Due Date: 14th March
Kotahi te aho ka whati; ki te kapuia e kore e whati.
One strand of flax is easy to break; many strands together stand strong.
How is a team greater than the sum of each individual part? This is the magic ingredient that defines good teams from the great ones. It is this key ingredient which is the prerequisite to building and leading a high performing team.
Although high-performing teams have many things in common, there is one clear question that can determine whether you are building and leading a high-performing or low-performing team:
At work, do your people have the opportunity to use their strengths every day?
If people feel that they are using their strengths more often – contributing their unique talent out into the world – they will be more respected, more productive, more willing to sacrifice, more likely to stay at your school, less likely to have accidents at work, and have many, many more positive outcomes.
If you are a leader, the difference between a low-performing team and a high-performing team comes from you (the leader) having the emotional intelligence: knowing oneself and knowing the strengths of your colleagues and asking them to contribute those strengths every day. This is the single most important driver of team performance.
Provocation:
i. Reflect on your top 3 strengths as a person/leader.
ii. Reflect on the top strengths of your team members.
iii. Share in 150 words or less, how you are currently using these strengths (or could use these strengths for greater effect) to impact the performance of the team.
Resources:
1. Patrick M. Lenciono, (2002), The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. https://www.executiveagenda.com/application/files/3215/6401/6016/fivedysfunctions.pd
2. Harvard Business Review: Leading Teams | The Secrets of Great Teamwork
3. Marcus Buckingham: What the Best Leaders do. https://youtu.be/LBC7GeOPZgY
24 Responses
I am approachable, down-to-earth and proactive.
My intention has always been to gain the most successful outcome for whomever I am working to support. This is often achieved through the strength of relationships I have within my community; students, whānau, colleagues. I have had many colleagues tell me that I “get things done”, which is heartening feedback to be given as there is nothing worse than sharing an issue with a colleague, only to have no movement towards resolving it, or to be left feeling unheard.
My current role is the perfect conduit to liaise between students, whānau and staff. This allows me to contribute to decision-making with the knowledge that I am well-informed by all concerned.
I have always worked hard and set goals for each and every task that I undertake; I like that people can rely on me.
My team is diverse and creative, which accurately represents the culture of the school. Being able to draw upon ideas from a wide range of experienced and knowledgeable team members, allows me to feel less pressured to be someone who is responsible for generating ideas all the time and allows me lots of space to consider how implementation would look.
Working within a team that operated under a Co-Principal model, the leadership structure of the school is considered to be quite “flat”. Although I had reservations about this type of leadership coming into my role, I have seen first-hand, how our staff feel included and their voice valued. We regularly offer staff with specific strengths the opportunity to lead certain initiatives. This approach feels like we are making the most of our human resources and working towards outcomes that can be owned by the majority.
A recent example of this would be how our school are handling the implications of the ever-changing beast that is AI. The Leadership team are well-aware that our policies will be continually in need of updating, reworking, consideration and that our staff will need to be kept in the loop and empowered with how the policies will effect their teaching and student learning.
We have been able to allocate the research facet of this piece or work, to a couple of staff members who are interested and able to dedicate time to it. They are now the leaders of this process and it is very evident that they are relishing the opportunity to contribute to the functioning of the school, in more of a leadership capacity.
These opportunities are always available to staff who have an area of interest and are wanting to do the deep mahi required to inform change of any sort. I see this as a real strength in our kura. There is far less ego involved when everyone has the opportunity to affect change.
Provocation:
i. Reflect on your top 3 strengths as a person/leader.
My top 3 strengths are being able to listen and problem solve, honesty and integrity and positive. I actually asked my staff what they thought my 3 strengths were thinking it would be narrowed down, instead I had 23 different categories. The ones I wrote about above were the ones that had multiple in the category. What would I have put? I struggled with this as I find it hard to blow my own trumpet! Listener & Problem Solve definitely. Honesty and integrity / professionalism yes. I think my 3rd would be getting staff to think critically particularly around their practice.
ii. Reflect on the top strengths of your team members.
My team over the last couple of years have grown to be a really tight unit. They have great social capital and social cohesion which I think builds an environment where everyone is happy and is eager to come to work. We have a lot of laughs! They are culturally responsive in their practice which we have worked on in recent years. The team is also very collaborative – this is from the boss – to teachers – to support staff – to teaching assistants – to the caretaker, so throughout the school..
iii. Share in 150 words or less, how you are currently using these strengths (or could use these strengths for greater effect) to impact the performance of the team.
