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Student Group Involvement

Students have the opportunity to participate in over 500 student organizations on campus or create one of their own. Our team can help you navigate these organizations and inform you of their recent activities.

Benefits

Direct access to a diverse pool of highly motivated leaders.

Get your organization name out to a specific population and brand yours as an employer of choice.

Networking and recruiting opportunities.

Assist students in developing leadership and communication skills.

How to Get Involved

Sponsor a meeting, event or program.

Send speakers/representatives to attend a meeting or event.

Host a professional development workshop or speed mentoring event.

Organize an industry tour/visit.

Provide gifts-in-kind to help offset costs from student organizations or aid in the educational experience.

Our student organizations rely heavily on corporate gifts to run their events and programs throughout the year. If you are interested in supporting their efforts, you can sponsor any of our student organizations directly by contacting our office.

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Student Group Involvement: Corporate Engagement - Northwestern University

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Students have the opportunity to participate in over 500 student organizations on campus or create one of their own. Our team can help you navigate these organizations and inform you of their recent activities. Direct access to a diverse pool of highly motivated leaders.

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"Learning is more effective when it is an active rather than a passive process." - Euripides

Student participation not only adds interest to a course, it also provides a way for you to promote active learning and assess understanding. As we've known for thousands of years, active learning will produce better outcomes for your students, but it will also be more interesting for you as a teacher.

While it's common for only a few people to speak up in a group, especially a large class, there are plenty of simple ways to help break down this natural barrier and get your students participating. Below we discuss seven methods to help you to foster an environment where all students know what is expected of them and feel comfortable participating.

1. Plan Ahead

There are many ways to teach a course: lecture, discussion, or cooperative learning are just a few. When planning your course, you'll need to determine which teaching method you'll primarily use and how student participation will be integrated. Not every class will need to be the same, but knowing which method you prefer will help you determine your expectations for student participation.

2. Learn Names

You'll be surprised at how much this impacts student participation, even in professional training settings that are more transient than traditional classrooms. Anonymity is a subtle drag on participation, and students who feel more connected to you and their classmates and less anonymous will participate more. If you can't manage to learn the names of your students quickly enough, have name placards that are large enough for you to read, and make sure the students use them by placing them where you can see them. The simple act of referencing a student by name could be all you need to spark much improved participation.

3. Set the Tone

Your students need to know what you expect when it comes to their participation. Explain what you envision for the course and how you would like for them to respond during class time. Do you welcome questions and comments throughout the class or only at certain times? Will you allow time for cooperative learning and group work? Are students going to be graded for their participation, or lack thereof? All of these things should be clearly addressed in the beginning of your course.

It is also important to lay some ground rules about what you expect within student interactions. Depending on the age and maturity level of your class, this can be brief or extensive. Simple guidelines such as being respectful, letting people finish without being interrupted and staying on topic are often sufficient.

It's also worth examining your body language to make sure that you appear welcoming to questions and participation. For example, don't stand behind the lectern or podium while teaching, as this sends the message that you don't want to be interrupted. Rather, make a habit of walking out into the classroom and asking questions while you teach. This will send a clear message that learning is the goal, and you're embarking on that journey with your class, not leading them along.

4. Divide Your Class Into Groups

Every now and then divide the class into small groups, and have them tackle a short problem together. Students who know each other will participate better in a larger classroom setting, and for those students who are intimated by larger groups, a smaller setting can give them an opportunity to provide input and interact with peers. If you keep the problems they're engaging short and limited to answering one or two questions, for example, you can have run through a mini group session in just a few minutes. Have the groups report back orally in front of the larger class, write their responses on the board, and then discuss them together.

5. Have Students "Write In" Their Comments

Some students, particularly those in larger classroom settings, will be less eager to contribute, or will feel like they can't think very well on their feet. To help engage these students, pose a question or set of problems just like you would do in a group setting, but have students write down their answers on a notecard. Collect the cards and randomly read out a few answers for debate by the broader class. Ask the author of the card to provide clarity if needed, or additional comments.

6. Listen and Respond Appropriately

Make sure you create an atmosphere that is consistent with your initial message. To do this, be aware of how you are responding to your students. Both verbal and non-verbal cues will either encourage students to participate or intimidate them. Make eye contact with students while they are speaking, and also use eye contact to encourage the quiet students. You will probably have several talkative students who tend to dominate the conversation so try to draw others in by asking them what they think. You may also need to gently ask the more vocal students to hold back occasionally to let other people have an opportunity to speak.

Allow wait time after asking a question, for at least thirty seconds. Be comfortable with silence! Eventually someone will speak up. Don't interrupt when people are speaking, or allow students to interrupt each other. There will be times when a person responds with incorrect information but even then, let them finish their thoughts. Let those situations be learning opportunities by using questioning or redirection to arrive at the correct answer.

There are ways to hint to students that their initial answer might not be quite right without making them feel like they made a mistake. Ask them to "qualify their thoughts" or ask them to "keep going" or mention they're "note quite there, but what about X". It's often helpful to know the material well enough so that when a wrong answer is posed you can talk about how "person X in the field agreed with you" so they know their mistake was common.

Refer back to comments or questions from students to show that you are listening and thinking about what they have to say. Above all, read the room - if you know your students well, you'll quickly find out who can take criticism, a little good natured ribbing, and who might be afraid to participate and should be treated more gently.

7. Debrief

Once class is over, review which students actively participated. Consider if there are students who need more encouragement to interact in future classes, and make a point to draw them into the discussion in the next class or two. This can be done by asking them a direct question or in the case of extremely shy students, mentioning to them before or after class that you'd like to hear what they have to say.

Conclusion

A lot of the effort to get students participating relies on you, the trainer, educator, and teacher. Make sure you set the tone and start your classes down the right path by using these techniques consistently. Although it may seem like extra effort, the results will be worth it, and once your class understands what you expect from them, they'll begin participating regularly without effort from you. Lastly, your students will get more out of the class and be better prepared due to your efforts!

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"Learning is more effective when it is an active rather than a passive process." - Euripides Student participation not only adds interest to a course, it also provides a way for you to promote active learning and assess understanding.

