Developing an effective team
1.See Quality Area 7 Leadership and Service Management: Element 7.2.2 – the performance of educators, co-ordinators and staff members is evaluated and individual development plans are in place to support performance improvement. Read BSBLED401 assessment answers of Develop Teams And Individuals.
a) What does the NQS aim to achieve through Element 7.2.2?
The approved provider, nominated supervisor, educators, co-ordinators, staff members, families and children benefit when performance plans, under a regular cycle of review, are in place.
This planning and review ensures that knowledge, skills and practices are current and areas requiring further development are addressed.
b) Provide three examples of how an education and care service can demonstrate Element 7.2.2 to Assessors.
How the service’s performance review cycle contributes to planning for learning and further development
How the effort, contribution and achievement of educators, co-ordinators and staff members is acknowledged and celebrated
Processes to ensure each educator, co-ordinator and staff member receives ongoing feedback about their performance
2.
a) List the six steps to assist in identifying individual training needs.
- Reviewing team members’ job descriptions.
- Meeting with them.
- Observing them at work.
- Gathering additional data.
- Analysing and preparing data.
- Determining action steps.
b) What four questions can you ask the individual to get a better understanding of their training needs?
- What challenges do you face every day?
- What is most frustrating about your role?
- What areas of your role, or the organization, do you wish you knew more about?
- What skills or additional training would help you work more productively or effectively?
c)
- Make sure that you don’t undermine the person’s dignity, and that you respect the context. For example, in some cultures, it may be acceptable to talk openly to co-workers. In others, you will have to do this with a lot of sensitivity, if you do it at all.
Avoid unfocused generalizations. Ask people to back up their comments with specific example.
3.Cole (2013: 430) as cited in your text, defines performance management as the ‘alignment of individual employee’s goals and measures of success with the organisation’s strategic and business plans’.
a) List six areas of performance management in an early education and care service.
- Recruitment
- System to manage employee’s wages, conditions and entitlements
- Job description, job roles and responsibilities
- Rosters all allocation of tasks/responsibilities
- Performance management
- Workplace learning
In education and care services, assessing workplace performance can be a challenging task given the enormity of the skills and knowledge requirements of educators; the complexities of meeting regulatory requirements and the diversity of educators themselves.
b) List eight factors that must be taken into account when assessing individual and team performance in an early education and care service?
- The objectives and philosophy of the organization.
- The legislative requirements that must be met by approved children’s services.
- The expectations of services users (that is, families).
- The job role and responsibilities of each educator.
- The standards or benchmarks that educators are expected to achieve in the execution of their role.
- The specific challenges of the service, for example: large service, infant/toddler care, children with additional needs, geographical isolation, challenging families.
- Individual educator differences – age – , culture background, qualifications, experience, skills and knowledge.
- The team structures.
4.
a) Provide a definition of a children’s services team.
Children’s services team: a group of people who cooperate with each other to work towards achieving an agreed set of aims, objectives or goals while simultaneously considering the personal needs and interest of individual.
b) List the three types of teams and the position types within the team that you could manage within a children’s service.
- Educators and support staff- Example: administrative assistant, cook, cleaner, handy person/gardener- led by a director and a coordinator management.
- Room teams – led by a room or team leader.
- Senior educator teams – room leaders and manager
5.Before determining a performance assessment strategy it is essential to be clear about the objectives and desired outcomes. While the purpose of a performance review may seem obvious there are in fact a number of reasons to conduct a performance review.
Encouraging team spirit
List ten reasons a performance review would be conducted in an early childhood service.
- Ensure legislative compliance – in children’s services, evaluation of educator performance is a requirement of the NQS
- Ensure that employees are working toward the goals of the organization.
- Ensure that employees are reflecting the philosophy of the organization in their day to day practices
- Identify areas where work tasks, procedures or policies need to be adjusted to reflect current best practices or legislative compliance
- Improve relationships with and among employees
- Assess the organizational culture and morale of employees
- Benchmark performance
- Encourage employee feedback and innovation
- Identify the strength of team members
- Identify the training needs of individuals.
6.
a) Developing an effective team requires an understanding of how groups function. Complete the table below using Adair’s Functional Approach. List at least five functions for each category.
b) Team work is a collaboration of needs agreed to and implemented. As a leader what can be done to encourage team spirit?
- Get to know each other
- Do something social together
- Carry out the task together
- Disclose personal information about yourself
- Express feelings about being in a team
- Identify your skills which may be useful to the team
- Identify your preferences about how you like to work with others
Do something creative together
7.Trust and confidence is essential to build relationships that support teamwork. Listed in the table below are key strategies for building a trusting workplace. For each strategy document how you would implement this strategy in practice.
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Strategy for building a trusting relationship |
How to implement strategy in practice |
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a. Dialogue |
Focus on opening lines of communication. Get people talking and make it safe atmosphere for employees to share their honest opinion. Discuss the importance of open communication of all. |
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b. Acknowledge the unspeakable |
Touch issues need to be resolved and openly discussed. Be sure not to point fingers and remember to always stick to the facts. Consider what’s been happening, why, and what you plan to do about it? |
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c. Secrecy breeds suspicion |
When information or activity is kept secret, it is open to misinterpretation, so communication is essential. Any new discussion or planning should be shared with all those involved or effected as soon as possible. Develop tools that help communicate what’s going on. Regular email, meeting and newsletters help to keep people ‘in the know’. |
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d. Keep promises |
Make fewer and better agreements, don’t commit to something you cannot follow through with. If you can’t make a promise due to an inability to follow through, then communicate this clearly and renegotiate. |
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e. Model trust |
Be a role model of appropriate behavior. |
8.For each of the stages in team development, list the key issues for leading in this stage.