My office is often used as a ‘can I run something past you’ room. Teachers will have an idea, problem / issue etc and just want an ear to listen and/or support with problem solving. I follow up on this to determine if they still need support, look at the success or problem solve more if there is more to be done. One of our teachers has an Across School role in Cultural Responsiveness. She is very underutilised, so we use her skills at school. Another teacher has just been awarded our Cultural Leader position. She has awesome skills which she is using to develop teacher practice and student cultural groups across the school as well. One of our biggest strengths currently is the ability to work collaboratively, not only in teams, but across the whole school. Staff know what they are working towards and our strategic plan is often mentioned in staff and/or syndicate meetings. Having a common goal and sense of urgency to ensure our students progress as much as they possibly can each year supports this.
I believe my top strengths that I bring to a team are I am organised, analytical, supportive of others and have good communication. When reading the The FIVE Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, I noted that within our team we have many of the features of members of trusting teams. In the video clip What The Best Leaders Do – Marcus Buckingham, he talks about knowing your teams strengths and focus on those. The top strengths of my team include creativity, supportive of each other, honesty and adaptable. I work closely with the principal and wider staff, including our team of teacher aides. We are a smaller school who purposefully work together which helps feel like one collaborative team. Reflecting on this I can see how my principal has identified individuals strengths and asks them to use them daily at school.
Your school culture sounds both supportive and purposeful, a good place to be.
Personal strengths I bring are my work ethic, empathy and the ability to be calm under pressure.
I do what I can (often in the background) to try and make my Principal’s life easier, the school perform better and provide opportunities for our students. Empathy is a key strength in my work with staff and students. I was lucky enough to do a bit of work a few years ago with Brendan Spilane and his words stick with me “Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind, always.” Being calm under pressure is also a really key strength I believe I have developed through the years. I am in a role where things come out of the blue and can compound very quickly and I like to think that I am able to keep a clear head and make sound decisions when needed.
I work with a great team of people who are very caring, collaborative and open to continuous learning. These attributes make our learning environment safe, inclusive and thriving for staff and students.
Sounds as though your leadership and support sit within a very positive environment
I am organised in my role, and empathetic in most situations.
I work across the school and closely in a very collaborative work environment. Myself, Deputy Principal and Principal work as a tight senior leadrship team. From there I work closely with my 2 senior teachers and this flows through to their teams where support, suggestions and ideas for example are shared and discussed. Open and honest conversations are had at these levels and it flows to the whanau of the students, including daily communications with the childen across the classes (this can be for many reasons).
I also work and liasie closely with the Teacher Aides, support staff and part time staff and together we work through day to day and term planning, events and teaching and learning. My conversations are daily and they can be in person, via text, phone call or email and in a meeting forum. My door is open policy so it ensures ease of communications for all.
This sounds very varied and strong network of communication at all levels of your kura
i. Reflect on your top 3 strengths as a person/leader:
1) Creative
2) Organised
3) Empathetic
ii. Reflect on the top strengths of your team members:
1) Integrity
2) Collaborative
3) Willingness to have a go at unfamiliar things
4) Haylee Te Reo | Da Sol ESOL integration
iii. Share in 150 words or less, how you are currently using these strengths (or could use these strengths for greater effect) to impact the performance of the team.
We’re launching an initiative where each team member will lead a series of Friday afternoon lessons at the hub, focusing on their individual strengths. As part of this initiative, we’ll include a segment called “It’s Cool to Kōrero,” led by Haylee and supported by us. Additionally, we’ll collaborate with another team on incorporating Waiata into our sessions. Da Sol excels in ESOL integration and has been instrumental in creating resources and guiding our English language learners during our sessions.
As we move forward into the rest of the year, it will be smoother to integrate these strengths now that we’ve identified them. With the arrival of two new members to the school, the beginning of the year has been slower as we ensure they’re not overwhelmed by everything.
Starting from next term I would like to work alongside Haylee to continue incorporating Te Reo where we can and possibly even weave it through our usual units of teaching. Additionally, I plan to leverage Da Sol’s expertise in ICT and ESOL to develop accessible resources for our ESOL students to engage with the learning material.
Look forward to hearing how these initiatives develop over the year
I have taken on a new team that ranges from being fresh to teaching through to decades of experience and it has been great to start working with them all to find a way to build a way of working that complements their ways of working. The strengths I have noticed across them all are their willingness to try things and listen, enabling us to collaboratively work through some of the problems that arise. They are open and have been able to talk about what they are finding difficult but also their success and what has been working well. Finally, they are supportive; of me, of each other and their students. These qualities enable me to use my strengths of building good relationships and prioritising what’s important for the team to succeed.
Building a new team can be exciting when you have a range of backgrounds and experiences to draw on
Reflect on your top 3 strengths as a person/leader.
As a leader, I am organised, have good communication skills and am empathetic.