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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.

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1. Bruce Tuckman's Model of Team Stages
The Bruce Tuckman theory was created in 1965, and has been applied in countless organizations and scenarios. With four main stages titled forming, storming, norming, and performing; this theory is commonly referred to as the origin for successful team building.

2. Belbin's Theory of team roles
Belbin created a list of nine roles that every team should have. These roles are Plant, Resource investigator, Coordinator, Shaper, Monitor Evaluator, Team Worker, Implementer, Completer-Finisher, and Specialist.

3. Hierarchy of Needs theory by Abraham Maslow
Maslow created a pyramid of the motivation in humans. The bottom starts off with Physiological items like food. The next section is Safety like the security of health. The third section is Love/belonging and an example would be family. The fourth is Esteem, meaning something like respect by others. The final section is Self-actualization and an example of this is morality.

4. Isabel Briggs-Myers and her MBTI theory
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality test that perceives how people perceive the world. This is good for teamwork because it can help the team understand each other better.

5. John Adair's Leadership theory
This theory is a perfect model for what leadership and management should look like.

6. Carl Jung's Color theory
Jung's theory is about how color is a determinant of human behavior. By understanding this, you can better understand why people in your team do what they do.

7. Tajfel's theory on Social Identity
This theory presented the idea of social identity as a great way to describe inter-group behavior.

8. X and Y theory developed by Douglas McGregor
The X and Y theory is a description of how humans are motivated. This is also one of the most important theories that managers and employees should be familiar with.

9. Strength Theory
This idea is that if for the best teamwork you have to continually work at it and become strong, like a muscle.

10. Team Analysis Theory
This theory is that eventually your team will fall apart, so you will need to re-evaluate the situation and analyze what went wrong.

By a keen understanding of these teamwork theories, you will be able to get the most out of a group of people. Whether this is for a manager trying to create team unity, or a sports team looking for teamwork, these theories are perfect for your objective.

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The Different Theories About Teamwork And Teambuilding

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1. Bruce Tuckman's Model of Team Stages The Bruce Tuckman theory was created in 1965, and has been applied in countless organizations and scenarios. With four main stages titled forming, storming, norming, and performing; this theory is commonly referred to as the origin for successful team building. 2.

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Teamwork Theory: Tuckman's Stages of Group Development
Probably the most famous teamwork theory is Bruce Tuckman's "team stages model".
First developed in 1965, Tuckman's model is widely known as a basis for effective team building. Yet how many people really know how to use it?

Below we explain Tuckman's model and offer some fresh insights on how to take it further.

But before reading on why not take the chance to "team-up" with our great range of e-guides . The complete set is now available at half price!

You'll find advice, tips, tools and new models which you won't find anywhere else. You can read about the real benefits of our teams bundle in our article on team building activities. Or why not download your half price offer right now! You're in good company with satisfied customers from over 30 countries around the world. Click the image below to view some of our most popular e-guides:

Tuckman's model is significant because it recognizes the fact that groups do not start off fully-formed and functioning. He suggests that teams grow through clearly defined stages, from their creation as groups of individuals, to cohesive, task-focused teams.

Our e-guide: Build a Better Team, has been specifically designed to help you understand and use a team stages model. It contains a tool for each stage to help you build a high-performing team - as quickly as possible.

Tuckman's Teamwork Theory

Tuckman describes working with a team of social psychologists, on behalf of the U.S. navy. The team studied small group behaviour, from several perspectives. In doing so, Tuckman reviewed 50 articles on group development and noticed that there were two features common to these small groups: the interpersonal or group structure, and the task activity. From this he identified that groups evolved into teams via four common stages.

Firstly an orientation, testing phase which often led to a period characterized by a degree of conflict. This then generally resolved itself, leading to a more socially cohesive phase. Finally, groups settled to a functional phase, during which they focused on role-relatedness. To summarize these four phases, Tuckman coined the oft-quoted terms: "forming", "storming", "norming" and "performing".

Tuckman's teamwork theory is best illustrated on a graph which shows the link between group relationships (the horizontal axis) and task focus (the vertical axis). The optimal or "performing" position is reached when relationships have developed within the group and it has started delivering with a clear focus on the task.

However, Tuckman's ideas clearly indicate that it takes time to reach the "performing" stage, and it's normal for these teams to go through ups and downs as they develop relationships. Particularly in the early period, which is perhaps why Tuckman called it the "storming" phase!

The 4 Phases of Tuckman's Teamwork Theory

Forming:
The initial stage of team development during which individuals have not yet gelled together. Everybody is busy finding their place in the team, sizing each other up, and asking themselves why they are here! Find out more in our articles: Team Building Techniques and Teamwork Tips. The first offers advice on starting a new team while the second will help you take over an existing team (perhaps a far more common situation).

Storming:
People begin to see themselves as part of a team. However at this stage they may challenge each other, and the team leader, about such things as what the team is doing, and how things should be done. As the stage title suggests, conflict and confrontation typify this stage, as differences surface. This may result in some loss of performance or focus on the task, as the diagram illustrates.

Norming:
This is the phase where team members start to come together, developing processes, establishing ground rules, clarifying who does what, and how things will be done. This phase is characterized by a growing sense of "togetherness". Find out more about both the Storming and Norming phases in our article: Team Building Concepts.

Performing:
This is the final stage where increased focus on both the task, and on team relationships, combine to provide synergy. Performance is delivered through people working effectively together. We have written two articles to further develop this stage. Team Building in the Workplace will help you build a performing team. Characteristics of Effective Teamwork will help you and your team sustain that performance.

The value of Tuckman's model is that it helps us understand that teams evolve. It also helps us to consider how they may encounter different problems at different stages of their development.

One limitation of the model may be that it makes team building appear too linear and sequential. Although it's a useful analytical tool, we must remember that some teams may "loop" around in their development.

For example, not all teams evolve smoothly through Tuckman's stages but may yo-yo between norming and storming until they either begin to function, or are disbanded! Regardless of limitations, all well-conceived models can be useful in helping us to understand and better manage our circumstances.

