Agenda Example #2

If you have a team computer or a computer that can be shared, you may want to use a computer generated agenda like the one below.  I have made this a document you can download and customize for your team.  The benefit of an electronic agenda is that it can be sent easily to all team members for review and as a homework reminder.

Or . . . 

Agenda Example #1

Here's an agenda from an Inventioneers team meeting.  You can see the agenda topics and the amount of time the team estimated each topic would take to cover.  The team shares the note-taking job among all members on a rotating basis so each page of their team notebook looks a little different.

You can see that the first area covered is to review homework assigned at the previous meeting.  It didn't appear first on the agenda, but for the Inventioneers, it's a matter of

Introduce Agendas

You know what "they" say about failing to plan.  Good planning is a key skill to introduce to your team.  An agenda is a great tool for your team to use toward this end.   You could provide some examples, highlight the advantages, and help with the team's first few attempts at creating agendas.  With the right introduction and enough enthusiasm from coaches and team leaders, the team will embrace the concept and will be surprisingly independent in agenda-setting.

Remember:

Teamwork Development

Part of creating a star team is to head off teamwork problems before they begin. This is easiest to do when forming new team, of course. Setting the ground rules from the get-go gives both team members and coaches a blueprint for building cooperative relationships within the team.

It's a bit harder to rework interpersonal interactions in an established team. Here is a common difficulty coaches have shared with me (I applaud coaches for voicing their frustration about how it can take only one team member to disrupt the whole team and who look for innovative ways to handle the problem):

Q: We have a student that disrupted our team last season. We do not have a process or policy in place to alter team membership status. How can we "uninvite" a student from our team?

TeamSTARs

Now is a good time to evaluate how effective your teamwork skills were this FLL season. One way to evaluate the development of skills in this area is to take our little quiz (This can be completed by the coach and/or team members). This is an private online quiz only FYI, no information is recorded.

1. During our first few meetings, our team created and implemented a Teamwork Pledge signed by all team members.

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team


2. On my team, members complained about each other, especially in the beginning of the season.

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team


3. Complaints and disagreements between members surfaced throughout the season.

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team


4. On my team, one or two members dominated the meetings.

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team


5. My team implemented roles for each member (individual responsibility).

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team


6. Those roles reinforced and valued by coaches and all team members.

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team


7. Team members eventually embraced their roles beyond the involvement of coaches.

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team


8. Our team rotated roles occasionally so that members had a better understanding of others’ roles.

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team


9. Our coach had a clear strategy for creating a cohesive team.

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team


10. All team members were clear on what was expected of them.

disagree
somewhat disagree
somewhat agree
agree
not applicable to my type of team

This is part one of a 5 part series on new ways to think about building a STAR team.

Looking at your score:

Time for Transformation

After an intense season in any program, teams should take a short break from the pace. After this breather, take time to analyze your team's performance. This blog will provide some practical ways to assess areas for improvement and some techniques to enhance teamwork.