T4. Create a Team toolkit
Toolkit
A team is more than a group of individuals working alongside one another. It becomes powerful when united by trust, shared purpose, and collective accountability. Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2010) shows how the absence of trust, avoidance of conflict, lack of commitment, and weak accountability all undermine success. Strong teams build trust, embrace healthy disagreement, commit to shared goals, and hold each other to high standards. Schools depend on collaboration. When teams share purpose and clarity, they deliver consistency, creativity, and resilience. A team charter brings that clarity to life by setting out what the team is here to achieve, how members will work together, and how decisions will be made.
| Purpose |
| Clarify why the team exists and what success looks like. Define how the team’s purpose connects to the wider school mission. |
| Shared Goals |
| Identify two or three key priorities that the team is collectively responsible for delivering. Ensure goals are specific, measurable, and time-bound. |
| Norms (How We Work) |
| Agree on how the team communicates, collaborates, and manages meetings. Include expectations around preparation, follow-up, and respectful challenge. |
| Decision Rules |
| Decide how decisions are made, who owns them, and how disagreements will be handled. Ensure all members understand where they have input and where the final decision sits. |
| Escalation |
| Establish a simple process for raising issues or resolving conflicts. Specify who to approach and how to seek support constructively. |
| Review |
| Agree how often the team will revisit the charter to assess whether it still reflects the team’s purpose and practice. |
| Reflection Prompts |
| Which team norm, if strengthened, would most improve our collaboration? Are all voices represented in decision-making and review? How do I model the trust, openness, and accountability I expect from others? |
T4. Create a Team: example toolkit
Role: Assistant Headteacher
| Purpose |
| I am establishing a Teaching and Learning Team to improve classroom practice across the school, linking our work to the mission of exceptional progress for every student. |
| Shared Goals |
| We will implement a coaching programme with measurable impact, embed three non-negotiable teaching routines, and achieve at least 90% CPD attendance. Each goal will have milestones, timelines, and owners. |
| Norms (How We Work) |
| We start meetings with five minutes of wins, come prepared with evidence, share updates transparently, and welcome constructive challenge focused on student outcomes. |
| Decision Rules |
| Whole-school strategies are decided collectively; faculty leads make subject adaptations. Where views differ, we consider evidence, then I make the final call, and we all commit. |
| Escalation |
| Raise issues early with me; if needed, the deputy head will facilitate. We address concerns constructively and promptly. |
| Review |
| We will revisit the approach at the end of each half term and run a short-term-end survey for feedback. |
| Intended Impact |
| We will build trust, shared accountability, and clarity, which will translate into consistent classrooms, improved morale, and collective ownership of teaching quality. |