“What has become clear to you since last we met?” – attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson

We had our second meeting on Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30 before school began. With the pressure of school beginning at 7:50, it rapidly became clear that we have much to do just in terms of building effective group dynamics. We spent the majority of the time reiterating what had transpired at the last meeting to a critical team member. That was important work, but could have been done prior to the meeting. First lesson learned. We need to establish group norms that will bring everyone to the meeting operating from the same page.

The meeting was attended by five members, but as the majority of the time was spent in a dialogue between two people, I could see some frustration building. There was very little time leftover to check in with the other team members. Second lesson learned. We need to establish a group norm that will allow each of us to speak briefly on our latest activities, prior to any review of the meeting agenda.

As before-school activities limited our time to meet, we felt the time pressure. It will be important to have a timekeeper to keep track of time. Third lesson learned.

Given these three lessons, I’ll be asking my group to agree to the following group norms.

1. We will start on time and finish on time.
2. We will attend all meetings. If we cannot make a meeting, we will read the minutes and ask for clarification prior to the next meeting.
3. We will have a check-in at every meeting to allow each member to report on any new thoughts, connections made or other relevant activities.
4. We will assign a timekeeper to help keep us focused and moving on our agenda items.

Beyond these practical items, my thoughts have been influence by my reading of snippets from Kouzes & Posner’s classic book on leadership, The Leadership Challenge. I’m on chapter 3, Clarify Values, which is the first step in a multi-step process of leadership. They name two essentials to the process of clarification, which I paraphrase:

• Find your own personal voice
• Affirm shared values with your group

Kouzes & Posner point out that groups whose members are committed to the group’s vision and mission are much more successful in achieving their goals than groups that are not.

So my question has become, “What process will allow our group’s individual members to reflect on and share their values in a way that builds group integrity and commitment to our common goals, mission and vision?”

My first thought is that I need to obtain everyone’s buy-in that such a process is vitally important. It has been my observation that anything that smacks of vision and mission statements in the public school setting is met with resistance from years of overuse. Nevertheless, I believe I can frame the process in a way that reveals the value of such work and motivates the team to participate.

I’ll post more along these lines as this process unfolds.

See the video at: http://www.t2.com/waterbuffalo/