Collaborative 

Objective:

Collaborative:

Develop the capacity to foster successful teams and to create effective formal and informal collaborative networks. 

Reflection:

A team is defined as a group of three or more individuals who are intentionally and consciously working together to achieve a common objective such as a product or process improvement (de Janasz, Dowd, & Schneider, 2015). Teamwork is a critical component of workplace excellence. Hence, it is imperative to study team dynamics and how they can increase collective performance. One key interactive style is collaboration. It requires teammates to motivate each other toward a common goal and take ownership of their collective work. However, some factors such as diverse personalities, leadership styles, conflict management styles, communication styles, and assorted backgrounds may create a conflicting environment. Granted, teams that are generated and managed effectively can establish innovative solutions to diagnosed organizational problems, better utilize their resources, and have a greater amount of productivity.

One of the teams that I had the privilege of working with was on the case study and teaching notes assignment. During my undergraduate degree, I completed the same assignment in LDRS 306: Leadership and Team Dynamics and had an understanding of how to successfully construct this project. As the group leader, I set up a document that outlined our weekly meeting time, an agenda for the meeting, and action items that needed to be established by our next meeting. It outlined our goals, objectives, group norms, and our timeline to be successful. Therefore, we all had a common goal to achieve and had a clear understanding of the time we needed to dedicate to accomplish a high-priority assignment. Moreover, in our first meeting, we spent a considerable amount of time discussing our backgrounds, strengths, and weaknesses and divided the work based on personal interests and our skill sets. As an example, two members focused on the story for the narrative case study while the other two members used their story to outline the theories utilized in the teaching notes section. In another instance, I provided theories based on crisis leadership to the case study while another teammate constructed the annotative bibliography. As a leader, setting up and assigning roles was one of the most challenging parts. In fact, in our third meeting, we addressed flaws in some of the assigned roles and a few of us switched initiatives. This helped me understand that roles are not permanent and can be continuously reevaluated. This is a piece of advice that Dr. Jeni McRay provided to me as I sought advice to improve my team. Moreover, an individual will emerge as a leader in the areas where their strengths shine and step back as a follower when they know another team member holds the expertise they need to complete the section. By the time we had completed the assignment, we had formed trusted relationships, a credible process, and connected the project to a larger purpose by thinking strategically. As I look back on this experience, I evaluated this team based on Hackman’s (2012) conditions of team effectiveness: establishing a compelling purpose, bringing the right people to the table to create a real team, developing team norms of conduct, obtaining support from the organizational context, and seeking team-focused coaching. Importantly, debriefing and reflecting after the completion of the project helped me identify ways in which I could change my attitudes, behaviors, and skills to better prepare for future teams. “Assessing how well the team compares to these established indicators provides a valuable source of information to guide the leader to take appropriate actions to improve team success” (Northouse, 2019, p. 376.). Overall, we received an excellent grade, and we were extremely proud of this assignment. To this day, our friendships remain, and we will be graduating with each other this May.

Unfortunately, not all team experiences are as productive as the ones mentioned above. In that same class, were put in pairs to develop a discussion board that would require our classmates to provide a response using the class reading materials. Although my partner and I met twice to complete the assignment, there was not enough time for us to socialize outside of the group or learn how to adjust to the values of the other individual. We set up tasks to complete but worked independently. However, because the task was smaller, we were able to complete it successfully and establish common ground and a shared message with our classmates. Notably, we lacked cohesion but that may be attributed to task type. For instance, “if the task encourages members to divide up and separate the work only to add individual contributions back together again later (this is called an additive task), then members often fail to interact enough to generate the cohesion that might help them to succeed as an interactive group” (Franz, 2012, p. 183). Other barriers prevented us from meeting as well such as living in alternative locations, personality differences, and many life obligations (e.g., full-time jobs, family responsibilities, and additional courses). In addition, I had studied the basics of these theories before and my partner was taking this class as an elective. Therefore, I needed to meet him where he was, establish a mutual understanding of the theories, and understand his point of view and academic history. In fact, “it is critical to know where those individuals and groups are coming from, their history, and what they are about related to your leadership challenge. You can’t lead others if you don’t know where they stand” (O’Malley, 2015, p.110). Although my first collaborative project was more advantageous than my second one, I learned the value of working with others who have diverse backgrounds and personalities and can now apply those skills while working in a professional environment.

