Situation

​

Bordon Infants School in Hampshire has been established for 29 years. Although the school offers many opportunities for the professional development of its teaching staff, Head Teacher Katy Pinchess identified a need to provide time for teachers to reflect on their performance, capabilities and teamwork.

​

Katy therefore approached People Vision to design and deliver a training event based around team dynamics. People Vision director Alyson Pellowe designs and delivers bespoke training courses and is a specialist in the Belbin Team Role model. 

Challenge

​

“During my Masters degree I studied people and organisation management, which is not something that we tend to focus on in school,” explained Katy. “Most industries have lots of time focussed on team dynamics and looking inwards, while in schools our focus is on teaching and learning.”

As a result, most of the delegates had never experienced a personal development intervention of this sort before, so it was important that the training should be sensitive to this and flexible in adapting to their needs.

Action

​

Alyson delivered a workshop on the Belbin Team Role model for the Senior Leadership Team, comprising Katy, 3 year-group team leaders and the administration officer.

​

Belbin explores team dynamics, and through analysis of individual traits displayed in the workplace builds a comprehensive picture of the diverse behaviours within a team in order to promote personal and team development.

​

Participants collected 360° feedback on themselves and also on everyone in their teams. The reports on each year group were then consolidated with the leadership report to provide a balanced view of the strengths and weaknesses across the whole organisation.

Results

​

Alyson coached Katy and the SLT to use the Belbin data in a variety of ways: 

​

• To identify and celebrate the school’s many successes and strengths, especially its collaborative and supportive work ethic, providing motivation for individuals and the whole team.

​

• To identify and address the school’s potential weaknesses, in particular the SLT’s tendency to consent too extensively when making decisions.

​

• To promote individuals’ development through self-reflection within a structured framework, encouraging them to set goals and map out action plans which could be incorporated into their ongoing performance management process.

​

• To identify for Katy as Head Teacher the diverse qualities of her staff, informing the decisions she makes each year about assigning individuals to particular roles and classes.

 

Testimonial

​

“People Vision provided us with the tools to reflect but most importantly with an outside perspective. We can get very school-centric and it was good to look at things with a new view point.” 

“The reason I chose to go with Alyson’s company was because she was dynamic and interesting, and was interested in us as an organisation. She was able to lead discussions in a comfortable way and to get people involved.”

 

Katy Pinchess, Head Teacher, Bordon Infant School.