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Brainstorming using the nominal group technique.

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Brainstorming using the nominal group technique.

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Brainstorming 2.0

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Tips for running effective committee meetings

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Tips for running effective committee meetings

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Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

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Why Committees & Appointed Groups Don't Work

Typically committees don't work well for many of the same reasons boards don't function effectively: the lack of long-term agendas, reliance on poor or incomplete information, and the failure to distinguish between board level and operational issues. Therefore committees can benefit from many of the same approaches that make board meetings more effective: an overview by the committee chair at the beginning of each meeting, a strategic focus for discussions, prioritized agendas, annual calendar of committee meetings and major decisions, consent agendas, and evaluation of committee meetings.

Elements Of Group Effectiveness

There are at least six elements of committee effectiveness:

* Written Committee Description. First, there should be a written description of what is expected of each committee to guide the chair and members. The description should summarize the purpose of the committee, its composition and selection procedure, and the specific duties of the committee. There are several sample committee descriptions in the Tool Section of this chapter.

* An effective chair. The next element is an effective chairperson. In seeking an effective chair, we're looking for two things: content knowledge and experience relevant to the work of the group as well as proven leadership and people skills that will be essential if the group is to work effectively. Of the two, the most important is leadership and people skills. Additional content knowledge is more easily acquired by a chair than the ability to lead others. Read YALSA's Job Description for Chairs to learn more.

You want a good leader of people and process, someone who feels confident in guiding group members to accomplish the task in a timely manner. The role of chair requires extra work, time for communication with group members and staff, a willingness to resolve conflicts among members, and a commitment to keep the board liaison informed at all times .

There are also some personal characteristics of the effective chair that also need to be considered:

Has confidence in other committee members;

Wants to release the potential energy of the group;

Is willing to relinquish some of the chair's formal authority if the job requires it;

Is more interested in the committee's success than in his or her own feeling of personal importance; and

Is committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive environment for all and to uphold YALSA's commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.

The good chair is one who can work with people, who can stimulate them rather than brow beat them and can help the group use all the abilities and experiences its members possess and new skills that they develop as they work together.

The chair will be responsible for preparing agendas for the meetings, assigning responsibilities to group members and doing some of the follow-up to make sure assigned work is being done by members.

* Members thoughtfully appointed. The next element of committee effectiveness is members who have been thoughtfully appointed. Each standing committee is generally composed of a core of five to eight members. They should be recruited with the following question in mind: What tasks are the committee responsible for and who among our members possess the skills and experience needed to complete those tasks? As is the case with other forms of volunteer recruitment, every effort should be made to match the needs and requirements of the committee and the skills, knowledge and interests of prospective committee members.

* Accountability to the board. The next element of committee effectiveness is clear accountability to the board of directors. This begins with the written committee function that describes what the board expects from the committee. There should also be an effort to link the committee description with relevant strategic plan language. Using a fundraising committee as an example, the committee description would reflect a major goal and supporting strategies that address the issue of association funding. Under the umbrella of the funding goal and strategies, committee leadership would develop an annual fund-raising strategy and supporting work plan in line with the funding strategic goal. This work plan would contain objectives incorporating measurable outcomes, and these measurable outcomes would be the basis for regular reporting of the committee to the board is a whole.

* Well-run meetings. The last element of committee effectiveness is well run meetings. In a sense, if a committee reflects the first five indicators of effectiveness -- a clear description of its work, a chair that knows how to lead, a solid match between the interests, skills and experience of individual members on the one hand, and the needs and requirements of the committee on the other, a good mix of members, and direct accountability to the board --we will have the makings of excellent committee meetings. It will still be important to provide for meeting space that matches the needs of the group, a written meeting agenda and any necessary information mailed out to members in advance of the meeting.

