So today was a disaster, freshman year is just so MESSY. Here’s what happened, on top of the million essays and exams I have due next week, my professor just assigned a group project. My professor had our class count off by 4’s to put us in groups, and even though I was praying so hard that dreamy Ryan with the blue eyes would get the same number as me, apparently it wasn’t enough. My group consists of the boy who doesn’t believe in deodorant, the crazy smart honors student, the student who I think I’ve only seen on the first day of class, and myself, but how bad could it be right? Well let me tell you, pretty bad. We had our first group meeting and of course, David, the boy who only showed up for the first day of class, is a no show. So that leaves me, smelly Brad, and super smart Kristie. We sat down for about 15 minutes and just divvied up the work then left. I could have thought of about 18 different ways that meeting could have gone better, here’s what we could have done differently:
We skipped the most important and crucial step to creating successful team:
INPUT
Input is all about understanding that each one of your team members has a unique set of skills that are different than your own. Each person brings new ideas and talents to the table that is important to create an unstoppable team and an even better outcome. Each individual group member has a specific skill that ultimately helps the team as a whole. Input is all about understanding how your team members’ think and WHY their views are the way they are. Learning about your team members past experiences when it comes to group projects can help you better understand why their views are the way they are and how they think as a person. This step is a good time to set down some rules and expectations of what you want to accomplish as a team, and what you expect from your team members. Making sure every team member is on the same page is CRUCIAL! Getting this step out of the way will pave the way for a smoother….
PROCESS
The process is the most important part of a group project. The process is all about the actual work being done as a team. This step is all about how you will take each individual’s input and put it to use to create a better system. This stage is where it is okay to fail, it’s actually encouraged. Process is the time to find out what works, what doesn’t, and how you can fix your mistakes. Process is all about trial and error. When your team makes a mistake during the process, this means you have time to go back to the drawing board and evaluate what wasn’t working, and what was. The process of your team will only be successful if every part of your team is putting in the same effort; this is why it is so important not to skip input. If a team just skips to the process, like my team, then not every team member is clear about what is expected of them and what they need to do to pull their own weight in the project. Completing these first two steps helps you to reach a better…
OUTPUT
The output is all about analyzing why your team got the results that they did. During this stage, teams can look at how much they’ve grown as a team and learned to work together. This stage is important to look back and evaluate what your team did well, and what needs improving. Although getting your grade for your group projects is important to all of us students who are concerned about our GPA’s, as long as your team can look back at your process and be proud of the work you have done together, that’s really all that matters. If my team had taken the time to complete the input stage, and put all of our best qualities and strengths to use during process, we would have most likely gotten a better output, and learned to work together more cohesively as a team.
This sounds easy enough right? I know what you’re thinking; it’s easier said than done. Some people luck out with great group members and other’s get stuck with the people who could care less about being on the same page. To make sure that your team understands what needs to be done to create SYNERGY, here are four principles to help you understand how your team can work together as a system:
- Interrelated
To be a successful team, each part of your system must rely on each other. You have to trust that the rest of your team members will do their job to the best of their abilities and put in 100% of their effort into making your group project the best it can be. Each person in your team is responsible for their share of the project, and they must do their job in order for you to complete yours, so you must rely on your team members, no matter how hard it may be.
- Interacting
Interacting is basically teamwork; your team must work as one large unit, not four separate parts. Each team member will be doing something that relates to their specific set of skills, which will benefit the output of the team.
- Balance
Being balanced is just a part of being a college student. You can have 5 different classes to worry about, your club, your Greek Life event, your job, we get it. So to be balanced as a team, each team member must be able to balance the pressures going on outside of class, and know when to put them away when it’s time to get to work on your project.
- Shared Vision
This one seems pretty self explanatory, but believe it or not some teams lack this principle. To create a successful output, each team member must share the same end goal. This is something that every team member decides they want to achieve.
All of these principles combined help a team to create SYNERGY, which is a result of a team working together as a successful system. This is a team’s ability to work interdependently. Hopefully these steps and principles have helped you to figure out how to be successful in a team. Group projects aren’t that scary, when you know to create a good system.
-Messy Jessy
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