In this session of “Leading Collaborative Teams”, Joy Ivester and Jane Everson discuss characteristics of highly performing teams with their guest, Carolyn Beasley Shortt, district Transition Coordinator for Laurens School District 55 in South Carolina. Established more than 10 years ago, the Lauren 55 school district interagency team, offers tried and true strategies for other interagency teams to consider as they establish a culture of communication and trust, consider new members, set and pursue goals, and monitor and evaluate their performance as a team.

In this podcast, Joy and Jane discuss two issues that most teams will face at some point: embracing diversity and managing conflict. Most team members understand the diversity enhances teamwork by bringing people with different backgrounds, values, ideas, and goals to the table. But how do we acknowledge everyone’s perspectives? And what happens when team members disagree? Is conflict an inevitable outcome of team diversity? Learn why diversity is an evidence-based team practice, and hear some strategies for encouraging disagreement and for managing conflict.

In this podcast, Joy and Jane discuss a question that many teams, and team leaders, find frustrating: How do we make the best use of everyone’s time before, during, and between team meetings? Learn about some evidence-based practices you can use to make meetings more effective and for using action planning to assess your team’s progress.

In this podcasts, Joy and Jane discuss strategies for setting team goals. Learn more about SMART goals and hear examples of SMART interagency team goals that balance the unique needs of agencies, organizations, and individuals.

In this podcast, Joy and Jane and discuss forming teams – how to get a team started and how to set a team’s direction and focus during the first few months and meetings. Hear what team initiators need to know in order to organize a team, and learn some evidence-based practices associated with team membership and strategic planning.