Newsletter #4: Develop Team Feeling.

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Weekly Newsletter 4, 2007: Building Your Team

I am continuing with my current theme of leadership and, recognising that without the team we have no-one to lead, I thought this focus activity on the power and synergy of great teams was worth sharing.
Available now: Workshop booklet and PowerPoint "Effective Tam Working" for you to conduct your own PD. (See below).

Here is a very powerful indoor game called "And The Beat Goes On".  I found out about it from a newsletter, where the contributor had a sister who is a primary school music teacher. The point of the game is to demonstrate teamwork and synergy. To introduce it you simply tell the participants that we will now do an exercise that will demonstrate the powerful impact to an organization when everyone is beating to the rhythm of the organization.  Those who attended last year's QASSP state conference will understand exactly what I mean.

You can set it up however it works best for your environment, by bringing empty tin cans, toy drums, cymbals, small bongos or shakers of some sort. The writer simply asked her students to bring to class the above and told them little else. They were also already divided into 8 teams of 3 to 5 people.  I suggest you simply tell your staff that for the next staff meeting or PD session, each person is required to bring some kind of percussion instrument, as suggested above.

The entire exercise only takes about 5 - 10 minutes ... but they loved the suspense of having to bring a noise maker.

Step 1. Ask the participants to bring out their instruments and begin to beat their instrument. It should sound awful! As an organization this is just not working.

Step 2. Ask the participants to get into their teams. Ask the team leader, or the best qualified person based on the team's choice, to discuss with the team, then decide on a rhythm pattern and lead the team in playing the rhythm.

Each team does this and as a team you can begin to hear that they are working together, but as a full organization it still sounds awful and does not work.

Step 3.  Get each team to demonstrate its rhythm.

Step 4. Now, ask one of the teams to start with a rhythm. Let them play for about 30 seconds (until they are together and the others get the beat in their heads). Then ask the second team to join in, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth and so on.  Enthuse them, get them excited, get them playing like virtuosos.  Now the beat begins to sound like Queen! Let them play for a few minutes. And stop.

Step 4.  Do the same thing with the second team's rhythm.  Let them play for about 30 seconds (until they are together). Then ask the third team to join in, and the fourth, and the fifth and so on. Now the beat begins to sound fantastic all over again! Let them play for a few minutes. And stop.

Explain that this is what happens to many organizations and schools. They have a variety of individuals that march to their own drum, and as the exercise demonstrated, it is awful. Sometimes, quite by accident, sections or faculties will get into their own rhythm.  You can have a great Early Childhood Department or Business Studies Faculty, Support Staff, English Department, etc ... but it is only when they all begin to work together, beating to the same rhythm  that the school can be truly spectacular.

TRAINING MATERIALS:
Our materials take the effort out of quality professional development, allowing you to deliver the goods at a realistic cost.
Effective Team Working
Objectives:
This module will enable you to define the key concepts associated with effective teams.  This can be a one-day workshop, or can be run as a series of shorter sessions.  

Teamwork – a simple concept that delivers excellent results.
This teamwork training module presents the factors that can make teams succeed or fail and delivers useful tools and techniques that when applied will facilitate effective team based activity.
Program Description
Within this Learning package participants will develop competence in:
Introduction
·                 What is a Team?
·                 Teams and The Organisation
·                 Groups versus Teams
·                 Types of Teams
·                 Characteristics of Teams
Stages of Team Formation
Roles and Responsibilities.
Communication in a Team.
·                 Levels
·                 Barriers
·                 Emotional Intelligence
Effective Team Behaviours.
Systematic Team Work.
High Performance Teams.
·                 Characteristics
·                 Maintenance
·                 Causes of Low Performance
Leading a High Performance Team.
Why Teams Fail

Program materials: 45 page workbook (MS Word) and 88 slide PowerPoint.
Cost: $55.00 incl GST.

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