ALYSSA

My name is Alyssa, and I’ve been a part of a variety of teams. In high school, I was involved in sports and group projects; once I started to attend University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, I quickly became involved in various student organizations. I’ve also worked at four different employers, and each had a varied way of team management. When our group developed our conceptual model, I considered my personal experiences in teams, and considered these to be some of the most crucial aspects of success in team situations.

Starting off with communication, I think it is vital to consider the quality of information, the channel by which it is communicated, and the efforts that are used to reduce communication issues. At my current internship, we usually meet face-to-face on a weekly basis, discussing our recent marketing efforts and goals for the following week(s). I think it is helpful to have us work in person because we have rich information to convey; it requires lots of context and displaying it on a projector helps us discuss ways to improve and other suggestions to help the task go as smoothly as possible. We require a lot of feedback from each of our tasks and working collaboratively is best done when everyone is seeing the same documents and are on the same page. There was one week when my boss driving to Chicago during our normally scheduled meeting, and instead we hosted a conference call. Though we were able to convey our accomplishments for the week, it was a lot harder to receive feedback on our progress, as the call was mostly informative. Additionally, it is a lot easier to ask follow-up questions when everyone in the room is focused on the same idea, rather than talking and driving, or trying to talk and take notes simultaneously, while waiting for cues to when you can speak. (Speaking over the phone is a lot harder because you don’t know when people are finished speaking on a topic, and you can’t anticipate when other people are speaking up due to the lack of body language.)

We also feel it is crucial to establish and consistently revisit a shared goal for the team. As a part of the Pantherfest Working Group, we had a cool approach to developing a mission statement for the event planning team. We first watched a few videos on what to include in a mission statement, then we were asked to write down words that come to mind when we think of the Pantherfest tradition. After a few moments, we were asked to write a mission statement for the group, in our own words. We then shared the ideas with a neighbor, getting feedback on our strengths of the statements. We then split up into groups of 4 to 5 and wrote a mission statement based on key ideas from each of our individual statements. We shared them with the entire group, picking out the similarities and ideas that we felt were crucial for the success of the event. Lastly, we took these highlighted elements, and created one larger cohesive mission statement. I felt it was a good way to communicate everyone’s ideas, but also help us to find a common goal. We now refer to the mission statement to guide our decision-making process.

In teams, it is also vital for the leader to have self-awareness of their actions. My boss at my internship works collectively with our internship team, but adjusts his approach when it comes to one-on-one discussions. During our reviews, he constantly is looking for ways to improve his leadership style, and he comes up with innovative projects. However, he knows he isn’t the most keen when it comes to some of the digital marketing concepts, and instead leverages the social media efforts to the interns. He knows that he can’t do it all, but he is really good at prioritizing and working directly with the team, helping us know what to do, when, and gives us support when we need it. Things aren’t ever set in stone, and he adapts to crazy student schedules, but gives us enough of a structured work regimen to keep us busy.

Next up is organizational commitment; as someone who’s always been highly motivated, I feel very passionately about the teams I’m involved in and I put my best effort towards projects and tasks. In the past, I’ve worked at jobs where my coworkers weren’t always as motivated as I was. They saw these jobs (including fast food, working at a deli, etc.) as beneath them, and they didn’t value the work they were doing. Though they might not have seen the impact of their work (or lack of), I knew that at times, you have to pick up the slack in a team to help the larger organization run smoothly. Though it seemed like a smaller task that didn’t matter, going the extra mile by working later, and coming in when someone called in sick helped out in the long run. One bad experience in a retail setting can push customers away from shopping there ever again, so I strived to make it the best experience possible (whether that was fixing an incorrect order or stopping my current task to help a customer who needed assistance).

Last on our model is the diversity component; I feel like having diverse team members is crucial for considering the most creative ideas. Although, with diversity comes differing abilities and personalities. As a dance team member in high school, my coach looked for potential in tryouts, and really tried to make sure the team worked as a coherent unit, though we all had differing interests and were of different graduating classes. We all had the unique opportunity to choreograph one or two of the performances, and our ideas were welcomed. We also sought out outside opinions, verifying if something worked with the circumstances we were under. I valued the differing personalities, as it allowed for us to never have a dull moment, and it made our performances stand out from one another. We were able to develop our existing abilities through support from one another and practice, and all felt like our role mattered on the team.

All in all, I’ve had specific experiences with every aspect of our model, and I feel like these variables are valuable for any team scenario. It has helped me to grow as a team member and I have a better understanding of the intertwining aspects in future scenarios, too.