This facilitator's question is a good introduction to where I'm at with the project right now. On the one hand, I have some awesome resources collected (books!) that I will take a look at, and received some great leads and helpful bibliography from librarian/organizational development expert Keith Russell.
A side note:
As a person who is versed in Organizational Development techniques (such as group drumming, a new method, but one gaining popularity), Keith Russell pointed me to some fruitful resources that give a scholarly grounding to team building and OD (Organizational Development). I hope to translate these into practical steps that participants in the session can take away with them. In addition, Keith pointed out that grounding an experiential exercise like HealthRhythms on a scholarly basis, for people in educational organizations says to them "we're not making this stuff up"--it's based on actual research.
On the other hand, I'm questioning where I'm going in the project...questioning my key questions.
Key Question #1: "What relevance do techniques of group team-building have for educational organizations?"
My Question: Why does this question matter to my project?
I'm grappling with this question because I don't necessarily see anymore how it serves the end-product of the project--to present at a professional development day. I guess I wanted to give validity to the use of a team-building exercise; to convince participants that group drumming is a tool that can be used.
But, perhaps they can take away something of value from an investigation of what it means to work as a team. What kinds of situations they might find themselves in at work where team-building might be relevant, where more group unity/togetherness is needed, or where communication (as symbolized by the group drumming) could be a key to attaining group goals. The circle functions as a symbol of a group's common purpose, and perhaps this is where research into work teams could inform the session (ideas from Katzenbach and Smith, or from Senge).
The angle of using this particular team-building approach as a way to talk about teams and team building in general....I could ask for ideas from the group about the "what, so what, and now what" of the session, and what they might take away from the session to bring back to their areas, teams, etc. This feedback could provide some kind of answer to the question--how do team building techniques "matter" to educational organizations?
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