High Performance Teaching Teams: Are You Ready To Level Up?

“More effective teaching teams is a key to improving student outcomes." John Hattie

“If you can imagine it you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” William Arthur Ward

with Judi Newman & Alistair Kerr

Lately I have been troubled by my inability to comprehensively answer a perfectly reasonable question I have been asked about High Performance Teams: 'What are the highest levels of performance teams can aspire to?'

The Impact of High Performance Teams in Education

High Performance Teams have been the subject of my complete obsession these last few years and my pursuit of helping teams achieve higher levels of performance has been, by far, the most satisfying work I have done in my career to date.

It has been a deeply personally rewarding experience being able to help teams discover and refine simple and effective strategies across the 4 KPIs of the High Performance Teams Framework to boost their Achievement and Engagement increasing their overall performance and job satisfaction. The outworkings of improved team performance have literally changed the lives of millions of clients, customers, patients and students who benefited from the services these teams from Health, Industry, Government and Education provided.

It is the positive impact of High Performance Teams in Education that I am most passionate about. In all other industries, we are improving the lives of people ‘in the present’ but in education we are improving the lives of people ‘in the future’ as the work of teachers is so crucial to equipping the children of today to be the leaders of tomorrow in an increasingly uncertain word. The relationship between teacher performance and student achievement is well established in research. We also know that low performance school cultures lead to less engaged parents and students, ultimately leading to poor educational outcomes.

Conversely, High Performance School cultures foster greater engagement, leading to better overall retention and student grades, and better educational and occupational outcomes over the longer term. This is highly significant as High Performance School cultures not only enhance students’ self-esteem, but also have the prospect of positively impacting the Australian economy as a whole through the contribution of taxes, given that average yearly earnings increase 6.8% per year for every year a student spends in education subsequent to grade 8. Thus, enabling teaching teams to operate at the highest possible levels of performance is an essential part of safeguarding future generations.

The Levels of High Performance Teams

Returning to the question: “What are the highest levels of performance teams can aspire to?” I believe we have finally begun to provide an answer. In the Education Sector we have been working with hundreds of school leadership teams in cluster programs over the last three years which has given us a multitude of case studies showcasing the strategies teams have implemented and the outcomes they have achieved.

These case studies demonstrate the power of the High Performance Teams Framework as an enabler of genuine transformation of School Culture for both staff and students within 12 months. However, a helicopter view of all the case study outcomes also enables some comparison between the various teams and in particular – a chance to identify the positive outlier teams and unpack their successes in a way that we can all learn from.

Level 5 Teams: The Highest Performing Teams…

The review of such a plethora of outcome data gave us some powerful insights into the various levels of team performance that was possible, forming the basis of the HPT Level Up table below:

As you can see in the organisation of the table, it is apparent to us that teams can be classified according to both the VALUE they produce (a combination of direct and indirect productivity benefits) through achieving their targets and goals over the short- and long-term, and the CONFIDENCE they have as a team to share information with each other and provide frank and fearless feedback to achieve their goals. They can also be classified by the main team CHALLENGE they face to level up and the relevant leadership approach that is needed (but more about that in a future article).

Unpacking 'VALUE' and 'CONFIDENCE' into the HPT Domains of ACHIEVEMENT and ENGAGEMENT allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the motivations and behaviours that teams display through the various layers of performance. You can see in the expanded table above how teams at various levels behave in terms of VALUE, as expressed in the FOCUS of their team's ACHIEVEMENT through their level of CLARITY OF VISION and GOALS & TARGETS. A similar analysis can be done with team CONFIDENCE, as expressed in the DRIVERS of their team's ENGAGEMENT through their level of VULNERABILITY & TRUST and knowledge SHARING & SUCCESSION planning.

Level 5 Teams: High Performance Teaching Teams

"A teacher affects eternity; they can never tell where their influence stops." Henry Adams

Crossing the bridge back from theory to practice let’s take a practical look at some examples of Level 5 Value and Confidence we have seen from the Highest Performance Teaching Teams.

‘Level 5: Leverage’ at West Key State School

Leveraging to Level 5 (10x Value) can occur when teams have absolute clarity about their long-range vision and action AND are able to set and exceed team stretch goals & targets. For the teaching teams at West Key State School, every member of staff is crystal clear about their vision of “enabling every teacher to positively impact every student to grow and live a successful life”, and every member of staff is crystal clear about the school’s stretch targets for student academic achievement (i.e., reading). This level of clarity is critical for 10x success as it creates a series of strategic questions about positive problems they need to solve around continuous professional development for teachers and information sharing and feedback among staff in order to achieve such lofty vision and stretch targets…

As you can see in the table above, the 10x solution for West Key SS lies in the implementation of their PLC strategies and information sharing strategies such as the use of Lyn Sharratt’s 'Faces on The Data' whole of school data wall. By using this strategy teachers from across the school (who wouldn’t normally get to meet together in teaching teams) can identify similar reading level students (i.e., over-achieving younger students and under-achieving older students) and informally swap ideas and collaborate to fast-track student growth – this occurs without needing any additional funding or support and significantly improves the child’s performance and thus longer-term social and economic contribution – hence 10x Value. 

