All team members must participate if planning is to be effective
In a team focused professional learning community it is often difficult to plan in the longer view when others are planning shorter, or not at all.It makes it difficult when members fail to interact with partners when they fail to communicate. Impromptu, or meetings that are poorly planned and yield little to no results, can destroy the plans for the day and if enough of them occur in a short time frame this might apply to the week.
Traci, When you're working in a fast-paced environment, close communication is the key to success. It's great to hear you are able to meet frequently and discuss things. Some instructors don't have the luxury of meeting with the people they are working with face to face. Asynchronous communication methods like email work best in these situations.
Dr. Melissa Read
Regularly scheduled meetings for communication is vital to our accelerated program. We regularly communicate as a group and individually to collaborate,brainstorm, critique and develop solutions for one another. This is an invaluable tool that we could not function without. It generates enthusiasm and focus for what we are trying to accomplish.
In our accelerated program, we could not function without regular communication. We frequently meet and discuss, collaborate, and brainstorm regarding our program. It generates enthusiasm, critique and solutions for all of us.
That's a tough place to be Holly. Sometimes when we're working on teams, not everyone pulls their own weight. This can be frustrating. It's nice to know that your manager made some of your team members accountable for specific tasks. However, at the end of the day, you'll likely be evaluated on the group output.
Dr. Melissa Read
I agree with all team members participating. Unfortunately, in my world there are team members willing to let everyone else do all of the work. This will cause more stress among the team members. Our manager then assigned each person a list with their own tasks.
So true Justin. It's wonderful to invite a range of perspectives from others. Great ideas can come from anywhere - from administrative assistant to CEO. It's important to keep our minds open and invite others to share their thoughts. It makes us better.
Dr. Melissa Read
Working as a team is very beneficial to everyone, instructors and students. If everyone works together ideas can emerge that one person might not have come up with. When different ideas are discussed people and programs can improve.
Sometimes, but remember that you can be that person. If you know you are capable of leading the team, go for it.
So do efffective teams need a designated team leader?
I agree there is a reason it is called a team because everyone helps and everyone is responsible for the material it helps us all work together a strive for greatness.
Besides just being well planned these groups must work cohesively in what ever problem they were formed to solve. If only a few members are active in the planning stages,thenthe group is sure to fail or have to pick up the slack for the others to prevent failure, leaving the group dynamic rocky at best. Some procrastinators find ways to make it work out because they are hard-wired to multi task.
But isn't that part of the struggle?
If an entire team is working on a project, natural leaders will come to the forefront to take control of the situation. Their personality, feeling of responsability, or attitude towards the subject matter, will take control.
Others, who have other tasks, don't feel passionate about the planning process, or disagree with the leaders, easily take a more retiring role and assist only when needed.
The challenge is how to make all team members feel they are important and their participation is needed to complete the objective. I think difficulty arises in any situation, rather it be in school, work, or the home enviroment.
I agree with what you said but in addition to the different points of view you also get greater buy-in when the entire team is part of the planning process. This is a large help to management. When everyone feels part of the decision making process they will take ownership of the solution which will make them worker hard to seeing the success of the solution.
I agree that all team members must participate in planning, because having a different set of opinions and facts brings more synergy to the stage of planning.
