The Skillful Team Leader
A Resource for Overcoming Hurdles to Professional Learning for Student Achievement
Get the most out of your PLCs and teacher teams!
All teams face hurdles. What distinguishes the skillful team leader from a less effective one is his or her approach in overcoming them. Whether you are a team leader or a trainer of team leaders, this book is an essential resource for you.
Elisa MacDonald offers a skillful approach to team leadership rooted in values, mindset, intelligence, and skill. Readers will learn from reality-based examples illustrating common team hurdles in collaboration, shared leadership, goal setting and attainment, rigorous discourse, and continuous improvement. This practical guide features:
- Research-based and field-tested solutions for preventing and overcoming hurdles
- Brief follow-up sections with tips for sustaining positive change
- Ways to work beyond the team to shape and influence school culture
- Prompts to apply learning to your own leadership hurdles
- A common chapter format for easy reference and flexible use
"Teacher teams have become a common fixture of North American schools. However, not all teams make the best use of their meeting time by engaging in sustained, professional learning. Written in a clear, practitioner-friendly style, this book provides team leaders with an array of useful strategies to address common team hurdles and realize the promise of powerful, collaborative learning."
—Jim Knight, Author of Instructional Coaching
"This book is a fantastic resource for someone who leads teams every day. The vignettes echo the very real challenges that I continually see in team meetings. The book is organized so that I can easily find practical strategies to apply right away when I am facing major challenges in my daily work."
— Karen Coyle Aylward, Literacy Coach and Team Leader
Boston, MA
“Teacher teams have become a common fixture of North American schools. However, not all teams make the best use of their meeting time by engaging in sustained, professional learning. Written in a clear, practitioner-friendly style, this book provides team leaders with an array of useful strategies to address common team hurdles and realize the promise of powerful, collaborative learning.”
"No matter what situation a leader or coach finds themselves in, the answer is going to be somewhere between the pages of this text. Having alternate routes to consider is a plus to the problem solving."
"This book is a fantastic resource for me someone who leads teams every day. The vignettes echo the very real challenges that I continually see in team meetings. The book is organized so that I can easily find practical strategies to apply right away when I am facing major challenges in my daily work."
"This book has become an indispensible guide for me and my leaders. MacDonald has masterfully drawn from her own experiences and from experts in the field to create a practical resource for anyone involved in leadership development or wanting to improve his or her own leadership skills."
"This book does an excellent job of living up to its title. The author addresses a variety of roadblocks leaders face—whether they are teachers or administrators—and offers suggestions to help overcome these obstacles."
"MacDonald’s book provides “real talk” and real solutions to problems that arise in schools. She does not tip toe around issues. She confronts them and writes about practical ways to both avoid potential hurdles and deal with issues when they arise."