Beyond Tuckman

Read our new book:

Uncommon Leadership: how to build competitive edge by thinking differently
"a tour de force ... all integrated into a fascinating intellectual package"

Professor Dennis J. Garritan, Adjunct Professor, Harvard University

Tuckman's famous phases are part of a teamwork theory based on stages of team development. His theory may have gained popularity partly due to the catchy labels for each of his stages.

However, it also provides a useful and simple way to think about how we humans interact in team situations. Firstly by illustrating that it's normal for teams go through stages as they develop. Secondly, by highlighting the need to manage different aspects of team behaviour at each stage of that development. The beauty and usefulness of Tuckman's model is perhaps in its simplicity.

Team development theories such, as Tuckman's group development stages, recognise that teams develop through different stages, from forming through to performing.

Whilst these theories give a useful understanding of different team requirements at different times, there are a number of questions that aren't particularly well answered by the models. For example:

How should you lead at the different stages of a team's development?

How do you identify when you are progressing through a stage?

How does the team develop in the organisational setting?

How is it affected by other outside influences?

The theory of group stages alone doesn't answer these questions. To do so, and thus to build a more robust teamwork concept, ideas about team leadership and outside factors need to be introduced. We've done just this in our STAR team performance model. You can see how this model applies to group stages in: Stages of Team Development.

This is the first of ten articles in our teamwork series. But for some practical tips on using teamwork theory, look at our great-value guides (below), or at our Team Building Exercises for all team stages.

Team Building Exercises and Team Stages

The exercises in this guide are grouped according to our team stages model. Remember, each team is unique and needs to be led through several developmental stages. These include:
Creating a new team or taking over an existing team

Exercise 1: Being a TEAM together

Exercise 2: True or false

Exercise 3: Who does what in a team?

Exercise 4: Getting the mix right

Exercise 5: Doing something for the first time

Exercise 6: Two years from now

Developing a team

Exercise 7: A clearer vision

Exercise 8: Mad, sad or glad

Exercise 9: Seeing the bigger picture

Exercise 10: Positive feedback

Exercise 11: Conflicting views

Performing and achieving results with a team

Exercise 12: Did you notice?

Exercise 13: Limiting beliefs

Sustaining team performance

Exercise 14: Scarce resources

Exercise 15: Keeping going

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Probably the most famous teamwork theory is Bruce Tuckman's "team stages model". First developed in 1965, Tuckman's model is widely known as a basis for effective team building. Yet how many people really know how to use it? Below we explain Tuckman's model and offer some fresh insights on how to take it further.

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Sharing responsibilities according to RACI model

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Sharing Responsibility + Video Tips from Jessica at Revela

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Heads Up - Sharing responsibility - Join now

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Recent TNS social research shows that three out of four employees believe that organisations who value mental health are more productive. Flexible working conditions and a zero tolerance policy for stigma surrounding mental health are steps in the right direction.

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From a leadership perspective, there's a real thirst for increasing leadership accountability. Executives have recently asked me various questions that linger over the concept of building team accountability to help them achieve their strategic plans while creating high-performing teams:

"How do I build accountability in teams? "

"How do I increase accountability in leadership and employees?"

" What else can I do to get people to do what we need them to do?"

"How can I hold a team member to be held accountable and still be seen as a good leader?"

"How do I balance leadership accountability and personal accountability when building a team of engaged employees?"

"Creating a culture of accountability is hard, how do I provide constructive feedback without being the bad guy?"

Building team accountability requires understanding a few dynamics because it's more complicated than we might recognize. It goes beyond the responsibility for the outcomes, which is obviously important. Still, effective leaders know that they need a culture of accountability in their teams that provide the input needed to achieve the expected team performance. Holding people accountable is one of the most important things that a successful leader does for organizational alignment, but it is also one of the hardest. It is one thing to outline your strategic objectives during team planning, but you need to create the culture to implement it.

First of all, teams - by definition - are made up of individuals. We can't forget that. An understanding is needed that society tends to truly value individual contribution while also (and separately) valuing team contribution. This interesting contradiction causes much confusion about which should be valued the most. The secret alchemy, then, is to simply sort out the confusion to start building accountability in the workplace. Without accountability in a team, it is much more difficult - and stressful - to achieve your quarterly plan. Each team member needs to be responsible for - and take ownership of - their actions, so the team can achieve results as laid out in the plan.

Team Accountability

We can do this if we recognize where the individual plays a more vital role and where teamwork plays a more vital role. For instance, when there's sudden chaos or an emergency of some sort, you want one or more individuals to step up and take the lead. On the other hand, teams are better when you need smart thinking to solve a problem or transform a process. Successful strategy execution must allow each of your team members the flexibility they need to make decisions and be held accountable for the results. Accountable leaders at all levels are responsible for holding people accountable and regularly reviewing goal progress with their teams to win the talent war.

That said, though, the individuals placed on a team matter. In an HBR article, Gratton and Erickson noted that the "greater the proportion of experts a team had, the more likely it was to disintegrate into nonproductive conflict or stalemate." These kinds of teams are not teams. They are groups of individuals coming together under the façade of working as a team. They're still a group of individuals.

Yet, most individuals in team formation want to do what they're supposed to do. Their intent is good. The missing link is that what the team is supposed to do gets lost in translation. It's assumed that they just know what to do, which is why our leadership development program is so popular as it provides actionable advice to develop accountable leaders and teams. Accountability training for leaders provides a positive return on investment as it builds accountability and trust throughout the organization.

Hopefully, your company isn't full of one crisis after another. If it is, then celebrating the individual might be your default solution. But for most companies, the continual journey is around improvements, innovation, and problem-solving. With that said, we can see the relevance of accountability in a team environment. Lack of accountability spreads quickly through the organization, limits productivity, kills morale, and destroys trust.

The missing link is that this 'team' of individuals needs to know what they, as a collective whole, are accountable for accomplishing. Personal accountability doesn't always translate to accountability in a team. As a leader, it's your job to provide them with a definition of what it is you're holding them accountable for doing and increase your communication to increase accountability. Consider implementing skip-level meetings to bridge the gaps between levels of management, start with our best skip-level meeting questions.