Being organized means I can manage my time effectively, prioritize tasks, and allocate resources efficiently. I also like to have clear goals and deadlines to stay on track. According to Haas and Mortenson(2016), “the foundation of every great team is a direction that energizes, orients, and engages its members. Teams cannot be inspired if they don’t know what they’re working toward and don’t have explicit goals”. So having clear goals works to the benefit of my team. Another important thing by being organized is that it allows me to adapt to changing circumstances more easily and I can quickly adjust my plans and strategies as needed. By being a good communicator, I am able to provide clear instructions, listen actively, and provide feedback and collaboration within my team. By being empathetic, I able to understand and connect with my team members and am sensitive to the needs of my team, ie. needs of my team members with children etc.
In my team, we have a mix of new teachers to very experienced teachers. They all bring their different strengths to our team when we are planning work for our tamariki. I believe this adds to the richness of our program that we offer to our students. We are also very collaborative and enjoy sharing our ideas- we came up with a set of values that our team follows and this binds us together and also becomes part of our shared values as a team.
Look forward to exploring some of this good work in our online meeting.
My top three strengths are that I am proactive, creative and empathetic
I work across three teams. The most highly functioning is my teaching team. The strengths of this team of four is our diversity of skills and experience, we are collaborative, consistent and we show genuine support and care for one another.
What we do well as a team is allow everyone to have input and everyone is valued for what they bring. As a team we are big on sharing and inspiring each other. What I believe we could do better is articulating our own goals as a team (specific to us and our learners) within the wider school environment. I believe we could be more overt in expressing why we are doing what we are doing. More ownership of our rationale. Our communication across the team is good on the day to day, but the big picture can get lost. We could celebrate our success better and be less humble about what we do well. I believe we could, with more planning time, tackle challenges in a more systematic way.
A less well functioning team is my ASL leadership team. My frustration here is that we need to develop an agreed way of working, looking at our strengths and weaknesses. We need to have a common understanding of our objectives, timeframes and methods. Basically strategic planning is currently lacking and impeding our progress.
Interesting reflection on the strengths of your team as well as areas for development.
I consider communication, approachability and being organised with clear systems- strengths of mine. We have a range of experience within the department that bring different skills to the table, but our strengths lie in having a supportive context (same office, all shared resources) and a shared mindset (hard-working, passionate and we like to have a laugh). My team is high functioning so I try to focus on growing their skill sets and empowering them with the confidence to push themselves professionally.
Sounds as though you have made a very positive start to building a unified and sustainable team culture.
After reading and reflecting on ‘The Secrets of Great Teamwork’ by Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen, I’ve identified that my teams strengths lie in the area of ‘supportive context’. We are a collaborative school, where collaborative classrooms, learning, teaching and planning takes place. As a team leader I have created a supportive and encouraging environment where team members feel safe, are willing to voice their opinions and take risks. Having and using this strength amongst my team allows team members to put differences aside, communicate well and collaborate together to create and use resources effectively. Using this strength has resulted in a positive impact in relation to the teaching and learning process, as well as the overall performance of our team.
Looking forward to learning more Ashleigh,about your team and your Kira’s collaborative approach.
Oops! Kura not Kira, typing ona phone keyboard is not ideal🙂
A strength of my team is that we have diversity of experience, age and knowledge. This brings a lot of strength to the table when it comes to decision making and producing high quality learning for our students. The challenge is to maintain the early standards that have been set for sharing our different ideas and knowledge. As our team is made up of two year levels, it feels like this has the potential to diminish as stronger bonds are formed between the members of the team that teach the same year level. It will be important that as team leader, I place an emphasis on collaborating across the year levels and provide opportunities for us to do this, so that it doesn’t feel like we are segregated as a team.
Diversity is such a key strength for teams, challenging to build the collaboration but with rich outcomes when you do it well.
‘Share in 150 words or less, how you are currently using these strengths (or could use these strengths for greater effect) to impact the performance of the team.’
My large team is newly formed this year and still somewhat fragmented. I certainly recognized the concept of cliquey ‘subgroups’ when I read the HBR article. However, reflecting on the four ‘enabling conditions’ described by Haas and Mortensen, I believe we all share strengths in creating ‘supportive environments’ and being goal-oriented thinkers, enabling the team to set our learners up for success in 2024. My strengths in quick and effective resourcing and creating systems for organization and communication support the team as they grapple with new learning programs and assessments. As we progress through the year, I hope to draw on my skills in holding space for open and honest conversations and establishing team norms to create a ‘strong structure’ within the team, allowing them to enhance their ‘collaborative ability’ and facilitate their own ‘individual development’ in light of the ‘shared mindset’ we have created.