Feb. 4th Reflection

This week's team activity was enlightening. The theme of the activity was team building.  Several ideas were discussed that could strengthen a team and help them be efficient and productive.

Introduction Activities

One topic were introduction activities, which can be good ice breakers and help make connections to remember who is who on your team. One activity is called Two Truths and One Lie. It includes telling your name, and telling two truths and one lie about yourself. Everyone then guesses which is the lie.

Conflict

Conflicts may arise during teamwork. One person may have an idea of how something should be done and another person has a different idea. Differing ideas is okay. Working through conflict is important. Conflicts should be approached quickly and directly, keeping in mind to respect the opinions of your team mates. Some people like to avoid conflict when it first arises, however, it's best to acknowledge it before it gets out of hand. The impact of the conflict and how it's affecting your goal should be discussed. Agree to a cooperative process; everyone must agree to find a resolution.

Communication

Communication is essential in any work involving multiple individuals. There are several different forms of communication tools that can be used in a virtual setting. Some include texting, email, instant messaging, google documents, video or telephone conferences, and monkey surveys. The team needs to find out personal preferences of communication. Laying out a communication plan near the beginning of a team project is important, so that when projects begin there's no delay. Certain kinds of communication tools may be more useful than others in certain situations. For simple yes, no, and short answers, a group text would be more appropriate than a conference video or audio call.

Compromise

Compromise can be a solution to conflict and is an important part of building team unity and cohesiveness. There are team building activities to prepare for possible future conflicts during work projects. One of these activities is called "Survival". This activity brings a more light-hearted and imaginative  approach to compromising skills. A scenario is given to the team of a plane crash where the team is stranded in the ocean following the crash. The team has a lifeboat to take them to an abandoned island but they only have room for twelve items. The team is given a list of the available items floating in the ocean. The team must come to an agreement about which items they are going to take with them. Each team member must list rationale behind why they picked one of the twelve items. Once their list is given to the other virtual team members, they then need to decide on a common list of twelve items based on the other’s responses. This activity provides subtle lessons on compromise. It can illustrate different styles of compromise as well. What tactics are used to compromise by the team? Do they negotiate? Does one team member take over and the others bend to their will?

Leadership

Rotational leadership is an idea I have an affinity to. It is self explanatory in that each member of the team takes turns being the leader of a project or just being a leader of a responsibility within that project. The idea is that several members in a high-performance team have the capabilities to be leaders, but don't get the chance to practice leadership. Practicing rotational leadership can be useful in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of team members as well.

Followership

Being a leader is important, however, being a good follower is equally important. There are several types of followers, such as those that follow their leaders without questioning anything that's asked of them; those that question just about everything and complain about their leaders; those that are constructive thinkers who follow their leaders but if they disagree with their leader will offer an alternative. There are loyalists who are hard working, reliable and passionate about the team. There are also "the traitors" who are good actors. They gain the trust of their leaders and then undermine them and try to overthrow them. There are the observers who are neutral and do as they're told, keeping a low profile. There are opportunists who are on the front line, always desiring to be seen. Their allegiance is whomever can bring them the most profit in life.

All of these activities and ideas can aid in creating a high-performance team. High performance teams are constructive, efficient and complete projects in a timely manner.