Team talk

You will be able to do much more as a team than you will as individuals, but working as a team is not always easy.

A team is a group of people working towards a common vision. The precise vision will vary from group to group, for example, one group may focus on being a place for parents and carers to make friends; another group may emphasise providing a safe place for children to play and learn. Either way, it needs a team working well to get there.

Most teams don’t just ‘happen’ to be effective. It takes good leadership, the right people doing the right tasks, and each individual feeling part of the whole group.

In its simplest terms, the stages involved in team building are:

• clarify your team vision
• identify issues which hinder you from reaching your vision
• address those issues to enable the vision to be achieved
• identify and build upon the strengths of the team

As far as you can, make sure that people are doing the things that they enjoy, not just what they are good at. It might be good to do a simple skills questionnaire that shows the roles likely to suit each individual best. You can use this simple questionnaire in your toddler group.

It’s really worth investing time and money in your team. Why not ask your church or community leaders to pay for a training session? The work you do is really important so it makes sense to improve your knowledge and get good ideas from others, as well as to share what you have learned. Or perhaps they could even pay for a team night out!

It may be hard to think of you and your parent and toddler group helpers as a team because there are so few of you! If so, why not set up a local network, or contact local toddler groups and find out if they have any training events you can join in with.

Last Updated 06 December 2010