My reflection blog this week is from Reno Nevada, and I will talk about how our team worked toward completing our learning team charter. I will discuss how our team developed the charter and my view of how it all came together.

The group started immediately with team introductions during the second day of the course. One person started the charter and each person took the completed charter and added their individual inputs to the overall document.  As far as behaviors everyone was polite, respectful and very communicative about how and when the team would provide team products. The overall behavior was very positive, and at the same time the team is mixed with a few students that know each other and some that are new to the group combination. The overall goal was to define how our team would work and expectations.

Expectations

One person on the team offered an option to dealing with problem solving and completion of tasks. Due to the complexity of the assignments that are required as a team and by the individual, the group agreed that all input needed to be into the team by Friday each week. Due to the requirement of when discussion posts are required to be done and other assignments, finding a middle ground between those two week requirements made sense to the team. With the team being new, there is an agreement that the team charger may need to be modified as we go along due to each person could have constraints such as travel, or other personal engagements? The idea is to share the lead role, and use the forward thinking concept to stay ahead and not get behind waiting on another person.

The charter set the criteria to outline fears from each person and an opportunity to define good alternative methods of communication in the event the Canvas or university communication resources are not available. The consensus is everyone is looking forward to learning and working as a team.

Behaviors

My personal opinion about behaviors is the team is very professional and respectful of each other’s time. Communication started from the first week, and assignments have already been divided for the next assignment. Our team defined which skills they are advanced such as PowerPoint, Excel, APA formatting, Project and team building. Team does have concerns with communication time, and plan to work well together to create a quality product that is inclusive with the expectation of the program.

Information Sharing

Information sharing immediately began with a second introduction of each person. Our team charter was started by one person and each person just picked up where the other person left off and added their data. The originator had to reach out to a few students that did not know the assignment was due the second week, but in the end the communication was very positive. Our groups plan is the use the group page where communication is centralized and available for other to discuss or help if areas where there may be a constraint. This group really has no problem with communicating. There was concern with time zones and a lack of communication, but each team member will need to be available by asking questions if there is confusion or issues with completing the assignments.

Team Building

I really think our intergroup is in the infancy stage of team building. The charter merely had each person identify their strengths, weaknesses, and concerns about team completion of tasks. I think the idea of authority of power and process interventions will develop more after our first assignment in week three. By this team we will be able to really see how well we communicate, bond on topics, and figure out how we can actually help one another.  I think we have just finished the meet and greet and have more to learn about each other.

Team thoughts

I am really looking forward to working with this team as when I reviewed our combined skills, we are all different in our own specialty. My passion is learning and I can already see the diversity will not alone give me opportunities to collaborate with other skilled learners, I probably will learn something new from each of the team mates. The good thing is all the communication is very positive, and everyone is very respectful of each person’s comments and ideas. The group seems to be very proactive and forward thinking and I believe our intergroup interactions will be very successful. I am really looking forward and would expect that our charter may need to be tweaked as we go along as I don’t think we have an idea to troubleshoot problems, we are all just very cooperative.