Roles, Team Building, and Dynamics

Group Dynamics

Personally, I have almost always had problems in working with teams for school projects, and I know that many other people have experienced the same.  Part of the problem I feel is that school team assignments have different dynamics then real world assignments.  In the academic world, not all team members working towards a common goal, team life spans are short, and there is a higher chance for a lack a of maturity and work ethics.

Group Thinking

This aspect of a team is commonly the most unproductive group dynamic preventing new ideas and crippling innovation.  When a team thinks only as one and resists thought from outsiders nothing new will ever emerge from the group or the company.  It is important to always be open minded to others and willing to listen and think about the new contributions.  I have found that it can be difficult to break this group thinking state especially when trying to take step back and think about what other are saying.  Is there a way to use their idea or make adjustments?

Balance

Birds of a feather flock together.  I and many others have the bad habit of associating with people that we have a lot in common.  This is not a good habit socially or professionally.  We need diversity in the people we work and socialize with.  Engineers cannot function fully without businessmen, artist, managers, and every other discipline out there.  A business would be incomplete without the balance among its employees. 

Dr. Vanegas was trying to teach us this lesson from day one by assigning us to work in a group in which everyone had their own characteristics.  The most efficient groups will be comprised on a variety of people that vary in discipline, gender, and experiences.  Having a diverse group brings new ideas to the table and allows different good ideas to compete and compromise to develop the best ideas.

I have noticed how this has affected me in my social circle of friends.  This semester I have realized that I have been surrounded by a very diverse group of close friends that have had a significant impact on me.   Various personalities have encouraged me to incorporate into my personality  a little bit of them  thus  causing me to be more well-rounded, a  more diverse thinker, and  a more experienced member of society.  I used to be a very quiet and reserved person and if I had surrounded myself with only those types of people I would have never been able to improve myself.

Rule of Thumb

• ·         Within a team never move blindly

o   Be aware of yourself

o   Be aware of your team

o   Be aware of your surroundings

• ·         Even the most clear instructions are not clear enough

o   Everyone has their own personal interpretation of instructions

• ·         Team work should be a win-win situation and never win-lose or lose-lose

Ranking Matrix

This is a tool that I feel would be very useful for me.  As I mentioned in the leadership section,   I am not strong when it comes to making decisions.  Not only could this tool be used to make professional decisions when dealing with large groups, but I could also use it for making personal decisions such as determining   where a group of friends and I will eat dinner.

Leadership and Creativity

Don't be afraid to be a leader

Leadership

We did an exercise in class in which we were required to come up with as many words as possible to describe the traits of a leader.  Below are some of the responses   the class came up with:


• Hard worker
• Listener
• Balanced
• Fair
• Decisive
• Risk Taker
• Delegator
• Strong
• In Charge
• Confident
• Role Model
• Organized
• Communicator
• Open
• Inspiring
• Knowledgeable
• Responsible
• Reliable
• Time Manager
• Conflict Resolution
• Visionary
• Compassionate
• Critical Thinker
• Responsive
• Goal Oriented
• Integrity

I know what I am and what I need to be…What are you?

Perils of Equilibrium

I had never really considered equilibrium in a negative manner.  Generally, it’s good because it means everything is balanced and working properly. 

In a structure equilibrium is essential, but in life it is a trap.  We work hard to get ahead and have the competitive advantage, but what do you do when you are the best?  At this point it is easy to accept the fact that you are the best and no longer strive to become better.  There are two problems with this.  First, like the tortious and the hare, you may finish first quickly, but when you decide to stop and relax the rest have a chance to surpass you.  Second, when a society believes everything is the best it can be, it ceases to improve and stifles it future progress.   You can only move forward if you’re not standing still, and when you reach equilibrium you are just standing still.

Without this lecture I feel that I had a much higher chance of falling into the trap of equilibrium.  I now   understand that I want to live my life in a constant state of chaos and always striving for an unobtainable equilibrium.

Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation

I’m not sure that I got the intended purpose out of this lecture, but there was a quote that really resonated with me.

“Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish.  They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”

This quote is the basis of what I took out of this lecture.  The principles not the actions driving a social entrepreneur intrigued me.  The traits I looked at were:

• Making an approach that cuts across sectors and disciplines
• A driving passion
• A healthy impatience
• Desire to not just fix, but make better

Skills like these are a recipe for successful individuals that will pave the path to the future and not just follow the old beaten road.  I admire these skills and will attempt to pursue such traits and hopefully create a successful and rewarding path for myself.