Additional Practices to Enhance Group Effectiveness

Evaluating Group Meetings

At the end of each committee meeting, the chair can ask for written or oral comments about the session. In some organizations, this is a feature of every meeting and is referred to as the "check out." A relatively small investment of time can produce continuous improvements in the work of the committees. Immediate feedback from members can be solicited on how well the meeting achieved its purposes, if members stayed on task, and if there is anything that can be done to improve effectiveness of future committee meetings.

Annual Calendar Of Major Decisions And Meetings

An annual committee calendar of major decisions and meetings is suggested. The committee calendar should also be tied into the overall annual board calendar so that efforts are unified and coordinated for maximum impact. Scheduling regular meetings of the committee in advance will also help busy people plan far enough in advance to assure good attendance.

Additional Suggestions

Committee effectiveness can also be enhanced through the following practices:

* Provide an orientation for new committee members.
* Make sure that committee members receive an agenda in advance of meetings and have all of the information they will need to complete their work.
* Provide regular and appropriate recognition to active committee members. The chair should also seek out unproductive committee members to find out what is getting in a way of performance and then devising strategies to overcome those barriers.
* Involve committee members in developing an annual committee plan of work and make sure that the committee plans are in alignment with the overall strategic plan of the association.

Resources

Sample Meeting Feedback Form

Date: _________________

Complete this form before leaving today.

Were the issues discussed substantive? Excellent Good Fair Poor

Were the materials provided helpful in understanding/resolving the issues? Excellent Good Fair Poor

Was the discussion future oriented? Excellent Good Fair Poor

How can our next meeting be more productive?

Based on today's discussion, what should we discuss in the future?

What was the most valuable contribution the committee made TODAY to the long-term welfare of the association, its members and the profession?

Please write additional comments below:

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Why Committees & Appointed Groups Don't Work Typically committees don't work well for many of the same reasons boards don't function effectively: the lack of long-term agendas, reliance on poor or incomplete information, and the failure to distinguish between board level and operational issues.best practices in committee effectiveness

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Anita Williams Woolley, Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory, Carnegie Mellon University. Research on Collaboration and Collective Intelligence.  

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Anita Williams Woolley, Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory, Carnegie Mellon University. Research on Collaboration and Collective Intelligence.  

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Anita Williams Woolley is a n Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory at the Tepper School of Business , Carnegie Mellon University . She has a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University , where she also earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

Her research and teaching interests include collaborative analysis and problem-solving in teams; online collaboration and collective intelligence; and managing multiple team memberships. Her research has been published in Science, PNAS, Organization Science, Academy of Management Review , Management Science , Small Group Research, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , among others. Her research has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Research Office, DARPA, and private corporations.

She is a Senior Editor at Organization Science, a Founding Associate Editor of Collective Intelligence, and is a member of the Academy of Management, the Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research, and the Association for Psychological Science.

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Anita Williams Woolley Tepper School of Business Carnegie Mellon University

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Improve hybrid teamwork according to research

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Cooperation vs Collaboration: When To Use Each Approach

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Most educators are familiar with Think-Pair-Share, a popular technique used to ask questions in class and promote peer collaboration and communication. Yet, as with all classroom practices, it can be executed in a number of ways-some more successful than others.

We highly encourage weaving Think-Pair-Share into your regular classroom routine for all ages. But to do it well, keep the following in mind.

Don't Skimp on the "Think"

One of the biggest challenges to implementing Think-Pair-Share is making sure to not skimp on think. When you pose a question to your class, the first impulse for students will be to turn and talk to a peer, skipping the thinking stage. Ensuring that ample think time is provided before the pair and share steps take place can prevent this impulse.

During thinking time, students can write down their initial responses and engage in necessary retrieval practice-recalling information from long-term memory without any notes or support to make the memory stronger and more accessible in the future. But retrieval practice requires each student to recall information individually. If students are asked to recall information in pairs or groups, some students will miss out on the chance to strengthen their memory of the material. It can also be difficult to gauge whether an individual student recalled the information correctly themselves or is relaying something said by a peer.

Think time prepares students so that when they do talk to their partner, they have something to share, potentially adding another factor: think, pair, compare, and share.

