Team Dynamics

A small team of people working together towards a single goal can be a very

powerful force. The dynamics of a team can be what "makes or breaks" the

team. How the team members work together can determine whether they can

successfully achieve their main objective or not. In order to have a diverse team that is also successful many issues will need to be addressed. Learning how to form a team and assign roles; how to address and resolve team conflicts; how to manage time; and how to measure team results are critical in achieving a high performance team.

A learning team is a small group of people who do similar work and share their knowledge, skills and abilities to complete group assignments or projects. In order for a team to be established and work as effectively as it should, we have to first get to know each other and find out how each other works. When selecting a team, you will want people who are committed and will follow through on all assignments and share the same views as to the importance of the goal.

Then we must create a detailed team charter. "Chartering is the procedure by which a team meets at the beginning of its process to describe its mission or task, set its goals, secure commitment by members to the achievement of those goals, make its plans, and allocate its resources." (University of Phoenix, 2004).

A learning team should contain members with diverse skills in order to enhance the quality of learning that can come from being in learning teams. Each member must play an important role in the team. According to Rohlander, "A perfect team would be compromised of a group that, as a whole, demonstrates all these characteristics: direct, influencer, steady, and cautious." The direct person keeps the group in order and is impatient, which can be very beneficial to the team. This individual will make sure the meetings are focused and we achieve our goals. The influencer is more talkative and encouraging and positive. The steady person is very dependable and will make sure that tasks are performed consistently. The cautious person is more of a perfectionist. The cautious person can also be very beneficial to the team. This individual will make sure that our assignments are perfect, formatting and sources are sited.

With the day to day activities of working adults consuming theoretically 100% of their time, it can look daunting to attempt an online program. Effective time management is critical to the success of this endeavor.

With the addition of any new activity or responsibility, you should look to your current schedule for ideas. Are there gaps or overlaps that can be scrutinized? Are there activities that you do, that have no linkage to your values and long term goals? These will be the areas that will have to be analyzed to assess there position and time allocation in your already busy schedule.

"Keep only one to do list. When people keep numerous to do lists -- calendars, Palm Pilots, sticky notes -- they spend too much time checking in several places and second guessing their schedule." (Stephanie Tavares, 2005). When unraveling your schedule it is imperative that there is a single source for your schedule, this will allow simplification and continuity for the various tasks that you have to accomplish.

"Plan the next day. Don't let the end of the day be chaotic, leaving a mess on the desk and not tying up today before leaving." (Stephanie Tavares, 2005). As daunting as it sounds, as soon as you are in control of your schedule you can start to work forward, proactively.

"Learn not to say no, but to say later and to mean later. Create some structure in your day when you have some scheduled time that's planned for projects and other blocks of time that are scheduled for interruption time. Schedule an hour of concentration then an hour of open time and repeat that throughout the day, that way the longest amount of time your co-workers will have to wait is 59 minutes." (Stephanie Tavares, 2005). Limit the amount of time that is outside of your schedule, if you can; these small interruptions can have a big impact on daily tasks accomplished.

"Always start with a task that is closest to revenue line for your company.

Evaluate each task as to how it will save or cost your company money. Don't always start

with the easy little things. Anybody can do those." (Stephanie Tavares, 2005). Task

evaluation has to be weighted basis the overall contribution to your values and long-term

goals. With the end in mind, the short term aspect of your routine should come into

focus.

"Don't check your e-mail for the first hour you're at work. Most people feel very addicted to e-mail and very much a slave to e-mail. It's created impatience and stress and it's a really big procrastination tool that people use when they have an unpleasant or difficult job to do." (Stephanie Tavares, 2005). Technology is a wonderful help, but can also be a hindrance if it is not used as a tool. Utilize the IT group of UOP or a friend; hours spent trying to get up to speed with the various hardware and software issues will have a serious impact on your schedule, there are avenues out there to help with this issue, use them.

In summary, keep the end in mind, prioritize basis your values and long-term goals; avoid reactionary time vampires, say no when appropriate. Eliminate IT time sinks; these IT nightmares will consume you and your schedule in short order. Use your team as a resource, these are the seasoned pro's that can help you; you're all in this for the same reasons, but have vastly different backgrounds. Use this strength in diversity.

Most of all enjoy, this short term crunch, it will exponentially increase in value when you complete your education.

On the subject of addressing team conflicts within a learning team we can approach the subject by first viewing the learning team as a corporation. As we have already asserted the team is a group of people striving to work together for a common goal. We realize any learning team will be enhanced by the understanding of the learning styles and strengths and weaknesses of the group members and appreciation for the diversity of skills and talents of the members of the team. We can view the learning team as a small but up and coming corporation. We can expect the learning team to have