During my experiences in group work, I've worked
with/been bossed around by control freaks, I've kept silent in what I think
would be best for the group, and on one occasion, I've been absent altogether,
accepting my fate… something I’m not proud of. I guess Enid Irwin would say those acts
are “barriers to success.” It wasn't like I was intentionally preventing myself from succeeding; I was just a stupid nineteen year old who was more interested in socializing and playing around than studying, especially group work.
However, when one gets put on academic probation, and in this case myself, it puts more important things like schoolwork in a different perspective, and once I transferred from a computers science major (something I was not happy with and felt completely helpless in) to a psychology major, I began to show the true nerd within me, getting all A's in the first year and A's and B's throughout the new program... though I did hit a few roadblocks along the way.
True story… one Saturday night, I thought I was attending a
study session, working on the group project with all but two of my teammates
inside a fellow student’s dorm room. About an hour of “collaboration,” or
should I really say, casually looking over a couple of articles while watching
two episodes of Chappelle’s Show, just as I really was about to say, "Okay, enough with TV, let's get down to business," one of my teammates stood up, said, “Okay,
time to party.” Unfortunately for the group project at hand, the rest of study time was drinking with group-mates and
other dorm people. The only studying going on my behalf was observing the drama going on
between one teammate trying to get with another one, with the other teammate
rejecting the first teammate’s advances. Suffice to say, I didn't remember
doing any work the morning after… then again, the only thing I remember that
morning after was feeling awful from that night of “teamwork.”
Heh… Undergrads, am I right?
There really was a lack of leadership that night, and a case of "wanderlust" that never got back on track to the matter at hand, but the two group-mates who were not there began to take a more leadership approach to the assignment, with one of the students assigning me the heavy task of editing the paper and writing a final draft, doing some research along the way, as others picked up most of the research. Even though there were group members who disagreed with each other and split the group into two, leaving me in the middle, while slightly more in favor with the leadership side than the "party people," we still got the paper done on time. I forgot the actual grade, but all I knew was that it was high enough to make other people in the group satisfied, but I thought I did a good enough job that we would get the A.
Looking back on the situation, it looks like we went through at least two of Dr. Haycock's "stages of team development." The "forming" stage probably took longer than anyone expected. We were still in the feeling out process when I went to that Saturday night "studyfest," questioning why we had to be on a team, trying to figure out what we would do our assignment on, and getting to know each other... maybe a little bit too well. By the time Monday rolled around and realized we got little accomplished, that's when we hit the "storming" stage, where we took sides, some people angrier with others. Some students wanted to do things their own way whereas others just didn't care and would do whatever just to get it done. Unfortunately we hit the "norming" stage too late as we rushed to get the paper done within the weekend, trying to hit the Monday deadline with me pulling an all-nighter just to get the paper done. I don't think we hit the performing stage, even though by the time Sunday came along, everyone was pulling in their part to get the assignment done. I know one person who would say the others weren't working hard enough, and even though I agreed with him at the time, I don't know if I could confirm that today.
Anyways, that was years ago, and even though most of my group work assignments didn't end in utter failure, the awkward and frustrating experiences certainly stick out. But when I eventually listened to the two lectures, both discussing one of the important factors in assigning group work is that group collaborations and committees are formed all the time in the workplace, I had a little epiphany. I realized I have done enough teamwork in my workplace to not "fear the monster" I've been afraid to face for years.
I believe I have a better attitude coming into the program regarding teamwork than I did when I was an undergrad. While I was an undergrad, I was a shy, introverted kid who could only open up to my friends and not being able to put in my two cents in how a project should be done. Nowadays, I may still be a little shy, but it takes me a considerably shorter amount of time to get out of my shell and interact with people, especially in groups at work. I'm also not afraid to give input and take constructive criticism as I had in the past. I'm a little more structured, as I save all my coursework in a folder both at home and work. And since my job consists of seven hours of computer work a day, I'm always online, checking D2L almost every day while on my lunch breaks.
Thanks to some key points in the lectures, I need to take advantage of the time given to me and to prepare and plan with other teammates about what we need to accomplish, how to get the assignment completed, and how to split up work. I also think that from the number of group projects I have had to do at work, I know what I can offer to the table when in a group, depending on the assignment, especially if it come to writing an enormous amount of text, as you can see from this post.
With the two lectures in mind, there is better groundwork to better implement teamwork amongst LIS students. I hope that when we do form said groups in our many classes in the near future, we'll be able to be self-aware and implement the sound advice we learned. We are all adults and we all have experience that hopefully gives us a better foundation to start on as opposed to undergrads who may not have the experience to better understand the workings of a functional team.
Looking back on the situation, it looks like we went through at least two of Dr. Haycock's "stages of team development." The "forming" stage probably took longer than anyone expected. We were still in the feeling out process when I went to that Saturday night "studyfest," questioning why we had to be on a team, trying to figure out what we would do our assignment on, and getting to know each other... maybe a little bit too well. By the time Monday rolled around and realized we got little accomplished, that's when we hit the "storming" stage, where we took sides, some people angrier with others. Some students wanted to do things their own way whereas others just didn't care and would do whatever just to get it done. Unfortunately we hit the "norming" stage too late as we rushed to get the paper done within the weekend, trying to hit the Monday deadline with me pulling an all-nighter just to get the paper done. I don't think we hit the performing stage, even though by the time Sunday came along, everyone was pulling in their part to get the assignment done. I know one person who would say the others weren't working hard enough, and even though I agreed with him at the time, I don't know if I could confirm that today.
Anyways, that was years ago, and even though most of my group work assignments didn't end in utter failure, the awkward and frustrating experiences certainly stick out. But when I eventually listened to the two lectures, both discussing one of the important factors in assigning group work is that group collaborations and committees are formed all the time in the workplace, I had a little epiphany. I realized I have done enough teamwork in my workplace to not "fear the monster" I've been afraid to face for years.
I believe I have a better attitude coming into the program regarding teamwork than I did when I was an undergrad. While I was an undergrad, I was a shy, introverted kid who could only open up to my friends and not being able to put in my two cents in how a project should be done. Nowadays, I may still be a little shy, but it takes me a considerably shorter amount of time to get out of my shell and interact with people, especially in groups at work. I'm also not afraid to give input and take constructive criticism as I had in the past. I'm a little more structured, as I save all my coursework in a folder both at home and work. And since my job consists of seven hours of computer work a day, I'm always online, checking D2L almost every day while on my lunch breaks.
Thanks to some key points in the lectures, I need to take advantage of the time given to me and to prepare and plan with other teammates about what we need to accomplish, how to get the assignment completed, and how to split up work. I also think that from the number of group projects I have had to do at work, I know what I can offer to the table when in a group, depending on the assignment, especially if it come to writing an enormous amount of text, as you can see from this post.
With the two lectures in mind, there is better groundwork to better implement teamwork amongst LIS students. I hope that when we do form said groups in our many classes in the near future, we'll be able to be self-aware and implement the sound advice we learned. We are all adults and we all have experience that hopefully gives us a better foundation to start on as opposed to undergrads who may not have the experience to better understand the workings of a functional team.
Until then, when I think of teamwork, I'll always think of this:
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| That's f****n' teamwork! (Ten bonus points to those who get the reference and if anyone else made this reference in another blogpost, I'm sorry.) |
