Successful Teams
Module 3
Forbairt Post Primary
Feb. 2016
A definition…….
‘A team is
a small number of people with complementary skills who
are committed to a common purpose, performance goals,
and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually
accountable’.
Teaching and Learning-School Teams?
• Board of Management
• Class Tutors Team
• Parents Council
• Guidance Team
• Student Council
• SEN Team
• School Teaching Team
• Pastoral Care Team
• Principal and Deputy/Deputies
• Subject Depts. Teams
• Year Head Team
• Crisis Intervention Team
Consider……..
A Team in your school that is really very good…..
What is it about that group of people that makes it
so effective as a Team?
As Principal and Deputy Principal what has been
your role in shaping/influencing the success of that
Team?
Bottom line for senior management- all Teams
need…….
• To have a sense of Team-significance
• To know why they exist
• To feel important
• Valued & appreciated
• Understand that they matter
• Know that they make a difference
Team-members- must haves!!
• The ability to communicate effectively with others
• The ability to recognise and understand the viewpoints
of others
• To live up to the contribution you are expected to make
• The have the capacity to build strong interpersonal
relationships
What is the mortar
that binds the best
Teams?
1. Team Stability
2. High levels of Social
Capital(‘connectedness’)
3. No superstars
4. Equal time to speak
5. Empathy
6. More women
7. Safety(conflict/candour)
8. High trust
‘IQ alone isn’t productive, teams need support, safety, candour, connectedness
and trust to thrive’.
In the USA, the National Transportation Safety Board found that 73% of incidents
occurred on the first day a team worked together, and 44% on the first flight.
‘Do you want a collection of brilliant minds or a
brilliant collection of minds’?
Meredith Belbin (1981)
• Ernst and Young has scrapped a requirement for school
leavers to have the equivalent of three B grades at A-level or
graduates to have an upper second class degree.
• The accountancy firm is removing all academic and
education details from its application process.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers earlier this year also announced
that it would stop using A-levels grades as a threshold for
selecting graduate recruits.
Sean Coughlan, Education correspondent, Financial Times
‘What is needed is not well balanced
individuals but individuals who balance
well with each other’.