In education there are different types of “teams.” There are grade-level teams, IEP teams, intervention teams, and just about every other type of “team” you can think of. If you are lucky enough to be on a team that functions well you know you are blessed. If you have ever been on a dysfunctional team, odds are that you don’t want to repeat the experience.

Does your current educational team function well?

Feel free to use these guidelines at your next team meeting to assess how you are doing as a group, to set goals for this school year, or to pat yourselves on the back for being a team that functions well according to these guidelines.

See if your group meets these four criteria of effective TEAMs:

T- Talk it out

It is easier to avoid difficult conversations than to talk about them. However, issues won’t go away just because you aren’t talking about them. Be honest and respectful in how you give and receive ideas. Don’t blame others for not understanding your point of view if you never explain it to them or if you state your perspective in a way that has your fellow team-members tuning you out before you finish your first sentence. Team members don’t have to always agree but they need to keep communicating. How well does your team address the difficult conversations?

E- Everyone brings something to the table

Respect the various strengths that each person brings to the group. If someone likes to keep the conversation focused, assign them the role of group facilitator. If another person has a strength with organization, allow them to prepare the materials for the meeting and handle follow-up contacts. When we fail to recognize and embrace our different strengths, we miss an opportunity to make the team better. Everyone in the team has a strength. Find it and use it to the advantage of the team. What strength does each person bring to your team? Have you embraced and built upon those strengths?

A-Ask questions

You may think you know what a fellow team member is implying but you will never know for sure unless you ask them. Clarifying questions, questions that cause the group to conduct further research, and questions that allow for reflection can all deepen the group discussion. Too often we fear that we are being pushy or condescending by asking questions. The truth is, the more you ask, the more you know. The more the group knows, the better decisions the group makes. How many and what types of questions were asked at your last team meeting?

M- Make it worth the time

Nothing is worse than a meeting that serves little purpose. No one wants to sit through a meeting that they feel is not worth their time. An hour meeting that could have been summarized in 5 minutes is frustrating. Be productive. Keep the meeting focused so all can leave with a sense of accomplishment. At the end of each meeting, ask yourselves if the meeting was a productive use of your time. If the answer is “no” then you need to make adjustments. Was your last team meeting worth your time?

Hopefully, your team meets these four criteria. We suggest being proactive, rather than reactive, and having a discussion with your team about how you function. Talking it out, respecting each individual’s strengths, asking questions, and making it worthy of time are just the beginnings of a team’s examination of how well they function.

What other criteria of effectively functioning teams would you add to our list?

Happy TEAMwork,