At a recent training, I was asked to consider the following question: Why do we want teachers to work in teams? It was something that made me stop and think for a second. I promote teacher teams and professional learning communities and have written about them often. I guess I assumed that we all knew why teachers working collaboratively in teams was so important, but I’m not sure I had ever really articulated why I felt that way.

What I learned was that my opinions about the importance of teacher teams actually had research to back it up. Teachers who work independently can have profound effects on student achievement, but teachers who work collaboratively with one another have a much greater impact. If our primary focus is our students and what we want is for them to succeed, then strong collaborative teacher teams are best for students. Therefore, teachers should work collaboratively to improve outcomes.

Collaboration Is Key

The truth of the matter is that collaboration is not an option for teams—it’s a must. We know student learning is deeper and stronger when teams of students work together and collaborate to solve problems. If it is better for students, then shouldn’t we expect the same from our teachers? 

If you accept the fact that teams must collaborate together, you must also accept the fact that sometimes teams cannot do this very well. Most schools I have been part of have had teams that were very cohesive and other teams that were less than cohesive. But this doesn’t mean teachers should quit teaming and teach in isolation. The good news is that teams can learn to be better, more efficient, and more collaborative.

Cohesive teams take time, work, and energy, but maybe most of all they take structure. If leaders of teams are able to provide a consistent and reliable structure, it can impact the effectiveness of all the teams within a school district. This is true whether it's a PLC or a district committee—all of these teams need to have structure, and outcomes will be better if structures are in place. 

Here are five things that every team should have in place:

1. Group norms: These are the working agreements that teams have about how they will operate during their time together. These should be limited to five to seven norms and should come from the priorities of the team. For example, teams may want to limit distractions during meetings by putting cell phones away, honor everyone’s time by starting and ending on time, or not having side conversations to make sure that the team stays on topic. These norms should be on every agenda and should be reviewed periodically.
   
   
2. Agendas: Every meeting should have an agenda that can be shared with the principal or anyone else who might need to know about how the team is operating. This keeps topics focused and provides communication about the topics at hand.
   
   
3. Focus on data: Some groups may not know what to do when they team together. At times, teams can keep conversations to very surface-level topics: students, parents, maybe even personal stories. By making sure that there is a component of discussing data at team meetings, it keeps the focus on student achievement, which is the goal of teaming.
   
   
4. A clear decision-maker: At times, a team might want to explore technology options or curriculum materials. It can be frustrating for a team to do the homework about these things only to hit a brick wall when they find out it is ultimately someone else’s decision to make. By defining this for topics from the start, it can help to alleviate unneeded frustration that can arise. We have a language of inform, recommend, or decide. Each topic should be clearly labeled by the team and what they are able to do with the information—share it, send it up the chain as a recommendation, or have the ability to pull the trigger and decide about an issue.
   
   
5. A plan for managing conflict: Every team will have conflict at times. The best norms and agendas can’t prevent teams from having miscommunication or different interests. As part of the structuring process, each team should have a plan for what to do when there is conflict: pause and come back to it, bring in an outside person to help mediate, go through a facilitator to have a decision-making process, or maybe just have those with the conflict meet outside of the team meeting. There are many options, but by having one or two ready to go from the start, it can help to make sure the conflict doesn’t feel personal. 

Putting all this time and work into making teams better is worth it in the end. By doing so, we will be able to keep teams running smoothly year after year. By putting in the heavy lifting at the start of the process, it pays off in the end when teams can work collaboratively and independently.

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