My final artifact is a piece of marketing collateral that I created during my time as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) for the Department of Leadership Studies at Fort Hays State University. As an undergraduate student, I had the privilege of working for the department as a Student Marketing Coordinator and learned the fundamentals of graphic design and journalism, and created several similar pieces. This is my final newsletter and the piece that I am most proud of during my time at the university. The purpose of the newsletter is to update stakeholders on the opportunities and accomplishments gained by faculty, staff, and students of the leadership department during the year. I appreciate this version the most because it captures what we went through during the COVID-19 pandemic and how we responded to unforeseen circumstances to keep our mission alive. I took the lead on this project, but it would not have been made possible without the professors, staff members, and students who collaborated with me to develop stories, draw up designs, edit content, and publish this piece. I learned several lessons through its creation. First, I had to scale back my vision and select ideas that spoke to specific target audiences such as alumni, university employees, and outside entities that supported the department. After several revisions, I understood that it is more about the concise message that we are conveying rather than providing large amounts of content that were not engaging. Second, I learned to accept critical feedback and actively listen to what others were telling me. I understood that donors, alumni, and others who have strong emotional ties to the department would care about the message and that compelled me to do the same. Lastly, although I did my very best work, there is always room for improvement and there are always going to be minor flaws. We are human and achieving perfection is nearly impossible. There will always be room for growth and a well-educated leader will thrive in an environment where they accept that.

To demonstrate how I use teamwork and collaboration in a professional workplace environment, I have included a few examples below of committees I have served on during the course of my graduate education:

CivicPlus Employee Recognition Committee:

This committee is focused on peer-to-peer recognition initiatives. As a member, I am responsible for reviewing peer-written submissions, scoring them, and collaborating with other committee members to select five monthly winners that demonstrated our core values: purpose-driven, ambitious, team player, trustworthy, and innovative. This committee was created to extend recognition and rewards to employees who go above and beyond in their daily duties. Individuals and teams can achieve excellence if they are given the resources they need to do their jobs, are recognized for their contributions, and are rewarded for their outstanding performance.

CivicPlus Community Engagement Committee:

My current professional organization is proud to support initiatives that make a positive difference in the Manhattan, Kansas community and surrounding areas. As a member of this committee, I assist with reviewing community donation proposals, approving or declining the ask, and providing recommendations on the funding amount for all approved requests. This committee also participates in charitable events that align with our core vision and our broader communication, marketing, and recruitment strategies. I work alongside others from different departments to make a unified commitment that is in the best interest of the corporate institution and the pool of applicants.

CivicPlus DEIB Women in Technology Committee:

Women in Technology (WIT) is a safe space for women and their allies to support and empower themselves and other women through their unique challenges in a technology-based organization. Through development activities, networking, and mentorship, this group helps members learn, build confidence in themselves, and leverage their abilities to be successful in their careers. As a member, I work alongside other women to create a climate of honesty, openness, and empathy. This creates a sense of unity through identification that fosters an environment for collaboration.

Department of Leadership Studies Program Review Committee:

Leadership programs must develop comprehensive frameworks and processes for program evaluation. The purpose of this committee was to evaluate the academic department's program offerings and to contribute the findings as a tool for educators and administrators to advance the interdisciplinary field of study. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) on this committee, I contributed a synopsis of our current department's marketing efforts, a new framework for digital marketing efforts, and acted as an editor during the final phases of the initiative. Notably, working alongside a team of academic professionals, I felt that the teams set up a standard of excellence, and members were expected to perform at their highest levels. To establish this innovative toolkit that provided industry best practices, the department had to bring together individuals who were sufficient in their technical knowledge, education, training, and interpersonal skills and rely on those core competencies to solve complex problems.

My current organization has completed three acquisitions within the last year and has grown exponentially. The acquisitions have been beneficial for keeping our organization's competitive edge in the technology market, expanding our product lines to our existing client base, adding new competencies and resources specialists (e.g., financial, legal, and human resources), improving access to capital, and acquiring fresh ideas and perspectives from newly added executives. However, as we acquire organizations that have similar core values, some employees have duplicated roles and have opposing viewpoints on the restructuring of responsibilities. Personally, I have been affected by the acquisition and now reside in the marketing department, rather than sales, and perform a different set of tasks with others from all four organizations. I have been able to use my ability to diagnose organizational issues and helped streamline processes by creating a new set of standard operating procedures for the inbound marketing department. As I continue to work for this fast-paced organization, my goal is to help foster an environment where we can stay productivity-focused but rely on each other to listen, take risks, be respectful, and compensate for one another. As a senior member of the team, I must develop training procedures that make other employee’s career development a priority and allow them to be self-sufficient, follow ethical principles as a role model, and “provide a place where people can feel safe and connected with others, but are still allowed to express their individuality” (Northouse, 2019, p.230). In short, I aspire to enhance my ability to work on diverse teams by establishing a collaborative, integrated culture that plays to the strengths of our company's new set of operating principles. 

References:

de Janasz, S.C., Dowd, K.O., & Schneider, B.Z. (2015). Interpersonal skills in organizations (5th ed). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Franz, Timothy M. Group Dynamics and Team Interventions Understanding and Improving Team Performance. 1.st ed. Hoboken: Wiley, 2012. Web.

Hackman, J.R. (2012). From causes to conditions in group research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33. 428-444.

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: theory and practice. SAGE Publications, Inc.

O'Malley, E., & Cebula, A. (2015). Your leadership edge: Lead anytime, anywhere. KLC Press,

Kansas Leadership Center.