|
Dear Josephine,
Everyone tells me I need to be more of a
leader in group work. I have good ideas but I really don’t
feel comfortable being in the leader position. I don’t want
to be thought of as shy or weak, but I would much rather
work behind the curtain. Followership isn’t bad, is it?
From,
The Follower
Dear The Follower,
In teamwork everybody always thinks the
leader plays the biggest role in the team, but without
followership, teams would not only not be able to get work
done, but would fall apart. Being a follower is not thought
of as good in our society. It is important to have your own
thoughts and ideas, but in team work, followers are key.
Without followers, there would be no leaders. In a team
followership is needed to get work done. The followers are
normally the people who may not feel completely comfortable
standing up and voicing their opinions, they are normally
the ones who are maybe a little more quiet, yet are still
passionate about the work. To demonstrate good followership
one must be able to think for themselves and give all their
effort to the project at hand. One must also support the
other group members and help the team set goals and get work
done. Being a follower is NOTHING to be ashamed of. As long
as you’re getting work done, voicing ideas and opinions, and
meeting goals you are being a great team member.
From,
Josephine
“The difference between followers and leaders is that
followers need leaders to help them follow what leaders
themselves are following. This relationship takes the form
of a shared response-ability to a shared calling. Both find
each other in a true fellowship to create the world
responsibly.”
— James Maroosis
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teamwork in high school can be really
hard. Everyone seems busy and there is so much drama. It all
seems to work out in the end tough. I’ve experienced my fair
share of dysfunctions in my high school life.
I was in a group once that was completely
lacking trust in each other. This not only made working in a
group difficult, but also just plain awkward. We all knew we
didn’t really like each other, so I think we all became
nervous to voice our opinions, in case a fight broke out. We
definitely could have dealt with these problems a lot
better; in fact we didn’t really deal with them at all. We
just got our work done with as little interaction with each
other as possible. We should have sat down and talked about
our problems, that way we could have let the social problems
go and just have focused on the work. If this were ever to
happen to me again I would definitely make sure my group and
I was getting along and trusted each other before beginning
the actual work because I think it would make it a lot
easier to focus on the things that needed to be done.
Lack of commitment is another
problem I have faced. I like to try my best in school; my
grades are really important to me, so nothing is more
frustrating then being put in a group with people who
couldn’t care less. We divided the work up evenly and set
dates for us to all get it done. When the date came I was
the only one who had gotten my work done, so we pushed the
date up a week. Seven days later, still only my work was
done. I was getting frustrated to I explained to my group
that this project meant a lot to me. They seemed to
understand and promised to get it done by the next day,
which didn’t end up happening. The work was now almost a
week over do and they still hadn’t done anything. I wasn’t
sure what to do so I went to talk to my teacher. Together we
decided I would present my part of the project separately
and get my own mark. If I was put in the same position again
I would probably start out by trying to find people to work
with who are more like me. If I couldn’t do that I would
really try to get my team works to pull their weight and
commit to the project.
A good example of bad team work
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Josephine,
I was put in a group for a school
project. I don’t get along with any of my group members and
I’ve had really bad experiences with them, but this project
is worth a big part of our mark so I decided to forget about
it and work on the project as hard as I can. The only
problem is they won’t let go of our past troubles. I feel
scared to voice my ideas because they never like them. I’m
so tired of working with these people that I don’t even care
about how this project turns out anymore. I have more
important things to worry about. I will be surprised if we
all make it out of this project alive. I’m convinced our
team and project are hopeless.
Help!
Not So Much a
Dream-Team.
Dear Not So Much a
Dream-Team,
It seems like your team is experiencing
more than one of the team dysfunctions. I know how tough
teamwork can be, trust me I’ve experienced my fair share of
bad teams, and normally I would never say this but, in
certain cases, team work is just hopeless. Grades seem to be
important to you and you don’t want a bad team to make you
not care. You should try talking to your team about how you
feel. Maybe they feel the same. I know sometimes voicing
your opinions can be hard with people you don’t trust, but
it is the only way to make it better. If that doesn’t work I
would suggest talking to your teacher about switching groups
or working individually. That way you could focus on the
project without worrying about the others.
Hope this helps!
Josephine
ps.
For more
information on creating a dream tream:
http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2008/02/make-your-good-team-great-1.html
|