Development Team: One of the most important things to keep in mind when assembling work teams is team efficacy. Team efficacy is basically where effective teams have confidence in them and each other in the ability to succeed. Everyone that will be a part of this developmental team will have to come together and agree on what is best for the subject at hand. You will have to come in agreement with one another to work effectively as a team. Working as a team will create positive synergy that will allow an increase in performance. Having the correct work team established will also allow an easier and more organized work environment. When members know their role and what is expected of them, their job becomes easier. To create an effective team, you will need to be able to function and work together while displaying certain characteristics. Those characteristics are as follows: Adequate resources – must have adequate amounts of resources outside of the group to sustain it. You must have support on a variety of levels. In this case your support would be from the different jobs each of you holds in your development group. Those of you from the school system can provide classrooms, teachers and first hand encounters with students. Those of you with NCPIE can provide outside eyes looking in. Diversity, racial, ethnic, gender and disability issues are your main concerns. Lastly, those with The Woodson Foundation can provide logistical support, program development and measurement of the staff. The next characteristic you must show would be leadership and structure. You must be able to agree on who can perform what duties to the best of their abilities. Your team’s performance depends on the knowledge and skills of its members. From the list of possible candidates, those I feel that would be able to adapt to the thoughts and ideas of others with the outcome being that of a successful program are listed in no particular order. I would appoint Victoria Adams (Superintendent of Washington, DC schools) as part of the team. Miss Adams made the initial contact with The Woodson Foundation. She knows that the school system, communities and families should be involved, but believes that the school system should be playing the largest role. Being the superintendent of all area schools can also provide adequate resources in classrooms and with the teaching staff. I would also appoint Community Organizer Mason Dupree. Having so much contact with the community would provide the outside voices a way in. Communities are an important part of a successful school system, so you will need someone the community trusts and is comfortable with. Lastly, from The Woodson Foundation, I would select Meredith Watson to the team. Miss Watson has both experiences working as a teacher and with the foundation. She will be able to relate to both sides as well as providing the resources the Foundation has to offer. I would also consider having Victor Martinez from The Woodson Foundation as well. Mr. Martinez seems to have an open mind frame and welcome change when and if needed. He could serve as a possible mediator for the team. For the other candidates that were not chosen, I would say to open up to all sides of the equation. If you are deadest on your ways and have no room for change, the chances are your way will not work. You have to be willing to give a little as well as lose a little. Having a mind frame of only things that you agree and believe in will only satisfy you. To finish up characteristics, you will also need a climate of trust among team members. If you can’t trust those you are working with then how are those you are working to support going to trust you. With all this being said, it will be a long bumpy ride. With twists and turns and bumps along the way conflicts are sure to arise. Conflicts that may occur might not all be necessarily bad. Task conflicts happen often within teams. Many only wish to be able to form a team and agree instantly on everything, but in reality there will be a lot of conflicts and disagreements along the way. When these conflicts do arise, and they will, the best thing to do will be to talk the issue out. Debate it if you have to, discuss the pros and cons, and get outside opinions as well as the opinions of those involved. Do not get angry or irritated which in the end will only make the problem worse. Using interactive negotiating strategies will also benefit the team. Throwing out a variety of ideas is a perfect start. Once you have a set of ideas, you can start to determine ones with the perfect fit. Being able to successfully demonstrate and following through with negotiations shows you are willing to come to an agreement for the issues at hand. You must be able to find within your group those that excel in certain areas and appoint them that category. When you begin making decisions as a team, you will see how easy it is to work together for the best.
Program Team: To be a good leader, you must be able to understand and work with those on all levels of the project. You have to be open to change as well as being able to handle a diverse group of people. The school district, NCPIE and The Woodson Foundation all revolve around different varieties of people. You must be willing to step in the shoes of others to fully understand the issues at hand. All groups must show certain characteristics of organizational culture such as: innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness and stability. All three groups have their own organizational culture, but they all are looking for job satisfaction. Culture creates distinctions between organizations. To get all members to agree despite their different organizational cultures, members must come together as one. Setting aside difference will lead to productivity, commitment and overall better expected outcomes. In order for you as leaders to succeed with the parents and employees, you much be willing to incorporate their ideas and opinions into your own. You have to think about the team as a whole. Including members in your work team as well as the audience surrounding you (the parents). Making sure you are the best fit as a leader as well will determine the success of the situation. Leaders should earn the trust of the students and parents as well as the teachers, if you can’t earn trust you won’t be able to fully succeed. Once you have established trust you will want to provide chances for interaction. You will also want to establish a vision. Leaders should work towards capturing individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, and inspirational motivation and idealized influence. Working towards the satisfaction of all involved should be of main concern. If problems do happen to arise, thing about the conflicts and use communication to work them out accordingly.