Leadership, in its most distilled description, could well be defined as an ability to form great teams and then letting those teams do what they do best. Behind great leaders, a great team stands.
School districts across Kentucky are signing up every month to coordinate their district retreats in conjunction with KASA’s Annual Leadership Institute in mid-July. Every year, these districts take the time outside of their district to build their team’s familiarity, find common ground for projects, and listen to all team members about the work they do, together, as a team.
A recent article in the Harvard Business Review describes why teamwork, particularly familiarity among its members, is so vitally important to team functionality. What’s more, they’ve done the math. In their study, they found when team members were 50 percent more familiar with one another, those teams had nearly 20 percent fewer errors and 30 percent fewer budget deviations.
They also found that familiarity predicted the performance of teams more accurately than analyzing the experience levels of individual team members.
What does this mean? It means it takes a village. It means we have to invest in time with our teams. And it means we deserve to have confidence that our teams can work effectively and efficiently together.
But don’t take my word for it, or the Harvard Business Review’s word, either. Take it from these school districts who have repeatedly chosen to hold their district retreats at KASA’s Annual Leadership Institute. Call Scott Hawkins at Woodford County, or KASA Past President Paul Mullins at Garrard County, Gene Kirchner at Fort Thomas, or Randy Poe at Boone County.
Ask them what their team familiarity is doing for them. And then, don’t forget to call KASA at (800) 928-KASA to schedule your district retreat.
Source: http://bit.ly/keeping_teams_intact