Teams and Teamwork Reflections

Teams and Teamwork Reflections By Andrea Kulkarni

Reflection on the Reading in Relationship to LDT Teamwork Experiences

So far in LDT our work on teams has been to confined to short projects of only a few hours duration. We are just beginning to meet repeatedly in teams for projects of a longer duration. Short projects differ from the lengthy ones as it is easier to find time to meet for a short project. As long as the team members are relatively present, work as a cohesive group, and mix the delegation of work with agreement on how to combine those efforts, the results have been quite satisfactory. This is generally in agreement with the readings in that successful teams trust each other, are not afraid of conflict, are committed, are accountable, and have attention to results. So far I think the teams I have worked on have been true teams, rather than working groups or dysfunctional teams.

In many respects it is easier for me to work in a group on a project as the group setting assists in setting goals, breaking the task down into smaller steps and delegating the work. Otherwise I have a tendency to leave things until the last minute and then panic over the big picture rather than concentrating on working through the sub-sections on the way to completion.

Touching Upon the Leadership Compass

In my past experiences, I have experience with many personality typing systems such as the “Four Quadrants”, the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator, etc. The one difference I found with the presentation on the Leadership Compass, is that there was no mechanism to place ourselves such as is found in the other systems. ie. Ranking myself on dominance using a scale of 1 to 10. I find the other systems to be more revealing in how much a person is inclined towards the extreme of a personality type or hovers towards the center as is supposedly desirable.

A Skill I Bring To Teams In LDT

I am usually pretty good at the following skills:  Brainstorming  Expanding upon other’s ideas  Editing written work  Laying out and formatting presentations

A Skill I Would Like to Work On This Year

I am always trying to improve on my organizational skills. This has always been my challenge. By tracking assignments ahead of time, setting up meetings in advance and frequently communicating with instructors and classmates I am endeavoring to successfully achieve each goal and be an asset to my teams.

ED229A Monday July 15, 2002