To do this, consider using The Five C's Framework for Building Team Accountability:

1. Common Purpose: Set the stage for any team initiative by talking about the 'why.' Why are they here? Why are they working on this project or this special task force? Connect what you need the team to do with why you need them to spend valuable time doing it. What's the point? Why does it matter? We always tend to tell a team of people what to do; many leaders are good at that. As a result, the 'why' gets completely ignored. The sign of a high-performing team is the ability to rally around a common purpose.

2. Clear Expectations: What is it that you ultimately need the team to do? These are the accountability questions leaders to set clear expectations for the team. You need to tell the team repeatedly so that all team members are clear on what is expected of them. It often takes several repetitions before the entire team can communicate them effectively.

Clarify: Are you looking for one specific viable solution to a company-wide problem, or are you asking the team to jointly agree on three potential solutions to present? Do you expect them to define a roadmap for the one (or three) solutions or not? Do you need them to present a list of pros and cons with their solution(s)? How do you want to be kept informed along the way? An email every Friday afternoon? A white paper three times a week (Side note: Please don't do this last one), or what? Whether it's an intact workplace team or a task force, use the Job Scorecard as a tool to help prompt your thinking as to what you need the team to be responsible for doing. Clear expectations are the cornerstone of accountability.

Accountable Leadership: If it's a special task force (vs. an intact workplace team), who's the person who's driving the train? In other words, who's ultimately accountable for making sure that what the team needs to do gets done? It doesn't mean this person is the only one doing the work; it simply means s/he is on top of it. The same would hold true for a new initiative for an intact team. You, the leader, shouldn't think you have all the power to check how things are going. Instead, who on the team can take the leadership role to ensure the transition gets moving and keeps moving? Who's accountable for driving the train? Do you accept responsibility when it is required?

In your mind, what does success look like when you achieve a goal? Setting up a metric for what success looks like clarifies the degree to which people are supposed to do something. Otherwise, you can get a checkmark that says, "We did it." But was it done relative to the expectations you had in your head? Define (clearly) what success looks like. (Side note: Avoid having a due date as a success metric. Any of us can produce a ton of mediocre work by a deadline.)

3. Communicate & Align: As time passes, as part of their leadership development, it's a leader's job to keep a team focused and aligned so that everyone's involved and moving in the same direction. How are they going to do what you need them to do? What resources might they consider using? Keep everyone focused. Over and over, communicate with them, ask questions, remind them why what they're doing is essential, etc. Your job as a leader is to keep them rowing in the same direction, especially when rolling out annual and quarterly plans. Communication and alignment are what provide life to any team because it's what fosters longer-term sustainability.

4. Collaborate and Coaching: Set the stage for collaboration all along the way so that adjustments can be made in real time. You can monitor progress and coach your people. Don't tell them what to do. Coach. Listen to them (80%) and talk with them (20%) to increase your team's performance. Nurture them to talk with each other. Be a resource for them. What roadblocks must be removed, and how can you help remove them? If what you've tasked your people to do is essential, then it deserves your support. Collaboration is at the heart of a great weekly team meeting, where the accountability rubber meets the road. Did everyone do what they said they were going to do? How are you coaching employees to take ownership of their commitments? An effective leader must first keep your commitment to building trust with the team, or they're doomed to failure.

5. Consequences: Most people see consequences, and they immediately think of a negative connotation. We overlook that consequences can also be positive, and every organization should use positive feedback. Make results and consequences visible. Talk to your team strategically vs. tactically, usually done through questions vs. statements. Secondly, for some reason, leaders are the first to let people know when something's not right or if it's gone awry. But when things go well, it's as if success is glossed over. The consequence of that, though, is that you help create a remedial culture. People are only noticed and given attention at weekly team meetings when things go differently than expected. So work to provide equal (or more) weight to what's gone right. Celebrate!

Need some help getting started? Rhythm Systems has programs that can help you execute your strategy with less drama!

Team Accountability Vs. Personal Accountability (Video)

Leadership Accountability: How Good Leaders Hold Their Team Accountable

Which of the Five C's do you find the hardest to do?

Which is the most important, and why?

You can take our team accountability assessment to see where you stand and how to improve.

Need help getting your team aligned to achieve your growth goals? Rhythm systems software was ranked the #1 easiest software to use, highest ROI, fastest implementation, and highest adoption rate on G2.

Additional information on accountability in leadership:

The Power of Systems and People: Accountable Leaders and Teams leadership development program to improve team performance and avoid being part of the great resignation.

You can take Our Team Accountability Assessment to see how your team stacks up.
Why You Need a Peak Performance Plan for Your A-Players Leadership Accountability Definition in Management
Level 5 Leadership - How to be a Level 5 Leader with examples
Team Accountability Begins with Personal Accountability How top CEOs Close the Strategy Execution Gap Follow-Up: The Key To Leadership Development Building Team Accountability: Job Scorecards 10 Signs of an Accountable Culture [Infographic]Growing Team Accountability in Your Organization 5 Steps to Having an Accountability Discussion [Video]
You can learn more about accountable leaders and teams.

Photo Credit: iStock by Getty Images

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Leadership Accountability: Build Accountability Leadership in your Team

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Building team accountability through leadership development requires that we understand a few dynamics because it's more complicated than we might recognize. Accountability in a team starts with personal accountability and accountable leadership.

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Accountability means answering or accounting for your actions and results. It is something every leader wants more of from his team. Accountability is like rain--everyone knows they need it, but no one wants to get wet. It's easy to talk about how "they" need to be more accountable, but it can be uncomfortable when we apply it to ourselves. When is the last time you heard someone say, "I really need to be more accountable for my results?" It doesn't happen very often. Yet we get more accountability from our teams by being accountable to them. It's a two-way street.

To simplify the challenges with this word, try this equation: Accountability = Reliability. Reliable results and reliable relationships are the payoff for building an accountable team culture.

