Mackay, H. (1998) - Resolving conflict through listening

Had to chuckle when I read Mackay quoting research that suggests that "high self-esteem in children is more likely to be found in families where there is open dissent and disagreement". No wonder my children are so confident and self-assured!
Mackay tells us that reflective listening is paramount to conflict resolution and provides six steps to guide us in having "sensible, cooperative discussion". Both parties need to maintain a high level of communication and to respect what the other person is saying. We don't necessarily have to agree with the other party's opinions or comments, but we need to acknowledge what they say.

Savage, W. W. (1989) - Communication: process and problems

Before reading Savage's article, I was not aware that there were so many facets to communication. He tells us that communication "is an exceedingly complex process in which people, behavior, and objects transmit information, ideas, and attitudes."
I didn't realise the power of our non-verbal behaviour to send messages. Our unintentional communication can influence negatively the intentional communication we are attempting to transmit, so we need to be cognizant of this when imparting information, ideas and attitudes to others. For instance, if we are able to describe to visitors the wonderful resources available in our library but do not offer a welcoming greeting when they enter or answer their questions in a non-threatening manner, we are showing them that yes, we may have a state-of-the-art facility, but they're not really welcome to use it.
Communication can only be a two-way process when information, ideas and attitudes flow in an upward and downward motion between all members of the school community.

Lambert, L. (1998) - What is leadership capacity?

Some interesting concepts came from this article. Leadership needs to be a part of the culture of the school, not dependent on one or two people. It needs to be a shared responsibility, so that if the principal or key teacher leaves the school, the school is not left without navigation, like a ship without a captain. The shared leadership embedded into the school community allows it to follow a constructive course as reform and self-renewal are undertaken.
In my role as a leader I need to be a good communicator and encourage conversations (both formal and informal) between my team members so that they are able to create and validate new understandings. We should all be promoting the sharing of beliefs and information, encouraging learning together, offering support and reflecting on the path our journey is taking.

Assignment 1A - nearly there!

The thought of having to collaborate across the seas with strangers initially filled me with dread. How on earth could we collaborate on a shared assignment with me living in Malaysia and my team-mates living in Oz? I really felt that I was being pushed out of my comfort zone. Well, thanks to Skype, wikis and hotmail we have nearly completed our collaborative PowerPoint before the due date!
We have kept open lines of communication, each pulled our weight and each worked in a timely fashion to enable us to reach our goal without feeling too stressed. What began as a bitter taste in my mouth has now turned into the sweet taste of satisfaction. I am pleased with our output and feel that as a team we have been able to rise to the challenge to create a strong article proposal. Working in a supportive team where we remained focused on our task has turned out to be a positive experience, more so than I initially expected.

Beck, J. D. & Yeager, N. M. (1994) - Making teams work: an underused window of opportunity

Although this is a dated article (17 years old) I found it made really interesting reading. I think Beck & Yeager offer lots of practical advice for working in a successful team. I did a lot of nodding when reading about the four stages of group development, especially when they explained that it's not a good idea to skip Stage 2. This is the stage when discussions about how people will communicate and solve problems take place. I believe this stage is easily bypassed as many of us just want to get on with the job and reach our goal.
Communication seems to be the key factor to managing a successful team. Communicating everything from expectations, directions, concerns, the goal of the team and also offering ongoing feedback. To make a team work it needs "a leader who actively facilitates communication to build the trust". Also, it's important to create opportunities for the team to socialise and chill out together, and to celebrate successes.

Law, S. & Glover, D. (2000). Leading effective teams

Law & Glover tell us that teams work best when they share a common purpose, when they have a sense of team-identification and when they have interconnecting and interdependent functions. When these three elements are present, the team is likely to be coherent and striving to reach a common goal. The team is unlikely to pull in different directions because the members share a common purpose.
The authors quote Belbin who says that people have an intuitive way of acting when working in a team. For a team to be successful, members need to complement each other and possess a range of skills, abilities and behaviours.
It was interesting to find my "type" in Belbin's Table of "Useful people to have in teams". I believe that I am part Resource investigator and part Team-worker. Looking through the table, I was able to identify the characteristics the other people in my current library team possess. Having a variety of these types in a team is a positive thing as we can each bring different strengths and interests, which in turn will (hopefully) make for an interesting patchwork of productivity.