Transcript 21st Century Principals Institute Copy March 2009 When Great Minds Don’t Think Alike, Good Things Happen West Virginia Institute For 21st Century Leadership March 2009

21st Century Principals Institute
Copy
March 2009
When Great Minds Don’t Think
Alike, Good Things Happen
West Virginia Institute For 21st
Century Leadership
March 2009
How do you Interpret the title of this
presentation?
Why Different Viewpoints Matter
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Challenge our assumptions
Contributes to creativity
Presents different viewpoints
Helps you identify potential barriers
Reinforces that there is not only one way to
accomplish a goal
Four Elements That Are Essential For
High Functioning Teams
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Common commitment and purpose
Clear performance goals
Complementary skills
Mutual accountability
Three classifications of teams
• Teams that recommend things
• Teams that make or do things
• Teams that run things
Highly Effective Teams represent a set of values, which
include
Encouraging listening and responding constructively
to views expressed by others
Encouraging conflict
Giving others the benefit of the doubt
Providing support
Recognizing the interests and achievements of
others
Teams vs. Working Groups
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A team is not just any group working together. Groups do not become teams because
someone calls them that
Working groups are a function of what its members do as individuals. A team’s
performance includes both individual results and “collective work products.” A
collective work product is what two or more members must work on together.
Working groups come together to share information, perspectives, and insights; to
make decisions that help each person do their job better; and to reinforce individual
performance standards. But the focus is always on individual goals and accountabilities
Working group members don’t take responsibility for results other than their own
Teams differ from working groups because they require both individual and mutual
accountability
Teams produce specific work products through the joint contributions of their
members. This makes it possible to achieve performance levels greater than if the
members of the team operated independently
Characteristics Of High Performing Teams
The key to a team is common commitment, not
common viewpoints. Without it, groups perform as
individuals; with it, they become a powerful unit of
collective performance
Teams develop direction, momentum, and
commitment by working to shape a meaningful
purpose
Successful teams shape their purposes in response to
a demand or opportunity put in front of them. As
principals you create the demand/opportunity
Characteristics Of High Performing Teams
 The best teams invest a tremendous amount of time and
effort exploring, shaping, and agreeing on a purpose that
belongs to them both collectively and individually
 The" purposing” activity continues throughout the life of the
team. Teams that fail, fail because they do not develop a
common purpose
 The best teams also translate their common purpose into
specific performance goals
 Transforming broad directives into specific and measurable
performance goals is the first step for a team trying to shape a
purpose that is meaningful to all team members
Characteristics Of High Performing Teams
Establishing specific performance objectives
for each goal facilitates clear communication
and constructive conflict within the team
The combination of purpose and specific goals
is essential to performance. Each depends on
the other to remain relevant and vital
 Clear performance goals help a team stay on
track and hold itself collectively accountable to
that goal
Skill Sets Of Effective Teams
• Teams must develop the right mix of skills.
Skill requirements fall into three categories:
– Technical or functional expertise skills
– Problem solving and decision making skills
– Interpersonal skills and personality types:
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Conformists
Outliers
Radicals
Rationalists
Technical or Functional Expertise
• Teams must have the specific expertise related
to the task at hand. It only makes sense to
have special education professionals on the
team if the purpose of the team centers
around special education
Problem Solving and Decision-Making Skills
• Teams must be able to identify the problems
and opportunities they face, evaluate options
and moving forward, and then make
necessary trade-offs and decisions about how
to proceed
– Teams need members with these skills to begin
with
• Do you have problem solvers on your current teams?
Interpersonal Skills And personality Types
• Common understanding and purpose cannot take
place without effective communication and
constructive conflict, which in turn depend on
interpersonal skills and personality types. These
skills include:
– Risk taking (one of the most underestimated skills of
leaders and teams
– Constructive criticism
– Objectivity
– Active listening
Team Accountability
• Team accountability is about the promise teams make to
themselves and others, promises that underpin two critical
aspects of effective teams:
– Commitment
– Trust
• When people work together toward a common objective,
trust and commitment follow. In turn, teams enjoying a
common purpose and approach inevitably hold themselves
responsible, both as individuals and as a team, for the team’s
performance
– This sense of collective accountability also produces mutual
achievement in which all members share
Assessing Your Teams
• Examine the teams that currently exists in
your school. Using the information provided,
assess the effectiveness of the team based on
the following questions
Key Questions To Ask Your Teams
 Does the team possess the four
elements of a high functioning
team?
 Which of the three
classifications of teams does the
team you have identified fall
into?
 Does the team embody the
values of a high functioning
team?
 Is the team you have identified
really a team or a working
group? How do you know?
 Which of the characteristics of
high performing teams does the
team have?
 Does the team have the skill
sets of a high functioning team?
 Does the team have clearly
established norms?
 Does the team practice the
accountability traits needed to
be successful?