Take a moment now to reflect on the performance of each team member. Think of the lowest-performing team member. By default, that person's level of performance sets the standard for acceptable performance on your team--it's the performance level that you as the leader allow. It's a very public and visible standard regardless of how much we might want to sweep it under the rug or turn a blind eye to it.

Ambiguity is the Achilles' heel of accountability, but specificity enables you to raise the standards of your team's performance.

At its core, accountability is really about specificity--specific expectations, specific consequences, specific language and specific coaching. When specificity increases, miscommunication, frustration and rework decrease.

So, the gears of your accountability engine are expectations, consequences, language and coaching. The oil that enables these gears to run rapidly and smoothly is specificity.

You can ignite your team's accountability with SPECIFIC:

Accountability starts at the beginning of the performance process. If we wait until the end, then we are simply imposing consequences rather than creating ownership. Therefore, crystal-clear expectations are the foundation for boosting accountability. Blurry expectations lead to blurry results. Leaders and team members should be able to easily agree on the answer to this question: "How will I know if I have met expectations?" We cannot rely on others' perceptions of our expectations. The imperfect nature of human communication requires us to be more specific than we think we need to be. Winning teams hold themselves accountable for measurable improvements and for hitting milestones. To do this, accountable leaders help their teams by communicating the 4 W's:

What: What action needs to be taken?

Why: Link this action to the bigger picture so the person understand why they are important.

Who: No two-headed monsters here. Only one person can be accountable per action.

When: Be specific about when you want results-- "next month" or "by second quarter" is not specific enough.

Next up, specific consequences. Stay tuned.

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The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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The Best Way to Keep Your Team Accountable

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Accountability means answering or accounting for your actions and results. It is something every leader wants more of from his team. Accountability is like rain--everyone knows they need it, but no one wants to get wet. It's easy to talk about how "they" need to be more accountable, but it can be uncomfortable when we apply it to ourselves.

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Want to create a high performance team? Want to limit the amount of time you spend settling squabbles between team members? It turns out those two issues are closely related: Our research shows that on top performing teams peers immediately and respectfully confront one another when problems arise. Not only does this drive greater innovation, trust, and productivity, but also it frees the boss from being the playground monitor.

I first saw the connection between high performance and peer accountability years ago when consulting with a very successful financial services company. It had an unparalleled return on capital, breathtaking sales growth, and the highest customer renewal rate in the industry.

In my first face-to-face meeting with the CEO, whose name was Paul, and his direct reports, I committed a major faux pas. I discovered halfway through the meeting that I was calling the wrong guy, "Paul."

It was an innocent mistake. When it was time to begin, one member of the executive team wasn't present. He showed up six minutes late and the guy at the head of the table (I learned later that his name was Frank) said, "We all agreed to be here at 10 AM-what happened?" It was a jarring moment. The tardy teammate flushed red, stammered an explanation, and the meeting moved on. I assumed since this guy was at the head of the table and he held the latecomer accountable that this was Paul. I smiled and made a small wave at him. He looked confused but waved back.

Ten minutes later, Lydia was reporting on sales in her business unit. Apparently, things weren't going well. The woman next to me asked most of the hard questions about her disappointing performance. Her comments were thoughtful and constructive but firm. She concluded by suggesting that they reconsider how much capital they were deploying in Lydia's business unit that year. I wondered if maybe she was in charge.

The best decision I made that day was to keep my mouth shut. It turned out Paul was the quietest guy in the room. I could have spent the entire time playing "Who's Paul?" and gotten it wrong every time. (This has since become one of my favorite stories illustrating the importance of peer accountability.)

There was something strange about that team. And many other teams we subsequently studied. We've found that teams break down in performance roughly as follows:

In the weakest teams, there is no accountability

In mediocre teams, bosses are the source of accountability

In high performance teams, peers manage the vast majority of performance problems with one another

Paul didn't have to monitor latecomers or ask Lydia hard questions because he had created a culture of universal accountability. The basic principle was that anyone should be able to hold anyone accountable if it was in the best interest of the team. Team members were both motivated and able to handle the day-to-day concerns they had with one another, with him, or with anyone outside the team.

We've found that you can approximate the health of a relationship, a team and an organization by measuring the average lag time between identifying and discussing problems. The shorter the lag time, the faster problems get solved and the more the resolution enhances relationships. The longer the lag, the more room there is for mistrust, dysfunction, and more tangible costs to mount. The role of leader is to shrink this gap. And the best way to do it is by developing a culture of universal accountability. Here are some ways we've seen managers like Paul create this kind of norm:

1. Set expectations. Let new team members know up front that you want and expect them to hold you and others accountable.

2. Tell stories. Call out positive examples of team members addressing accountability concerns. Especially when they take a big risk by holding you accountable. Vicarious learning is a powerful form of influence, and storytelling is the best way to make it happen.

3. Model it. The first time your team hears you gripe about your own peers to others-rather than confronting your concerns directly-you lose moral authority to expect the same from them.

4. Teach it. The best leaders are teachers. Codify the skills you think are important for holding "crucial conversations"-and take 5-10 minutes in a staff meeting to teach one. In these teaching episodes, ensure the team practices on a real-life example- perhaps one that happened recently. Trust me, they'll complain, but this will make a huge difference in retention and transference to real life.

5. Set an "It takes two to escalate" policy. If you struggle with lots of escalations, set a policy that "it takes two to escalate." In other words, both peers need to agree they can't resolve it at their level before they bring it to you together.

The role of the boss should not be to settle problems or constantly monitor your team, it should be to create a team culture where peers address concerns immediately, directly and respectfully with each other. Yes, this takes time up front. But the return on investment happens fast as you regain lost time and see problems solved both better and faster.

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The Best Teams Hold Themselves Accountable

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Want to create a high performance team? Want to limit the amount of time you spend settling squabbles between team members? It turns out those two issues are closely related: Our research shows that on top performing teams peers immediately and respectfully confront one another when problems arise.

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Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

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The idea for sharing this post came from a session I recently conducted at the annual teaching conference organized by my university. A pedagogical conundrum was raised by a colleague whose enthusiasm and question stayed with me and inspired me to write this post. The question posed by this colleague is relevant to all instructors who have ever used group work to assess their students: How should one deal with the issues that arise when members of a group are not picking up their share of the responsibilities during a group work project?

