Sunday, April 29, 2012

A520.6.5.Team Roles


I love being a part of a team!  The feeling of accomplishment you get when you finish the project or meet a deadline at hand is amazing.  I am the type of person wants to get in there and help out in any way possible.  My positive attitude can be annoying to some people (lol) who instead of looking at this chance to make something better, look at it as something that is a pain in the rear. When working in a team environment I find that is when the creativity comes out in people. 

It is amazing that just throwing out an idea that seems silly in your mind can become something great that everyone else likes and it grows from there.  It is a great time to ask questions and figure out where we need to go and understanding that I don’t always have to lead (it is in my nature to do this) because sometimes it is better to be a follower so I can learn how to become a better leader.

            Once we establish what our goal is I immediately want to talk about ways we can achieve our outcome.  I ask questions to everyone as a group and as individuals.  For example, the manual I created for verifications in our new system has already had 5 revisions because I have worked with each member of our team as a whole and one on one.  I found that as a group not everyone was comfortable with stating that they didn’t understand all the information that was provided in the manual.  By sitting down with each member one on one, they were able to express what things they didn’t understand or what was confusing for them.  Then I was able to improve the manual while explaining to all the campuses that changes are going to happen until we are all comfortable with the new processes.  Everyone seems to be happy with the fact that I am open to suggestions and improvements.

            When we have deadlines for posting funds to students accounts I send out the spreadsheets two weeks ahead of time and ask everyone if they have questions or concerns.  If a counselor gets overwhelmed I will jump in and help them so we meet our deadline.  What is the best way and easiest way to get this done?  Is there a way to make it better?  It works the other way as well.  If I am behind and others are caught up they will ask what they can do to help me out.  I have learned that even if it isn’t done the way I would want it to be done, I have to trust that my teammates will do their very best to make sure it is right.  This has opened my eyes to better ways to do things, a smarter way to accomplish the same goal.  When you are so close to something you don’t always see the details, it takes another set of eyes to help you see the whole picture. 

            I tend to be the peacemaker as well so I want everyone to get along because we are together all day 5 days a week it is important for everyone to keep that cohesion that is a must for teamwork!  We can get stressed out at times so I will suggest a lunch date for us as a team to just let loose and enjoy each other outside of the work place.  We will call a group meeting without our director when we need to get the petty crap out of the way and we don’t want it to get to a point that involves getting anyone in trouble.  Each person handles stress differently so finding a happy medium for everyone involved tends to show that you care about each person as an individual and not just someone you work with.  We are a family and know that there will be times when we don’t along with each other much like brothers and sisters do so you deal with it and get over it and move on.  Our motto is “One team One Dream” and it works for us. 

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