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

Understanding team dynamics

In general, people tend to feel part of teams when:

• they work together with other people in the team to achieve its aims;
• members accept the aims and are committed to achieving them;
• there is a regular, personal communication between members of the team;
• there is good feedback on their performance;
• each team member knows what contribution they are expected to make, and don't find themselves duplicating what other people are doing;
• the contributions and expertise of individual members are accepted and respected by other members of the team; and
• there is a balance of roles that enables the team to make progress.

Source: Handy, C. (1990).  Inside Organisations: Handy on Teams.  London: BBC, p. 24.  

Why not:

Ask students to identify and describe a well-known team that seems to demonstrate a strong culture of teamwork and performs well as a coherent team (e.g., the Socceroos or the Broncos).  Ask them to discuss their choices in class.

Some prompt questions might be:

• how would you describe this team?
• how did it set about its work?
• what did the individual members contribute to the team?
• how did the members relate to each other?
• how would you describe the leadership of the team?

Adapted from: DuBrin, A., & Dalglish, C. (2003). Leadership, an Australasian Focus. Milton: John Wiley & Sons, p. 260; and

Academic Leadership Program, AV-CC National Staff Development and Training Program, 17-21 November, 1997, Clear Mountain Lodge, Brisbane.  Cited in:  Johnstone, R., & Joughin, G.  (1998).  Developing a Good Working Relationship for Change.  Academic Leadership Series Booklet No. 4.  Brisbane: Griffith Institute for Higher Education, p. 20.

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