Establishing effective early childhood teams requires
planning, involving active team members, and finding motivating leaders.
Effective teams work together to establish and maintain the team,
conduct productive meetings, promote effective leadership, and solve
problems. Successful collaborative early childhood teams are not mandated
by law, they evolve over time. Commitment, cooperation, care and attention
to the logistics of working together are critical to successful teamwork.
Who is on a Collaborative Early Childhood Team?
- Team structure will vary for children and families based on
their individual needs and interests, priority services identified,
and during transition times.
- The key to being a successful team is not who is available,
but rather, who is best for the child and family concerns.
- To determine team composition the following questions should
be addressed:
- Who would the family like to have on the team?
- Who has the expertise needed by the team to make the best
decision?
- Who is affected by the decisions? Somtimes transportation
staff, cooks, etc. may need to be a part of the team too.
- Who is interested and able to participate?
- Who is able to provide "backup" support?
- Team size will vary as well, according to the child's needs
and program model and during transition. Consider the use of
smaller core teams within the larger team to maximize effective
use of time and resources.
- As teams are developed, they need to be flexible and willingly
reconstituted as child and family needs change.
Planning Team Meetings
The success of the team is often determined before the meeting
begins, through preparation and planning. To help assure successful
team meetings consider time, place, agenda and process.
When and How Long to Hold Team Meetings
Time is the one thing no one seems to have enough of, so
make an effort to respect the schedule of your team members.
- Discuss with the team how often and how long to meet.
- Be consistent. Meeting times must be sacred.
- Begin and end on time.
- Meet when the members aren't too tired or likely to leave
for other commitments.
- Appoint timekeepers.
- When an item goes beyond allotted time, ask the group
if they want to continue, come back or schedule item for
another time.
- Adapted from: Miller, L. M., & Howard, J. (1991).
Managing quality through teams. Atlanta, GA: The Miller
Consulting Group.
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