When Pairing, Listen

Make certain that during the pair and share stages,students listen attentively to their talk partners. Students can be tagged "A" and "B" (for example, by the alphabetical order of their names) so that when the teacher tells the "A" students to talk, "B" students listen and then switch. A particularly powerful way of making students accountable for listening to their peers is to make it clear that they are likely to be asked to report to the class what their partner said ("Emily, can you tell us what Sarah told you?").

The response from the peer partner during the pair discussion might prompt students to add further points that they didn't include in their original answer or add depth to existing points. Pair time also provides students with a safe space to discover if their answers and thoughts align with their partner's or to discuss any questions they may have. This can be a powerful method for activating students as learning resources for one another in the classroom. And it provides the chance for students to rehearse the vocabulary that they will use in reporting back to the class.

Listening requires effort, attention, and time. Teachers should actively support student listening, as it's often an underrated element of Think-Pair-Share. In order to learn from each other, students have to listen to each other.

When Sharing, Pause

After the pair discussions have taken place, students share their thinking with the rest of the class. To further boost student confidence before whole-class discussion, award praise to students when walking around the classroom listening to conversations and individual responses, so students feel excited later to share with the whole class. Although overpraising students is ineffective, confirming to students that what they have said is worth sharing with the class is likely to make students more willing to share their ideas, and boost their confidence.

To start group discussion, the teacher can "" a term coined by Doug Lemov, for picking a student at random to answer a question. By this point, the students will have had the chance to recall information independently and rehearse their answer with their partner, making them more likely to be ready for wider discussion.

The teacher can then provide "response time"-at least several seconds-for students to listen and reflect on what others have said. This response time allows for further thinking, before students share their reactions, responses, and elaborations.

After an appropriate interval, a particularly useful technique is "Add. Build. Challenge." or "ABC" for short. Is there anything else that could be added? Can you build on that answer? Does anyone want to challenge the answer, for example, by providing an alternative response?

A particularly powerful way to do Think-Pair-Share is to use mini dry-erase boards. During the think stage, students write down what they can recall or jot down some initial thoughts. During the pair stage, students can add or remove thoughts from their board. Then, in the share stage, students hold up their boards to share what they wrote with the class. Dry-erase boards work best when student responses are short (about four words on each board), so they can be easily read.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, Think-Pair-Share is like all other aspects of teaching, in that the key is careful planning. While a very useful technique, Think-Pair-Share takes more time than traditional classroom questioning, so to make sure that this time is well spent, it is important that the questions posed to students are well-designed and carefully considered. They must be communicated so that students fully understand what is being asked and that the question homes in on key points linked to the lesson.

By making sure that the teacher asks "questions worth thinking about," Think-Pair-Share increases engagement, improves learning, and provides the teacher with actionable evidence about next steps-a uniquely powerful combination.

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Getting the "Think-Pair-Share" Technique Right

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Most educators are familiar with Think-Pair-Share, a popular technique used to ask questions in class and promote peer collaboration and communication. Yet, as with all classroom practices, it can be

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What's the difference between Cooperative, Collaborative, and Problem-Based Learning? 

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What's the difference between Cooperative, Collaborative, and Problem-Based Learning? 

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How to build better discussions, Dr. James Lang

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How to build better discussions, Dr. James Lang

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Build listening, acceptance, and cooperation skills.

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This is a classic improv game that teaches the value of accepting each others ideas and cooperating with one another. The game may be played in pairs onstage or with the whole group in a circle.

First, demonstrate this yourself by making a simple statement. Tell students that you are going to make up a conversation between two people in which every sentence (except the first one) starts with the words "Yes, and..." Additionally, every new statement should become more exaggerated, furthering the scene.

"The river is full of fish." (opening statement)
"Yes, and one of them is enormous."
"Yes, and he's swimming toward us."
"Yes, and he looks hungry."
"Yes, and we are trapped in this boat."
"Yes, and he looks more like a whale than a fish."
"Yes, and now the motor won't start."
"Yes, and he's about to swallow us."
"Yes and I just remembered that this boat is also a plane."
"Yes and lucky for you I just got my pilot's license."