‘Level 5: Legacy’ at West Key State School

Level 5 Legacy strategy is a natural outcome of teams that are entirely 'Confident' in each other’s commitment to their core purpose (vision and mission) and preparedness to give and receive frank and fearless feedback. For the teaching teams at West Key State School they have been able to reach this level of Team Engagement through the consistent and supportive use of Peer Coaching strategies for Peer Observation and Feedback. 

By having a simple and explicit protocol for peer observation and feedback processes which harnesses the power of evidenced based coaching conversation techniques, the teachers at West Key were empowered, enabled and ultimately became fierce advocates of continuous feedback and development both within PLC groups and among less formalised networks of peer teachers that shared common interests and professional development goals.

The Level 5 Journey: Culture Eats (Mis-matched) Strategy for Breakfast

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast." Peter Drucker

One of the most sanity saving insights that school leaders should take from unpacking the 5 levels of team performance is that their team development strategy MUST be matched with the team’s current level of performance, trying to drive a strategy too fast too soon will only lead to disappointment.

West Key didn’t just jump to Level 5 Leverage without building a strong performance base a readiness through consolidating teaching teams and Level 3 and Level 4 performance as part of the journey. We have discovered that Level 5, 10x Value strategies in teaching teams such as a Whole of School Faces on The Data strategy cannot be rushed or introduced on teams performing at lower levels without first consolidating and Levelling Up their capability and readiness for higher levels of value creation.

Equally, like other schools on the journey, West Key did not simply flick a switch to get to Level 5 Legacy but rather built up confidence over time – making mistakes along the way which they openly shared with their peer schools to help fast-track others. Where the focus of observations was made clear at the outset or the feedback was rushed and the coaching framework was not applied to the discussion a loss of confidence in the process was an inevitable outcome and it became a case of “two steps forwards, one step back” as the teaching teams gradually moved up through the layers of confidence. However, once at Level 5, there was such a rigour and commitment to feedback and development that teams barely even thought about their ‘within team trust’ and were far more focused on sharing and learning with the wider group of teachers in the school and collaborating with other schools in the community to lift the standards of teaching and leave a powerful positive legacy for future teachers to follow…

It’s often said that 'culture eats strategy for breakfast', however working with teams from across the spectrum I’ve come to understand this quote differently. Yes, culture will eat mis-matched strategy for breakfast, but the right strategy in the right culture creates an unstoppable force for positive change.

Are You Ready to Level Up?

“…the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too…. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!” WH Murray

Beginning to understand the answers that sit beneath the question “What are the highest levels of performance teams can aspire to?” Has opened my eyes to an exciting next step that all teams can make! Whether it is to move from the lower levels of team performance to the higher levels or to work out how to consolidate and maintain the very highest levels of performance over the longer-term – every team can benefit from taking the Level Up challenge!

To establish your current level of performance as a team we recommend setting some time aside to do have a structured deep dive conversation. Firstly complete a ‘What If…’ exercise the team collectively discusses and identifies the full range of possible behaviours and attitudes they would display in each on the 5 levels using a Y-Chart format. Once this is complete shift the team towards a ‘Level Up…’ conversation about what would need to change for the team to progress through each level. Finally conclude the deep dive discussion with the team actually diagnosing its current level of performance and committing to some next steps to level up. From there it is a simple choice of which methods to use to Level Up. Your team can DIY using free tools and online blogs and videos; or do some 'Assisted DIY' with the HPT resource kits and some coaching and PD sessions; or participate a HPT foundations workshop or 12 month team development program.

Level Up Quick Start Assessment Online

To get things started RIGHT NOW we have developed a quick (& free) HPT Level Up Team Assessment Tool (click here) which only takes a 1-2 minutes to complete and provides you with an indicator of your team’s current level of performance as well as kick-start your thinking on the various areas within the High Performance Teams Program you may need to focus on to get your team to Level Up.

Bringing It All Together

Ensuring that our children lead a better future than we left them is THE greatest moral and economic challenge of our time – there’s a lot riding on school performance, and High Performance Teaching Teams are at the centre of realising this lofty ambition.

Building High Performance Teaching Teams is a core responsibility of middle leadership within the Education Sector and the process of teaching team development can be fast-tracked by understanding the levels of HPT and aligning teaching team development strategy accordingly.

Without aligning strategy to the current level of team performance the risk of mis-match is high and 'culture will eat the mis-matched strategy for breakfast'. However if the teaching team development strategy is aligned to the current level of team performance then the benefits of "right strategy/right culture" will create an unstoppable force for positive change.

Is your teaching team development strategy aligned to your current level of teaching team performance? Are you ready to Level Up? Get Started Now!

Dr Pete Stebbins PhD

Dr Pete Stebbins, PhD, is a workplace psychologist, author and executive coach. Pete has many years of research and professional practice behind him and is currently the project director for the High Performance Schools Program working with a large number of primary, secondary and special education schools developing High Performance School Cultures to maximise staff and student outcomes. 

High Performance Schools - Read More...

• Kay Kirkman on Mentoring Principals & Building High Performance Schools
• Samantha Donovan on School Culture & High Performance Teaching Teams 
• Dr David Turner on Leading High Performance Schools Into The Future
• Roselynne Anderson on The Power of Feedback in High Performance Schools
• Phillip Carleton on Building Explicit & Consistent School Culture