The benefits of group work are well recognized (e.g., http://goo.gl/N8kqhy), as are the reasons students don't like working in groups (Taylor, 2011). We have all had groups that operated magically, when group members brought out each other's strengths and helped each member shine; but we have also had groups that failed miserably when members did not get along or did not pull equal weight in completing a group project.

Although much has been written about group work and its benefits and challenges, as well as variables, features, or components that can contribute to positive learning outcomes (Tomcho, & Foels, 2012), issues of implementation seem to pop up every time instructors get together to talk about their teaching challenges. In this post I focus on the persistent challenge of imbalance when not all group members contribute equally. What follows are a few simple ideas you might wish to consider that have worked well for me during years of trial and error in my teaching, as well as insights from my research.

1. Design a group project in which the students work in phases.

For instance, starting with a project idea, then moving to project development, followed by preliminary project outcomes - and requiring students to "check-in" at each phase before delivering the final project. Not only does this help ensure that the groups won't wait until the final deadline is upon them to work on their project, but it also enables the instructor to touch base with every group and to offer guidance, support, or mediation, if needed, during the process.

2. Develop an element of the project that allows group members to make their own choices.

In my teaching, I usually give students the freedom to choose a topic area that interests them within the scope of the course or that is the most relevant or meaningful to the team members. This decision helps create a sense of ownership and enhances the students' level of engagement, both of which are crucial for working on large group projects, and especially for those requiring students to carry out the work in phases throughout the term (see, for example, Enghag & Niedder, 2007, on the theoretical basis for student ownership of learning).

3. Within a group project, include a component requiring individual students to submit non-onerous individual work.

For example, the project could include a personal reflection piece (e.g., e.g., Huang, 2011a), in which each member individually reflects on the process and product of his or her own portion of the group work. Apart from the pedagogical benefits of learners engaging in individual reflection (Pavlovich, Collins, & Jones, 2009), this task or component will inevitably provide insights about the division-of-labor issue commonly raised by instructors and students alike. Both learners and the instructor can glean a great many insights from those individual reflection pieces, which instructors can take into account when assigning either project or final grades, depending on their individual approach to assessment. This process also enables students to gain greater understanding about what worked well and what could be improved.

One important matter to keep in mind when implementing the reflection component is the need to ensure that we, as instructors, clarify what we mean by "reflection" in order to minimize a potential mismatch between our expectations about reflective learning and our students' understanding of what it entails. What we'd like our students to do is to engage in critical reflection - that is, thinking that involves different levels of reflection, rather than simply restating or describing what they did, or what I have called "non-transformative" reflection.

The goal is to encourage students to move beyond simply recalling what they did either individually or together within the group and instead to reflect on their personal discoveries about their own learning and the process of working collaboratively (i.e., understanding, analyzing, and evaluating the process and the product of their group efforts), and, importantly, to "verbalize" what they would do differently the next time around (i.e., pointing to the future).

This component is an example of what is called "writing/speaking to learn" (Manchón, 2011). For this task, it's important that students not be required to follow any formatting or style guidelines. The reflection should be an informal piece of writing, much like a diary entry, and can be in any modality (e.g., writing, audio recording, video clip) that suits the characteristics or preferences of individual students to allow for their individual expression. For some additional simple guidelines about implementing learner reflection, refer to Huang (2011b).

4. Devote a segment (30 minutes or so) during class before all group projects begin to implement two important steps.

Step 1: Get to know each other. The first 10 minutes can be a period for all students to find and meet with the group members they have either been assigned or have self-selected. They should then spend some time exploring each other's communication styles, which may arise from personal or culture-related differences (Lewis, 2006), to help them better anticipate different communication preferences and approaches to group work. This time can be spent sharing responses to guiding questions or statements, such as "I would describe my communication style/personality as ...," "I tend/prefer to deal with conflict by ...," and "I would appreciate my team members doing/not doing ...." (Huang, 2014). Guiding questions are especially helpful for groups that are culturally and linguistically diverse.

Step 2: Establish group norms. During the next 20 minutes, encourage each group to negotiate its own group norms (derived from Step 1) and ground rules. During this time, members of each team should elucidate, negotiate, and establish roles, responsibilities, and expectations. This process makes explicit the specific contributions and ownership of responsibilities that each team member negotiates and agrees to.

Below is a sample checklist that instructors can modify and use to facilitate this process and help prepare each group project to succeed (Huang, 2014). You can revise the items to suit a project or provide the list as an example for each group to use in creating its own list. The list can also be revisited during each check-point mentioned earlier and adjustments made as needed. Upon completion of the project, instructors can request the checklist(s) to be submitted (but not graded), along with other deliverables that are due.

5. Prepare students to expect the unexpected.

Rather than directing their every concern to you, students should be encouraged to become problem solvers not only by identifying problems, but also by developing solutions and choosing and evaluating the best ones so as to balance personal learning with the group's project goals. At the same time, you'll want to create and maintain a culture of openness that lets your students know you are readily available to provide guidance when groups reach an impasse.

In any group work situation, it is always possible that compatibility issues will arise between or among team members, as well as conflicts or problems with unequal distribution of work. The pre-group-project considerations described above, however, can easily be implemented to help minimize the likelihood that conflicts will develop that could negatively affect learning and outcomes. They may also help instructors and students in dealing with the specific common challenge of students who are not pulling their own weight in group collaborations, while maximizing the benefits of a group project not only in terms of content, but more, if not most, importantly, in learning how to work with others - a valuable life lesson that's best learned through experience.

References:
Enghag, M., & Niedderer, H. (2008). Two dimensions of student ownership of learning during small-group work in physics. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 6(4), 629-653.

Huang, L.-S. (2011a). Language learners as language researchers: The acquisition of English grammar through a corpus-aided discovery learning approach mediated by intra and interpersonal dialogues. In J. Newman, S. Rice, & H. Baayen (Eds.), Corpus-based studies in language documentation, use, and learning (pp. 91-122). Amsterdam: Rodopi Press.

