TEAM WORKING

We recently had a seminar where we spoke about working in a team, this is because on our course we do a lot of our work in teams so we are trying to work out how to make the most out of the situation. It is also likely that in the future my job will require working in teams and with different people so its important I can work well with others. I wanted to share my thoughts on team working, good and bad and how after this seminar I feel I can improve the situation.

I have done a lot of group work in the past and I have always thought that I prefer it to working independently, I think this is because I'm not the most independent person, I like knowing someone else is there and I feel a lot less stressed as the work can be shared across several people and the result isn't all based on me.

Probably my favourite thing about group work is being able to share ideas and insights, especially at uni we all have such different experiences and learning, having done different A-levels then some people have done internships or jobs which have helped them further their education on topics. There is also a mass of backgrounds people come from, from different cities and families and lifestyles which really shape them into different people and create different perspectives which when together create the best ideas. I feel that it really pushes me to meet deadlines because I don't want to let my group down and I always try to do the extra bit of work because I never want to be the one dragging the group back. I like that they will give me feedback on ideas so that I can develop them to the best they can be rather than just settling with my first idea. We can all add onto one another thoughts and gather different information. It's also really helpful when doing a big project with lots of aspects to it such as a presentation and video, it's beneficial to divide up the group for certain people to focus on certain sections and have that done to the best quality possible and still meet the deadlines.

I have had some really good group experiences at the start of uni so I was happy to carry on, until my recent experience with a brief where my group weren't the best. I really felt like only a couple of us really carried the group, the others wouldn't even turn up to our meetings or seminars. Although I like the input of ideas some people come up with very irrelevant points and it makes it hard to move forward. Then again if you are shy it is really hard to get your ideas across to the group as some people have such big personalities try and take control of the group and you aren't heard. At the minute we have a brief to make a poster which is really hard to do with 6 people as there is so many inputing and its hard for us to all have the same image in our head and then someone is always disappointed. It's especially hard at uni because want to go home, which is understandable but it's really hard when are briefs are so quick and our weekends are the best time to meet. I have also found that people really have different priorities, such as nights out or other social events and work which get in the way of their work. We did a pitch in our last presentation and it was clear that some people didn't practice their words which makes the whole pitch look a lot less professional and impacts the whole group and their grade. When we spoke to the course leaders about the issues they say to fill out a team diary identifying who did what for the project as they aren't able to see what happens outside of uni time which is fair, yet it still isn't reflected in grades or feedback. So overall I feel I both enjoy and hate group work dependent on who I'm working with so I think it will be more beneficial when we can choose our own groups.