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Stage of Team Development |
Key Issue for Leaders |
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Forming |
Feelings: Team members are usually excited to be part of the team and eager about the work ahead. Behaviours: may include lots of questions from team members, reflecting both their excitement about the new team and the uncertainty they might be feeling about their place on the team. Team Tasks: to create a team with clear structures, goals, direction and roles so that the members begin to build trust. |
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Storming |
Feelings: Members are trying to see how the team will respond to differences and how it will handle conflict. Behaviours: Team members may argue or become critical of the team’s original mission or goals. Team Tasks: May call the team to refocus on its goals, perhaps breaking larger goals down into smaller, achievable steps. The team may need to develop both tasks-related skills, and group process and conflict management skills. There will be frustration and confusion experience during this stage. |
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Norming |
Feeling: Team members begin to resolve the discrepancy they felt between their individual expectations and the reality of the tam ‘s experience. Constructive criticism is both possible and welcomed. Team start to feel part of a team and can take pleasure from the increased group cohesion. Behaviours: Members conscious effort to resolve problems and achieve group harmony. Team members. There might be more frequent and more meaningful communication among Teams may begin to develop their own language or inside jokes. Team Tasks: Members shift their energy to the team’s goals and show an increase in productivity, in both individual and collective work. Team may find an appropriate time for an evaluation of team process and productivity. |
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Performing |
Feelings: Members feel satisfaction in the team’s progress. They share insight into personal and group process and aware of their own strength and weakness. Members feel confident in their individual abilities and those of their teammates. Behaviours: Able to prevent or solve problems in the team’s process or in the team’s progress. A “can do” attitude is visible as are offers to assist one another. Differences among members are appreciated and used to enhance the team’s performance. Team Tasks: Makes significant progress towards its goals. Commitment to the team’s mission is high and the competence of team members is also high. Members continue to deepen their knowledge and skills, including working continuously to improve team development. |
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Adjourning |
Feelings: May feel concerns about the team’s impending dissolution. They may feel some anxiety, sadness or sense of loss because of uncertainty about their individual role or future responsibilities and changes coming to their team relationship. Given these conflict feelings, individual and team morale may rise or fall throughout the ending stage. At any given moment individuals on the team will be experiencing emotions about the team ending. Behaviours: Some team members may become less focussed on the team’s tasks and their productivity may drop. Alternatively, some team members may find focussing on the task at hand is an effective response to their sadness or sense of loss. Team task: The team needs to acknowledge the upcoming transition and the variety of ways that individuals and the team maybe feeling about the team’s impending dissolution. |
9.Like children, all adults learn in different ways and it is important for leaders to understand the theories, principles and styles of adult learning so that they can effectively develop the individuals within their teams. For each adult learning principle in the table below, list the ways in which you can facilitate this learning.
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Adult Learning Principle |
Strategies for facilitating this learning. |
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a. Adults are internally motivated and self-directed |
· Set up a graded learning program that moves from more to less structure, from less to more responsibility and from more to less direct supervision, at an appropriate pace that is challenging yet not overloading for the student. · Develop rapport with the student to optimise your approachability and encourage askingof questions and exploration of concepts. · Show interest in the student’s thoughts and opinions. Actively and carefully listen to any questions asked. · Lead the student toward inquiry before supplying them with too many facts. · Provide regular constructive and specific feedback (both positive and negative), · Review goals and acknowledge goal completion · Encourage use of resources such as library, journals, internet and other department resources. · Set projects or tasks for the student that reflect their interests and which they must complete and “tick off” over the course of the placement. For example: to provide an inservice on topic of choice; to present a case-study based on one of their clients; to design a client educational handout; or to lead a client group activity session. · Acknowledge the preferred learning style of the student. A questionnaire is provided below that will assist your student to identify their preferred learning style and to discuss this with you. |
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b. Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences |
· adults like to be given opportunity to use their existing foundation of knowledge and experience gained from life experience, and apply it to their new learning experiences. As a clinical educator you can: · Find out about your student – their interests and past experiences (personal, work and study related) · Assist them to draw on those experiences when problem-solving, reflecting and applying clinical reasoning processes. · Facilitate reflective learning opportunities which Fidishun (2000) suggests can also assist the student to examine existing biases or habits based on life experiences and “move them toward a new understanding of information presented” |
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c. Adults are goal oriented |
· Provide meaningful learning experiences that are clearly linked to personal, client and fieldwork goals as well as assessment and future life goals. · Provide real case-studies (through client contact and reporting) as a basis from which to learn about the theory, OT methods, functional issues implications of relevance. · Ask questions that motivate reflection, inquiry and further research. |
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d. Adults are relevancy oriented |
· Ask the student to do some reflection on for example, what they expect to learn prior to the experience, on what they learnt after the experience, and how they might apply what they learnt in the future, or how it will help them to meet their learning goals. · Provide some choice of fieldwork project by providing two or more options, so that learning is more likely to reflect the student’s interests. |
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e. Adults are practical |
· Clearly explain your clinical reasoning when making choices about assessments, interventions and when prioritising client’s clinical needs. · Be explicit about how what the student is learning is useful and applicable to the job and client group you are working with. · Promote active participation by allowing students to try things rather than observe. Provide plenty of practice opportunity in assessment, interviewing, and intervention processes with ample repetition in order to promote development of skill, confidence and competence. |
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f. Adult learners like to be respected |
· Taking interest · Acknowledging the wealth of experiences that the student brings to the placement; · Regarding them as a colleague who is equal in life experience · Encouraging expression of ideas, reasoning and feedback at every opportunity. |
10.
a) Define the four areas of the SWOT analysis.
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