Huang, L.-S. (2011b, Fall). Key concepts and theories in TESL: Learner reflection. TEAL News: The Association of B.C. Teachers of English as an Additional Language, pp. 9-13.

Huang, L.-S. (2014). Lessons learned from team-facilitation in ELT: Strategies for navigating the challenges and making it work. IATEFL ES(O)L Newsletter, pp. 13-17.

Lewis, R. D. (2006). When cultures collide: Leading across cultures (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Manchón, R. M. (Ed.). (2011). Learning-to-write and writing-to-learn in an additional language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Pavlovich, K., Collins, E., Jones, G. (2009). Developing students' skills in reflective practice: Design and assessment. Journal of Management Education, 33(1), 37-58.

Taylor, A. (2011). Top 10 reasons students dislike working in groups...and why I do it anyway. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 39(2), 219-220.

Tomcho, T. J., & Foels, R. (2012). Meta-analysis of group learning activities: Empirically based teaching recommendations. Teaching of Psychology, 39(3), 159-169.
Dr. Li-Shih Huang, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of Linguistics, Learning and Teaching Scholar-in-Residence, Learning and Teaching Centre, University of Victoria, BC, Canada.

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Students Riding on Coattails during Group Work? Five Simple Ideas to Try

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How should faculty deal with the issues that arise when some students ride on the coattails of others during a group work project?

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Often, students do not have the skills or expertise needed to work effectively in small groups (Shimazoe and Aldrich 2010). By applying facilitation strategies such as those described below, instructors can help students learn to work collaboratively and ensure that group work improves learning for all.

Establish classroom ground-rules or expectations that can promote respectful, inclusive interactions in the classroom. These ground-rules or expectations should be determined at the start of the semester and guide students' interactions in groups. Groups that develop shared expectations on how to approach and accomplish a task tend to have higher levels of helping behaviors (Gonzalez-Mulé et al., 2014).

Define group member roles and rotate these frequently. Groups often function most effectively when members have designated roles (such as recorder, manager, or reporter) which can promote positive interdependence among group members, as well as maintain individual accountability. Roles are also critical in minimizing the possibility that students will take on, or assign one to another, roles that adhere to gender and racial stereotypes. For example, Hirshfield and Chachra (2015) found that in first-year engineering courses, females tended to undertake less technical roles and more communication roles than males. By having students' alternate through different roles, you can help students learn the value of each role.

Develop and communicate a set of clear instructions. Explain why and how students are completing the activity.

What are the content knowledge and skills that this assignment is designed to help students learn and practice?

Explain how to accomplish the activity in a PowerPoint slide or handout. Set time limits, e.g., 5-7 minutes for shorter activities, or 10-12 minutes for longer, multi-step activities. Breaking up a complex task into smaller pieces with timed checkpoints helps groups better understand how to work on complex problems and make sure they are on track to finish during the allotted time.

Indicate group size and composition. Should students work with two or three neighbors? These instructions help students better understand how they will work in groups (Barkley et al. 2014).

Provide careful discussion prompts. Ask students to answer specific questions but also to focus on the rationale behind their answers and be prepared to share the rationale. This prompt influences the quality of student discussions by creating a "reasoning-centered class" where students employ more reasoning rather than just trying to achieve the correct answer (Knight et al. 2013).

Maintain your role as a facilitator and be an active listener during the activity. Move throughout the room to monitor group conversations without interfering or participating in the groups' conversations. Watch for uneven participation in a group. What common mistakes are you observing in groups? Silently note these, but do not interfere or interject. Groups need time to develop group norms (i.e., their group work behavioral style) and allowing them to work this out is an important learning step. Therefore, let groups negotiate their own group dynamics.

Be flexible. You don't need to wait until everyone has finished the assignment before asking groups to report out. If necessary you can ask managers how much additional time is needed for their group. If students are struggling with the assignment, stop and provide assistance or direction to help them get back on track with the assignment.

Provide closure. Bring the groups back together as a whole class to report out and discuss the results of the activity. Use your previous observations of groups to determine which groups you might ask to report out. Ask a group's spokesperson to report on one piece of information or an idea generated during the group work.

Follow up by asking the spokesperson to explain their reasoning behind the group's response.

Promote participation by asking other groups to respond as well. Ask questions to help the students connect and understand the ideas brought out during the discussion.

Write the ideas generated by group work on the chalkboard so that all students can learn from the contributions of each group. Doing so underscores the importance of the knowledge generated by group work and encourages everyone to pay attention and record this knowledge in their notes.

You may not have time to hear from all groups but can then call on those groups who did not have the opportunity to report that day during the next class period.

Include time for reflection and feedback. Acknowledge the progress made and good group behaviors observed. Discuss opportunities for improving group dynamics. During the semester, occasionally ask students to reflect on their learning experience in groups. You can use these responses as feedback to assess and revise group work as needed. For example, you can ask students to answer the following (Ash and Clayton 2014):

I learned....,

I learned this because (what aspect of this experience helped them learn this)

This learning matters because (how might knowledge or skill help them in the course or in a larger context?)....

Issues that might arise during group work. Working in groups can be a particularly challenging experience for students who are introverts or dominating types (Taylor 2011). Having clear ground rules to explain the process of group work and instructions on how to accomplish the assignment can help alleviate angst in both groups. It can also be useful to remind students of their roles to help ensure that all group members are fully engaged.

Questions to help facilitate groups:

Does your recorder have questions from the group that you need to address?

Does the manager have ideas that were suggested but not yet discussed?

What will the spokesperson report for their group progress at this point?

Ask the reflector for each person's contribution or what the consensus is on their progress so far.

Creating successful group work activities in your class requires some preparation, but the benefits to you and your students can be gratifying. Check out our workshop schedule for more information on teaching with group work.
References
Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2004). The articulated learning: An approach to guided reflection and assessment. Innovative Higher Education, 29(2), 137-154.

Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. John Wiley & Sons.

Gonzalez-Mulé, E., DeGeest, D. S., McCormick, B. W., Seong, J. Y., & Brown, K. G. (2014). Can we get some cooperation around here? The mediating role of group norms on the relationship between team personality and individual helping behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(5), 988.