Next, have a pair of students go onstage to play the game. Coach as necessary to keep the statements moving quickly while escalating the action. Call 'cut' when a particularly interesting or funny moment occurs. Ending on a high-note makes the actors feel better.

Here is how to play if students are in a circle: Have students make clear eye contact with someone and make a statement. The player he made eye contact with then makes eye contact with someone else and says, "YES, AND..." and builds on the statement.

What is the value of accepting each others ideas and building on them?
How did it feel to have your ideas accepted?
How does it feel when you have an idea and others don't like it or put it down?
How does this game help us become better actors?

*How can Drama Notebook give away so many free games? Well, what you see here is only the tippy tip of the giant iceberg of ideas, games, imagination and creativity that is inside.

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This drama warm-up is part of a collection of 40 classic drama games found on Drama Notebook.This is a classic improv game that teaches the value of accepting each others ideas and cooperating with one another. The game may be

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Thank you, Jen!

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Music for Body and Spirit - Meditation Music

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Increase Brain Power, Enhance Intelligence, Study Music, Binaural Beats, Improve Memory

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#OutOfOz: "For Good" Performed by Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel | WICKED the Musical

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Orchestrating Collaboration at Work: Using music, improv, storytelling and other arts to improve teamwork | Creativity at Work

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ORCHESTRATING COLLABORATION AT WORK. Learn how to use music, improv, storytelling & other arts to improve teamwork, and boost collaboration and creativity

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www.indeed.com needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Jigsaw Classroom, a cooperative learning technique by Elliot Aronson

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Jigsaw Classroom, a cooperative learning technique by Elliot Aronson

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OVERVIEW

The jigsaw classroom is a research-based cooperative learning technique invented and developed in the early 1970s by Elliot Aronson and his students at the University of Texas and the University of California. Since 1971, thousands of classrooms have used jigsaw with great success.

The jigsaw classroom has a four-decade track record of successfully reducing racial conflict and increasing positive educational outcomes such as improved test performance, reduced absenteeism, and greater liking for school.

Just as in a jigsaw puzzle, each piece - each student's part - is essential for the completion and full understanding of the final product.

If each student's part is essential, then each student is essential; and that is precisely what makes this strategy so effective.

JIGSAW IN 10 EASY STEPS

The jigsaw classroom is very simple to use. If you're a teacher, just follow these steps:

STEP SEVEN

Bring the students back into their jigsaw groups.

STEP EIGHT

Ask each student to present her or his segment to the group.

Encourage others in the group to ask questions for clarification.

STEP NINE

Float from group to group, observing the process.

If any group is having trouble (e.g., a member is dominating or disruptive), make an appropriate intervention. Eventually, it's best for the group leader to handle this task. Leaders can be trained by whispering an instruction on how to intervene, until the leader gets the hang of it.

STEP TEN

At the end of the session, give a quiz on the material.

Students quickly come to realize that these sessions are not just fun and games but really count.

ABOUT ELLIOT ARONSON

Elliot Aronson is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of California in Santa Cruz. He has long-standing research interests in social influence and attitude change, cognitive dissonance, research methodology, and interpersonal attraction. Professor Aronson's experiments are aimed both at testing theory and at improving the human condition by influencing people to change dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors.

Professor Aronson received his B.A. from Brandeis University in 1954, his M.A. from Wesleyan University in 1956, and his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1959. He has taught at Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas, and the University of California. In 1999, he won the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, making him the only psychologist to have won APA's highest awards in all three major academic categories: distinguished writing (1973), distinguished teaching (1980), and distinguished research (1999).

MORE ABOUT
ELLIOT ARONSON

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The jigsaw technique is a cooperative learning approach that reduces racial conflict among school children, promotes better learning, improves student motivation, and increases enjoyment of the learning experience.