Developing
Managerial Capabilities

Learning Team
Experience

by 87807

Analysis of Team Experience

We are the Asian Super Team. Our name is derived from the fact that all of us come from Asia, in particular East Asia. From the beginning, I was pretty apprehensive about the team experience. My expectations were bordering on guarded caution to indifference. The reason being that out of the four syndicates I had in the first semester, only one turned out to be really fruitful and enjoyable while the other three were terrible nightmares The first synergistic syndicate experience was actually the Organisations syndicate with members from diverse backgrounds. The other three were task-driven, had little group member satisfaction and achieved only mediocre work. The initiatives to align group members and to start on tasks fell mostly on my shoulders and I was terribly disappointed by the contrast between these groups and the Organisations syndicate. Therefore, to prevent such a re-occurrence, I kept my hopes down to a minimum.

In the very first session, we established our team charter and operating norms. The team charter and operating norms are affixed in the appendix A. The 5th of July marks a momentous day in the life of the AST learning team. Basically, on the day of the Learning Team Self-Review, our learning team’s inadequateness and non-performance in some areas were exposed (A summary of the results of that review is in Appendix B). The wide range of values and low mean revealed the already obvious to most of us that our learning team was dysfunctional. In my analysis, our team lacked commitment and participation. Often a team member would voice an opinion but some team members would ignore his contribution by insisting on his own points. While we scheduled to meet on a regular basis, not everyone turned up and while the course provided for team time, the meeting together was often tense and work-oriented. I must confess my own contribution to this “mess” by my indifference and low expectations from the team.

The mid-way team review did jump-start the team and we agreed to come together to diagnose the problem and realign ourselves through an informal dinner. After the mid-way team review, the team experience improved considerably, as I observed team members being actively listened to and their voiced opinions given thought and time. We also met on a regular basis in accordance to our initial team charter. A greater commitment and concern about the outcome of the learning team experience resulted in the following aspects of team learning:

Throughout our meetings, there were much discussion about the progress of each other’s PDAP and how we may help. In fact, my learning team completed a lengthy leadership questionnaire for my PDAP and I discussed at length with one member of my learning team about the development capability and another about the leadership capability.

The synergistic outcome is especially evident in the way we prepared for the two learning team presentations. It was in this period of assignment deadlines and time pressures that we were able to produce a good quality and quantity of work within a short amount of time for our presentations to the DMC class.

The presentation skill sessions given by learning team members were informative and valuable as not only did the learning team members make an effort to prepare and do their best for various individual presentations, we were able to learn from each other’s feedback. For instance, being the last to present, I learnt about the importance of setting up the structure of the presentation in the introduction and clearly reaching a conclusion at the end before I presented from the feedback from two earlier presentations. Incorporating these impromptu changes not only increased the awareness of proper presentation introductions and conclusions but also the opportunity to put it into practice.

By sharing and summarising the main learning ideas and reflections from each of our PDAPs, I was able to learn more about other managerial areas of capabilities besides my own. For instance I learnt the current research and thought behind goal setting from Jeffrey, the 3 steps to assertiveness from Kane, the development capability from Dennis and 3 step solution to most stress problems from Naofumi.

However, to our dismay, it wasn’t until till nearly the end of the course that when we shared our Belbin’s preferred team roles that we discovered in ourselves a team of diverse team roles (The team roles are attached in the appendix C). Given that by understanding each other’s preferred team roles, we will be able to anticipate and empathise with each other’s interaction style during group discussion. This would have led to a better outcome given if there is more mutual respect.

Our learning team has not only arranged to meet on the week before the exam to discuss the articles and exam, but to help each other prepare for the exam as well.

Upon reflection our learning team, from the brink of disaster to a synergistic outcome, I sought to establish what we did well and what we could improve on. This reflection led me back to first semester’s experience of syndicate teams and I think I put a finger down on to one issue that made a difference both in first semester and the DMC learning team, that is, commitment. The radical difference between the Organisations syndicate and other first semester syndicates was commitment. The difference between the first-half of our DMC learning team and the second-half experience of the DMC learning team is commitment. The turnaround strategy for the learning team included everyone putting in a greater amount of commitment and effort into group meetings. We were able to get everyone to commit to having fun and learning together during our meetings.

Furthermore, my attitude of indifference or sceptical caution did nothing to aid my commitment to the team or other team members’ commitment to the team. Having learnt not a few theoretical frameworks for teams, I resolved to apply the mechanisms to aid commitment in teams and maintain a positive open mind towards future teams.

I must confess that the team has done pretty well considering the skew and very wide range and low mean of opinions about the team during the team review session. The “crisis” in the mid-term provided the impetus for change and improvement. Overall, I would rate a seven out of ten that our team as having experienced and demonstrated team synergy when working together in the second half of the course. It would have been interesting to view the results of the assessment of the team experience from other group members at the end of the course, as compared with the mid-term review results, but time constrains have prevented otherwise.
Appendix A
Asian Super Team

Team Mission: To experience and demonstrate team synergy through the utilisation of each member's capabilities.

Norms:
- Meetings:

Syndicate meetings were agreed to be held once a week at lunchtime on Tuesday, between the DMC classes.
All members are expected to attend such regular meetings on time and get well prepared for it.
Appropriate time will be allocated for comments on syndicate performance, working regulations, concerns & etc. Each meeting should be chaired and recorded.

- Working:

What standards do we expect? Every member is expected to be participating, cooperative and enthusiastic.
What roles do we want people to adopt? It is agreed to have a rotating system for a timekeeper, a chairperson and a secretary for each meeting.
What deadlines need to be met? The internal deadline is set to be one week before that of each assignment in order to give us ample time to reflect and make changes.
How equally should effort and work be distributed? The rotating system will allow equal opportunities for team members to contribute based on each individual's willingness and competence.
What will we do if people don’t follow through on commitments? Then the tactics of communication, persuasion, warning and cash penalty will be applied.

- Communication

How will we make decisions?
The initial step of achieving consensus through discussion and communication shall always be carried out. Majority voting will be the final stage for decision making while consensus can not be reached.

How do we make sure everyone gets a chance to discuss issues or raise concerns? Chairperson shall make it happen if there is a lack of proactive input from the member.

How will we resolve differences?
Through discussion, exchange of opinions and finally the majority voting.

How do we keep in touch?
Telephone and email.

- Learning

How often do we review our progress?
Once a week, briefly within the weekly meeting or formally under necessity.

Who will be responsible?
The chairperson of each meeting.

How will we change things that are not working?
Find out the reason, issue changes, and implement new approaches.

Appendix B

Mid term DMC learning team self-review results

3-7
3-7
2-7
2-9
3-8
3-7
4-9
3-8

Working well
None trying to dominate the team
Cooperation
Sharing of ideas
Friendly, easy going

Do better
No one leads the team
More frequent communication
Spend more time
Motivation and participation
Leadership
Systematic way of conducting meetings
Appendix C

Dennis Lee – Implementor/Perfect Finisher
Patrick – Specialist
Naofumi – Team worker
Kane – Coordinator
Jeffrey – Shaper
Andrew – Monitor/Evaluator