Design the most significant hour of the month for thriving: the team meeting.

Make your team meetings dynamic and inspiring! Nothing is going to set the tone in your school community quite like this hour.

Ultimately, be intentional to set the course for the journey ahead.

Plan Strategically for Your Team Meetings

Start with the Agenda and make sure everyone has it in advance. In the past, I would aim for 48 hours notice (with the caveat that it was subject to change). People are busy and you want them to have time to review it in advance.

A couple of my Agenda tips-and-tricks:

• Start out with ease, camaraderie, and/or celebrating. Food is good too.
• Include the outcome I wanted delivered or the question I wanted answered in the agenda.
• Ensure someone takes notes, particularly capture action items and group thinking.

Embed Professional Learning

Every Principal wants to advance teaching and learning. What if you only have 30min each month to do it? Embedding professional learning into your team meetings is a crucial way to keep the expectations high, teachers inspired, and your team focused on and discussing essential work.

Additionally, as the school leader, you can clarify and propel annual school objectives forward during this time. You want your team to discuss your school goals at most meetings.

My most successful year for this was digesting Ron Ritchhart’s Creating Cultures of Thinking with the team. There were 8 forces in his book and we discussed one at each meeting. I gave examples, we shared thinking routines, teachers collaborated, we created ‘best practices’ lists, and teachers defined the next steps in their own practice.

The mini-lessons in the team meetings were springboards for the PLCs that met two weeks later. Then, during the PLCs meetings, the teams could discuss and apply more deeply based on content, age group, or felt needs.

The Answers are In the Building

I used team meetings to listen carefully to my team. Yes, the agenda included problems to solve. The start was to ask powerful questions. Truly, it worked so much better than just telling teachers what to do.

With powerful questions, my genius-level teachers created and owned solutions that were fantastic for students. It was exhilarating.

Recently, what powerful questions have you asked your teachers?

Generally, good governance, leadership, and a growth mindset include asking for feedback. For example, I liked asking process check questions at the end of my meetings. We did it at the Board level, Admin level, and Team level.

It wasn’t every time, but it was ‘regularly.’ The

I still use this protocol. Here are recent results from my Better Leaders, Better Schools, Mastermind for Women:

While my meetings aren’t perfect, sometimes they even are rough, I always relish the opportunity to encourage, inspire, equip, and create together. Most often, they are a boost in my arm as a leader to experience my team or my group in action!

What are your ideas for designing this most significant hour?

Unfold the Soul of the Team,

Karine

PS In addition, for more “Vibrant Team” related posts, check out:

• Your Most Significant Hour (Part 1)
• Unique Social-Emotional Learning Activities for Your Teachers