Humor and Creativity

Humor

This topic was very tough for me to grasp.  I had never associated humor as a creative source, but thinking about it makes sense.  Even in my personal life using humor makes situations more enjoyable and can lighten the environment.  The lecture was telling us to use humor as a way to effectively communicate, but humor can be a double edged sword.  It can unintentionally hurt people.    It seems to become more risky when using humor in large groups because it becomes more   likely that you can offend someone.  When I am with a group of friends I learn their comfort zone and tailor my humor to what is acceptable to the current group, but that is impossible in large groups.  It seems that we have to be especially careful with offensive humor today more than ever because people can be offended and take a simple good willed comment and try to wage a war.  Does that mean the use of humor is very limited?  Is it even an effective tool when it’s this limited?

Play

I also found the discussion on play very intriguing.  Playing as an adult or even young adult is often condoned or viewed as a child’s activity.  From the lectures I could really see that the best ideas come from the times when people are having fun.  It really put in perspective my being told to make sure you are happy in the career you choose.  If you enjoy what you do then you will be more productive and efficient   at what you do.  This class really made me rethink my future priorities and decide to be pickier in the jobs I pursue next year because I did not realize how important it was to look for a job that will make me happy over a job that will make me wealthy or famous.  Although, I do realize there is a certain amount of balance between the two, because I do want to live a comfortable life which still needs to be part of my consideration.

Intellectual Property and Prior Works Collection

Obviously there were two distinct topics discussed in this lecture.  Although the topics are different and distinct, they both mainly are used for developing and conceptualizing innovations.

Prior Works Collection

The prior works collection was introduced as a tool that would be required to be used for assignments throughout the semester.  There were three elements to this: needs, resources, and precedents.  These basic questions can apply to many aspects of life, needs to determine why you are doing something, resources to help you determine what you have and what you require, and precedents to force you to determine if something has been done previously.  Obviously as an engineer, I would use this to   hopefully develop a product or business in the future.  Why can’t it also help me to make rational decisions in the future as well?

Intellectual Property

The second topic informed us on how to protect our intellectual property though patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets.  This will be very helpful to know when I hopefully start working on developing a product. 

Communication and Creativity

 

Public speaking and verbal communication are important skill in the field of engineering.  I already recognized the necessity of being able to speak concisely in front of large groups.  All of my previous presentations required formal business attire and prepared slide presentations.  

I had never considered that there may be alternative methods when delivering professional presentations.   It may be true that in most situations the formal presentation is what is required when trying to communicate technical information, but there is a window of opportunity that should be considered.  Verbal, non-verbal, visual, and electronic forms of communication should be considered when preparing to communicate and used in situations that are acceptable when straying from the norm.

For one of my team projects we decided to break from the usual presentation of a person and a PowerPoint and try to record a motion capture using the Microsoft Kinect.  With the motion capture an animated character could be attached to the motion and placed into any environment that could be designed in 3DS Max.  Ultimately, we decided not to use this method because as a team we deemed it unacceptable for this particular presentation, but there was still an opportunity to use this new form of presentation for our next assignment.

Creative Thinking

Society has created a battle between the left side of the brain and the right side.  It is perceived that using one side is better than the other.

Before taking this class I was guilty of choosing one side over the other.   The way I saw it using the right side of the brain was solely   for artist and that I must use the left in order to focus all my energy in thinking logically and with precision.  The truth of the matter is that the only logical way to think is by using both sides of the brain in perfect harmony.  I now realize that thinking solely along the lines of   science and logic will eventually leave you in to a state of stagnation and complacency which will inhibit productivity.  Adding the creativity to the logic is what will catapult ideas beyond reason and allow them to really blossom.

I now try to take a step back from what I am doing and see if there is another possible solution or even a different way of looking at a problem.  This way I am never limiting my thinking to just one side of the brain.

Intuition and Flow

Understanding the concept of flow was important to learn in order to better understand myself.

Flow is an interesting phenomena where a person enters a heighten sense of awareness. During the state of flow, body and mind interact as one. I was totally unaware I ever went through such an experience until it was pointed out in this class.  Before I would enter a state of flow, I would try to resistant it.    Ever since that lecture, I have learned to embrace the alternative state of mind and benefit from being able to think freely.

 

Another interesting concept that was discussed was the relationship between anxiety and creativity. It can be shown that anxiety blocks the creative process.  Even small amounts of stress can build up and compound upon, until a breaking point occurs.  I often have a lot of stress and have never realized that it was inhibiting me from obtaining my full working potential.

Free the mind and relax.  

As Leonardo Da Vinci states

“Relaxation gave me the ability to see things from another perspective.”