rules'
Exercise #8 - Observation of Teamwork Skills
A.
Choose a team in your school. Using the Observation of Teamwork Skills as directed. Remember you may choose to observe students or adults in a team setting over the course of 3 different times.
In a one minute paper (up to 45-50 words) describe your observations in respect to the skill areas identified. What area(s) did you feel needed to be further developed?
B.
Now take a look at your own skills as you have opportunities to work in a team. Click on
Teamwork Skills Survey . Are there areas that you think you do very well? Are there opportunities for growth?
E-mail me
Role of Team Members
Now that you have completed the Teamwork Skills Survey reflect on the roles you usually play
when working on a team. Consider these roles in relation to special education processes.Now let's look at Edward DeBono's "Six Hats System" This is a method that is simple but powerful and necessary for serious creativity and problem solving. The symbolism of different colours of hats provides a convenient way of looking at a particular framework.
White Hat
White is neutral and objective. The white hat is concerned with objective facts, figures and information. "Just the facts, please."
Red Hat
The red hat allows the legitimate expression without justification of feelings and emotion. "give me your hunches, intuitions, impressions and feelings, please."
Black Hat
Black is for caution. The black hat covers the negative aspects, --why it cannot be done and the risk involved. "Give me your logical negative --what's wrong, incorrect and in error. The pessimistic view, please. Yes...but."
Yellow Hat
Yellow is sunny and positive. The yellow hat is optimistic and covers hope and positive thinking. It seeks to find the value and benefits. "Give me the positive perspective from the logical and practical to dreams, visions and hopes, please."
Green Hat
Green is grass, vegetation and abundant, fertile growth. The green hat creates the energy for creativity, new idea, and alternatives. "Give me new ideas, new concepts and new perceptions, please.."
Blue Hat
Blue is cool, and it is also the colour of the sky. The blue hat organizes all modes of thinking ensuring their input into the decision making process. It is the manager of the thinking process.
The Seven Hats is only one way to look at the roles often played within a group. I have found it to be a very effective and fun way to really grasp a better understanding of how these roles are played out in team meetings and other occasions when groups of educators, parents and other professionals come together to do some problem solving around student programming and placement.
Choose one of the following exercises - 9a or 9b.
Exercise #9a - Reflections Team's Roles
When you are in a team meeting or an IPRC meeting I would like for you to observe the members and identify the roles that are being played out in this meeting. As the observer you will script key statements made by the members throughout a 5-10 minute period. Organize these statements using the De Bono's Hat Framework and provide a general response and reflection of the meeting you observed.
Exercise #9b - Reflections of Team Roles
Respond to the following questions/stems:
When I am in a meeting the role I am most in is......
I feel most comfortable at a team meeting when I...
What roles would you like to begin using during team meetings?
What actions will you take to make this (these) change(s)?
" As teachers face up to .......the increasing overload of innovation and reform, it is important that they work and plan with colleagues, sharing and developing their expertise together, instead of trying to cope with the demands alone. In this emerging conception of the teacher's role, leadership and consultancy are part of the job for all teachers, not just a privilege allocated to and exercised by a few." Michael Fullan and Andy Hargreaves
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