Teams behaviour T1
Know Your Team
Stop deploying people by habit. Learn each colleague's strengths, motivations and ways of working, then delegate, develop and support them so they thrive.
Jump to T1 resources ↓What this behaviour looks like
Observe, listen and adapt
A leader uses one-to-ones, observation and feedback to learn what each colleague does best, what motivates them and how they prefer to work. That insight shapes who leads what and how teachers and support staff are supported, and extends to knowing pupils well.
A practical example
Choosing who leads a new phonics group
Deploying by habit“Our most experienced teaching assistant can run the new phonics group. She always picks these things up.”
Matching strengths to the work“Before deciding, I asked each teaching assistant what they enjoy and where they want to grow. One colleague has early reading training we have never used and wants the stretch. She will lead the group, with structured support at first and more autonomy as she grows.”
One assistant has unused early reading training and wants stretch.
She leads the new phonics group.
Structured support at first, then more autonomy as she grows.
Ask one colleague what gives them energy and where they want to develop. Match one piece of work to what you learn, then agree support and a review.
T1 · Resources for your setting
Put ‘Know Your Team’ into practice
Develop your own practice or lead the learning with your team. Use the chapter and workbook to explore the behaviour, then choose the resources that fit your next step.
Apply · Your leadership practice
Put it to work
Use the T1 Playbook to turn the behaviour into practical action on a real leadership challenge.
- Practical toolkit and coaching prompts
- A practice script to rehearse your approach
- A 90-day plan to guide your next steps
Members only · Explore membership →
Apply · Learning with your team
Lead a team session
Use the T1 INSET PowerPoint to help colleagues explore the behaviour and plan how to put it into practice.
- Editable slides to adapt to your setting
- Speaker notes to support facilitation
- Discussion, rehearsal and planning
Members only · Explore membership →
Completed Playbooks
See T1 applied in eight leadership contexts
Choose your role to explore the challenge, the leader’s response and the intended result. Members can read the complete example and download an editable Word copy.
In a primary school
In a secondary school
Across schools
Selected completed example
In a primary school · Headteacher
Deploying teaching assistants to strengths
Joanne · Headteacher · 224-pupil primary school
Worked example at a glance
Deploying teaching assistants to strengths
The challengeNine committed teaching assistants are moved almost every morning, and several have strengths the school uses only by accident. Deployment depends on improvisation rather than contribution to pupils' learning.
What the leader doesThe headteacher learns what each teaching assistant models and notices well, what gives them purpose and what limits their flexibility, then agrees a stable four-week trial and names the work that will stop.
What success looks likeBy day 30 nine reliable profiles and a stable four-week trial should be agreed; by day 60 pupil independence should improve and avoidable daily movement should reduce; by day 90 specialist contribution and development should be sustained fairly.
Samuel · Assistant Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead · 704-pupil primary school
Worked example at a glance
Building a resilient safeguarding team
The challengeRecording is timely, but triage runs through the DSL and one experienced deputy. If either is out for a week, the children waiting in that queue depend on two people.
What the leader doesThe DSL uses anonymised cases to see how each colleague reasons about risk, asks privately about emotional load, and agrees which decisions each person can own and when to escalate within a supervised, tiered rota.
What success looks likeBy day 30 capability profiles and a safe tiered rota should be in use; by day 60 triage should be timely and shared without weaker decisions; by day 90 the team should be resilient, supported and appropriately autonomous.
Roisin · Music Lead and Year 3 teacher · 396-pupil primary school
Worked example at a glance
Sharing music expertise across a phase
The challengeMusic teaching varies widely across Year 3 and Year 4 classes. Two colleagues have musical experience nobody has talked about, and the music lead has been filling the gap personally.
What the leader doesThe music lead asks colleagues about their musical experience beyond job titles, finds where each person's confidence drops, then co-designs a composition sequence with small, bounded contributions and a short rehearsal before teaching.
What success looks likeBy day 30 accurate team profiles and a co-designed sequence should be complete; by day 60 every class should teach the sequence securely; by day 90 shared subject leadership should improve without creating new dependence.
