fake borders but real timers

In February of 2019 I was a part of a team of five Bush School students that attended and competed at the NASPAA-Batten Global Simulation on Migration. During this simulation we represented a fake country in a world among other fake countries facing a regional migration crisis. Each team member was given a role, such as Prime Minister or Minister of Health and Human Services, and one member was a delegate to the International negotiations. This experience taught us that is valuable to look at individual expertise and weaknesses - in a honest manner - in order to focus on the collective win.

While the various Ministers can recommend policies it was ultimately the Prime Minister who approved all policy. However, we as a team decided to let individual Ministers make recommendations but as a team we would make decisions and talk through the policy options - pulling from our collective expertise. This method proved to be very beneficial - scoring our team the highest Human Rights Index score of 86.56%. As a team we were able to offer all migrants entering our country full benefits and educational opportunities while still giving away over $1 million in aid to the region.

At the conclusion of the simulation teams are given 20 minutes to prepare a memo and a presentation about their results. Then the top five teams are announced and those teams give their presentations. Each group is given seven minutes to present and three minutes for questions. As our team concluded the simulation our team moved into preparing the memo and presentation. We decided on the overall themes, divided out the responsibilities based on team member strengths, and assigned presentation responsibilities in case we were in the top five.

When the top five teams were announced we were among them.

Our group presented second and as we walked to the front we discussed a few minor details. However, as soon as the timer started we focused on the task at hand. Presenting as a team, a team that had never worked together before that day, was effortless. We each did our part and finished our seventeen slides with a minute still on the clock. When it came time for questions the only question was - how did y'all pull off a presentation of that caliber in so little time and with no practice? No other team that presented had finished slides and were able to complete their presentation in the allotted timeframe.

Our answer - we understand that teamwork is about a collective win.

Teamwork is pulling collective expertise and recognizing individual weaknesses in order to be the best unit possible. We also noted that our program at the Bush School had thrown us into similar presentation situations a variety of times so on the spot presenting was a collective skill - which turned out to be a huge advantage. This lesson will help me in my future career by making me a better team member and coworker. It also builds my perspective on my role in light of the entire United States government - it is about the collective win.