How Our Individual Strengths Combined Allowed Us to Overcome The Challenges

In society, the most work accomplished is never done individually but as a team. A group of individuals who know how to work together effectively can accomplish anything they want to. It is deemed impossible for an individual alone to provide solutions or contribute to their society without the help of others. This paper will explain how we as a group were faced with several challenges and how our individual strengths combined allowed us to overcome the challenges we faced by coming up with an adequate solution.

Every group is made of distinct strengths and weaknesses. We are a group of four individuals all currently in different majors and life goals. Each member of our group consists of some sort of leadership qualities. Being a good leader is to know the significance of receiving good ideas amongst the other members of the group. We as a group regularly attended group meetings and discussed challenges and problems faced by the Canada wide, STEM outreach organization “Let’s Talk Science”.

At our meetings, we brainstormed and exchanged several ideas on lessening coordinator burnout and volunteer turnover ratios. We came up with best possible outcomes as potential solutions for the problems. To further discuss how each of us contributed on this project, we will analyze all each member individually.

As part of a formal group, we had designated work assignments and established tasks all focused one problem. Since all groups generally pass through a predictable sequence in their evolution, we as well went through a similar pattern. We exhibited all five stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. At each of these stages, all four of us used our strengths to come up with solutions and locate any areas of improvement. Our team’s major strengths to work efficiently consist of:

• We have clear goals and specific deadlines for each sub-goal. For example we set up the goals/sub-goals with timeline and the way to arrive to the recommendations at the first group meeting. In our textbook, one of the concept states, “Effective teams begin by analyzing the team’s mission, develop goals to achieve that mission, and creating strategies for achieving the goals.” For example, we set up an agenda that outlines our entire process and if any of us need to refer back or stay updated. We set up the goals/sub-goals with timeline and the way to arrive to the recommendations at the first group meeting.
• We do not have social loafing. In our textbook, there are 5 ways to prevent social loafing. We used two of them: “Set group goals, so the group has a common purpose to strive toward”; and “engage in peer evaluation, so each person evaluates each other person’s contribution”. For instance, all the group members actively involved in the team project and do the best to complete the project.
• We as a group had smooth communication by rich communication channel among the team. In our textbook one of the concepts states, “face-to-face conversation scores highest in channel richness … immediate feedback (both verbal and non-verbal), and the personal touch of being physically present.” For example, we have face to face group meeting every Saturday until the due date of our project
• We have a qualified team leader. In our textbook one of the concept states, “Teams can’t function if they can’t agree on who is to do what and ensure all members share the workload … individual skills requires leadership and structure, either from management or from the team members themselves.” One of our group members had the whole picture of the project and bravely took the responsibility of the leadership and allocated the work evenly to the team members. The most important is who helps others and be willing to take some extra works.