Hirshfield, L., & Chachra, D. (2015, October). Task choice, group dynamics and learning goals: Understanding student activities in teams. In Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2015. 32614 2015. IEEE (pp. 1-5). IEEE.

Rienties, B., Alcott, P., & Jindal-Snape, D. (2014). To Let Students Self-Select or Not That Is the Question for Teachers of Culturally Diverse Groups. Journal of Studies in International Education, 18(1), 64-83.

Shimazoe, J., & Aldrich, H. (2010). Group work can be gratifying: Understanding & overcoming resistance to cooperative learning. College Teaching, 58(2), 52-57.

Sweet, M., & Michaelsen, L. K. (2012). Team-based learning in the social sciences and humanities. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Taylor, A. (2011). Top 10 reasons students dislike working in small groups... and why I do it anyway. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 39(3), 219-220.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. © 2016, Washington University.

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Often, students do not have the skills or expertise needed to work effectively in small groups (Shimazoe and Aldrich 2010). By applying facilitation strategies such as those described below, instructors can help students learn to work collaboratively and ensure that group work improves learning for

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Teachers use different strategies to help students learn.

The best strategies are backed by research.

Some strategies are extra helpful for students who learn and think differently.

Your child's teachers may use a variety of teaching strategies in their classrooms. But do these strategies help kids who learn and think differently?

There's no one way for teachers to deliver instruction to their students. However, some strategies are backed by research and are more effective than others.

These approaches and techniques can benefit all students. But they're especially helpful to kids who learn and think differently. They can make a big difference in how well struggling students take in and work with information. (Some may even be used as formal accommodations in IEPs and 504 plans .)

You may have heard of one or more of these strategies from your child's classroom or special education teachers. If not, you can ask the teachers whether they use the strategies and how you might adapt them to use at home.

Here are six common teaching strategies. Learn more about what they are and how they can help kids who learn and think differently.

"Wait time" (or "think time") is a three- to seven-second pause after a teacher says something or asks a question. Instead of calling on the first student who raises her hand, the teacher will stop and wait.

This strategy can help with the following issues:

2. Multisensory Instruction

Multisensory instruction is a way of teaching that engages more than one sense at a time. A teacher might help kids learn information using touch, movement, sight and hearing.

This way of teaching can help with these issues:

Dyscalculia: Multisensory instruction is helpful in math, too. Teachers often use hands-on tools like blocks and drawings. These tools help kids to "see" math concepts. Adding 2 + 2 is more concrete when you combine four blocks in front of you. You may hear teachers refer to these tools as manipulatives.

Most kids don't learn simply by being told what to do. Teachers use a strategy called "I Do, We Do, You Do" to model a skill. The teacher will show how to do something ("I do"), such as how to do a math problem. Next, she will invite kids to do a problem with her ("we do"). Then, kids will try a math problem on their own ("you do").

This strategy can help with these issues:

All learning and thinking differences: When used correctly, I Do, We Do, You Do can benefit all learners. That's because a teacher can provide support during each phase. However, teachers must know what support to provide. They also need to know when students understand a concept well enough to work on their own. Think of it like riding a bike: The teacher needs to know when to take off the training wheels.

Graphic organizers are visual tools. They show information or the connection between ideas. They also help kids organize what they've learned or what they have to do. Teachers use these tools to "scaffold," or provide support around, the learning process for struggling learners. (It's the same idea as when workers put up scaffolding to help construct a building.)

There are many different kinds of graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams and flow charts. They can be especially helpful with these issues:

5. One-on-One and Small Group Instruction

One strategy that teachers use is to vary the size of the group they teach to. Some lessons are taught to the whole class. Others are better for a small group of students or one student. Learning in a small group or one-on-one can be very helpful to kids with learning and thinking differences.

Some kids are placed in small groups because of their IEPs or an intervention. But that's not always the case. Teachers often meet with small groups or one student as a way to differentiate instruction. This means that they tailor the lesson to the needs of the student.

This strategy helps with:

Dyslexia: Students with dyslexia frequently meet in small group settings for reading. In the general classroom, teachers often work with a small group of kids at the same reading level or to focus on a specific skill. They might also meet because kids have a common interest in a book.

Dyscalculia: For kids with dyscalculia, teachers gather one or more students to practice skills that some students (but not the whole class) need extra help with.

Dysgraphia: In many classrooms, teachers hold "writing conferences." They meet with students one-on-one to talk about their progress with what they're writing. For students with dysgraphia, a teacher can use this opportunity to check in and focus on specific skills for that student.

ADHD and executive functioning issues: This type of instruction often takes place in settings with fewer distractions. The teacher can also help students stay on task and learn skills like self-monitoring.

6. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Strategies

UDL is a type of teaching that gives all students flexible ways to learn and succeed. UDL strategies allow kids to access materials, engage with them and show what they know in different ways. There are many examples of how these strategies help kids who learn and think differently.

Dyslexia: When teachers follow UDL principles, they present information in many different ways. For instance, instead of telling students they must read a book, they would be invited to listen to an audiobook. This removes a barrier for students who struggle with reading.

Dysgraphia: One UDL strategy is to give assignment choices. Kids with dysgraphia may struggle to show how much they know about history by writing an essay. But they may shine when delivering a presentation or acting out a historical skit.

Some teaching strategies may be part of a child's IEP or 504 plan.

The strategies aim to give kids needed support as they learn.

Talk with your child's teachers about the strategies they use.

About the Author

About the Author

The Understood Team&nbsp

is made up of passionate writers, editors, and community moderators. Many of them learn and think differently, or have kids who do.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Jenn Osen-Foss, MAT&nbsp

is an instructional coach, supporting teachers in using differentiated instruction, interventions, and co-planning.

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6 Strategies Teachers Use to Help Kids Who Learn and Think Differently

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Teachers use different strategies to help students learn. The best strategies are backed by research. Some strategies are extra helpful for students who learn and think differently. Your child's teachers may use a variety of teaching strategies in their classrooms. But do these strategies help kids who learn and think differently?