Anthony · Headteacher · 1,440-pupil secondary school
Worked example at a glance
Making a new SLT structure work
The challengeThe new SLT structure is clear on paper, but two portfolios overlap and operational work keeps finding its way back to the headteacher, which slows decisions across a large school.
What the leader doesThe headteacher maps live decisions, learns each leader's strengths, pressures and ambitions, asks leaders to analyse why they escalate, including the headteacher's own past responses, and clarifies who holds which decisions.
What success looks likeBy day 30 decision maps, profiles and two clarified overlaps should be in use; by day 60 operational escalation should fall without greater unmanaged risk; by day 90 SLT authority and strategic contribution should deepen.
Declan · Deputy Headteacher for assessment and curriculum · 1,030-pupil secondary school
Worked example at a glance
Hearing every voice in assessment decisions
The challengeThe assessment group makes technical decisions quickly, but pastoral consequences surface after designs are fixed, and several of its ten members contribute far less than they could.
What the leader doesThe deputy head maps the expertise each member brings and whose voice actually shapes decisions, uses written-first contributions, and brings subject and pastoral perspectives in while live decisions can still change.
What success looks likeBy day 30 expertise and participation maps should reshape two live decisions; by day 60 decisions should need fewer late corrections; by day 90 a lean, trusted cross-faculty routine should be established.
Imani · Year 7 Transition and Pastoral Lead · 1,210-pupil secondary school
Worked example at a glance
Getting to know a Year 7 tutor team
The challengeEvery Year 7 tutor sees pupils daily, yet pupils get different things from it. Tutors say the experience they brought has never been asked about, so belonging depends on the tutor group.
What the leader doesThe pastoral lead talks privately with each tutor about strengths, confidence and workload, gathers representative pupil voice, and uses the same scenario rehearsal for everyone before tailoring support and improving how concerns reach help.
What success looks likeBy day 30 a reliable picture of tutor strengths, support needs and pupil experience should be complete; by day 60 tutor practice and information flow should improve; by day 90 pupil belonging should be more consistent across tutor groups.
Aroha · Head of Drama · 1,270-pupil secondary school
Worked example at a glance
Sharing production leadership in drama
The challengeProductions are strong, but almost all the work and decisions run through two people, while a new teacher with professional design experience has never been asked to use it.
What the leader doesThe head of drama learns each colleague's practical, design and technical expertise, asks privately what scope they want, then agrees bounded production strands with clear authority, support and work taken off elsewhere.
What success looks likeBy day 30 five profiles and bounded production strands should be agreed; by day 60 milestones should be met with coherent decisions and wider pupil opportunity; by day 90 shared leadership should strengthen curriculum and production.
Ravi · Trust Director of Professional Learning · eleven-school trust
Worked example at a glance
Widening who leads trust commissions
The challengeThree of eight central specialists lead most commissions across eleven schools. Newer colleagues cannot see how anyone gets the chance to lead, and schools do not always reach the best-matched expertise.
What the leader doesThe director builds a private profile of each specialist's strengths, ambitions and capacity, tests assumptions about who is credible, then pairs newer colleagues with experienced ones on live commissions without weakening service to schools.
What success looks likeBy day 30 reliable profiles and a challenged deployment map should be complete; by day 60 three commissions should show wider distribution without weaker service; by day 90 leadership depth should grow and dependence on three specialists should reduce.
The complete Playbook is for members
Turn this example into action
Read the full toolkit, coaching and practice scripts, and 90-day plan. Members can view the PDF here and download an editable Word copy.
Resources for this behaviour
Templates and checklists from the resource library that put T1 into practice.
Further reading
Recommended book
First, Break All the Rules – Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman (1999)
This book deepens the behaviour by showing how knowing strengths and motivations enables better deployment and stronger relationships.
References from the Everyone Succeeds book
- Seligman, M.E.P. and Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000) 'Positive psychology: An introduction', American Psychologist, 55(1), pp. 5–14. Read free ↗
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