Leadership Toolkit

Strategies and approaches for skill development in the classroom

The following section offers some strategies and approaches for skill development in the classroom.  Much of the material on teamwork is covered in the Teamwork Toolkit.  However, the emphasis here is on leadership through teamwork, because leadership can't happen in a vacuum. 

1. Leader's role in a team context: Position Description
2. Leader's role in the four stages of team formation
3. Implications of the four stages of team formation
4. Identifying team roles
5. Conducting team meetings
6. Checklist for students to help them conduct effective meetings
7. Identifying and managing conflict in a team
8. Understanding team dynamics

Identifying team roles

Ask your students to think of a team context in which they have played a part.  It could be:

• a sporting team;
• a church group;
• Scouts or Guides organisations;
• a debating club;
• a political society or organisation;
• a Student Guild or Union;
• a workplace team;
• a  volunteer organisation, and so on.

 

To help your students recognise the range of roles in any given team, show them the list below, and ask them to identify which roles they have already undertaken, or have observed somebody else undertaking, in this group context: 

 

Information seeker	searches for information to clarify suggestions and ideas;
Opinion seeker	seeks to clarify opinions and ideas of the group;
Opinion giver	expresses own alternative views, feelings and ideas;
Summariser	restates and draws the members' discussion together;
Clarifier	interprets and explains ideas, provides examples, and cuts through confusion;
Gatekeeper	encourages team member to join in the discussion and express their ideas;
Encourager	empowers and accepts others, and encourages group solidarity;
Mediator	attempts to reconcile differences and reduce conflict and tension; and
Follower	listens to, accepts and supports the other team members.

 

Adapted from: Lucas, N., Komives, S.R., & McMahon, T.R. (1998).  Exploring Leadership for College Students Who Want to Make a Difference.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p. 173-176.

Then, to help them distinguish between the roles that focus on 'product' (the output from the team) and those that concentrate on 'process' (working relationships within the team), ask them to identify the specific value that each role adds to overall team performance. 

Other Resources

The Margerison-McCann Team Management Index
Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 30 October, 2006:
http://www.orientpacific.com/tmi.htm

Mutchler, A.
CSWT Papers
The Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Team Management Systems in Teams
Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 30 October, 2006:
http://www.workteams.unt.edu/old/reports/Mutchler.html

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