In early 2022, Tugulawa Early Education conducted its annual Professional Development Day, inviting Farran Street Education to facilitate the Between the Flags workshop.
During this workshop, the staff engaged in discussions about the actions, attitudes, and values that Team Tugulawa deemed to be within the scope of “Between the Flags,” as well as what lay beyond those boundaries.
The goal was to create individual “Between the Flags” documents that the team would collectively support.
Let’s explore what the team achieved, and how these outcomes were reached.
Outlining what is “Between the Flags”
Using the visual of the flags on a beach, Tugulawa Early Education used their Team Aspiration and the five Tenets of Success (established in the prior year) to outline what was considered “between the flags”, similar to a team code of conduct.
They incorporated insights gained from the Professional Development day and encouraged ongoing reflection and refinement from team members.
Making the First Draft
Recognising the need to streamline the document, the team employed a sticker voting process to refine what was included.
Each team member was allotted 20 stickers to vote on items they considered pivotal within and outside the flag framework. These items were subsequently ranked by preference and formed the draft below, which was further refined during the February Staff Meeting.
Expanding the scope of the document with collaboration
Upholding their ethos of collaboration, the team divided into smaller groups to delve deeper into the material.
It was during this phase that they realised the need for additional components beyond “Between the Flags” and “Beyond the Flags”.
This led to the inclusion of additional tools being added; a metaphorical lifering and paddleboard, symbolising the importance of added assistance in facilitating course correction. They also added a summarising statement (the anchor).
Making further refinements to summarise all contributions
Lauren, Karin, and Nat consolidated the feedback from each group and organised similar words and concepts to eliminate duplication.
This process applied to both the “Between the Flags” and “Beyond the Flags” sections. They also considered the weight assigned to each item based on sticker voting to ensure that the most critical details received the most attention.
Key words were extracted from similar phrases, and other relevant terms from the group discussions were noted. These key words served as the foundation for a more streamlined draft, preserving the essence of the team’s work.
Color-coding was used to maintain the document’s integrity and respectfully acknowledge the whole team’s contributions.
This iterative process resulted in multiple drafts, with the final version, Final Draft #3, earning unanimous approval from the team.
Culmination: Key Takeaways and Achievements
Upon completion, all participants signed their agreement, marking the document as finalised.
This project showcased the team’s commitment to active engagement, review, reflection, and self-assessment, ensuring that the document truly represented the entire team.
It was evident that Tugulawa’s philosophy and vision were deeply embedded in their work. They acknowledged the human propensity to occasionally stray “beyond the flags”, and the importance of mutual support in addressing this, symbolised by the life ring and paddleboard.
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