| Team Management: What Teams Can Do |
Context: |
| As volunteer programs expand, increasing management tasks often overwhelm program directors. With training, volunteers can learn to work as self-directed teams, relieving some of this pressure. Key aspects of training for team management include: creating good communication, identifying tasks and roles, establishing work procedures, and evaluating and reforming practice. This activity can serve as an introduction to team management, communication, and practice. |
Goals: |
- To appreciate shared personal experience with teams
- To consider the qualities of good teamwork
- To identify tasks generally accomplished by management that volunteer teams can do
- To experience and evaluate how teams work
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Activity: |
| Ask the whole group to consider a time when they were part of a powerful team that accomplished something extraordinary. (If they lack such an experience, ask them to think about a really great team they have observed.) Allow them to swap stories with a partner, and ask that a few sample stories be shared with the entire group. Work together to list the qualities or characteristics of these exceptional teams on a flipchart.
Tell the group you know of a very large national volunteer tutor program—one with more than 1,000 volunteers in every state—that has just lost its director as well as several local managers. There is no alternative at this point but to ask some groups to manage themselves. The volunteers are anxious and need to have their confidence built up, so a national funder has provided grant money for the production of a few very brief videos (30-60 second commercials) to sell volunteers on the idea of specific management tasks they can accomplish as a team. Tell the group they have been assembled as experts in the field to create these brief tapes, and ask them to work in groups of three to four to create a mock-up of what their video might look like. It should show—in a very short time—one management task that volunteers can do and how it might be accomplished. Allow 10 minutes for preparation, then have groups share the results. Reflect on the tasks that are showcased; are they relevant to any tasks in the participants' current practice?
Allow each team to discuss their process together, especially potential for improvement. Collect team reports and list suggested improvements on a flipchart. |
Key Questions and Points to Remember: |
- What experiences do we share as members of high-performing teams?
- What are the qualities and characteristics of a good team?
- What management tasks can be taken on by volunteer teams in your program?
- What personal and group adjustments become necessary as teams evaluate their interactions?
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Developed by LEARNS, a partnership of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (1-800-361-7890) and Bank Street College of Education (1-800-930-5664). For additional activities or assistance, please call. |
