Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Teamwork means letting yourself be vulnerable

This past week  I was reminded about the nature of teams. There are some great highs when things go right for the group and there are some lows when things go wrong. In each and everyone of our newsrooms we need to deal with new staff members every quarter, semester or year.

From my undergrad years in San Diego, I remember the words "storming, forming, norming, performing, and adjourning." The phrase was from psychologist Bruce Tuckman who discovered that groups grow in stages as they get to know and understand one another.

The past couple of days I was in the performing stage. I was a madman editing videos and photos - not a problem.  Researching and obtaining interviews - okay I admittedly went overboard. Then there was story writing - admittedly my weakest area.

My take away from this week so far is how appreciative I am to have groups that help you out rather then tear me down. Kim V., you were a huge help in taking leadership in editing the papers today and making realize that I need work on my writing. Julie and Jamie never once did you worry about us not completing any items and jumped in to help edit or whatever we needed to get the job complete.We performed as a team to make deadline.

To the advice of Jessica, I have two words...Thank you.

To learn more about groups here is a link to stages of group development.

Brent Manuel
Pleasant Valley High
Chico, Calif.

2 comments:

  1. We did have a great team. And thanks for all your hard work on the video...you rock.
    Jamie Ray
    Vista Ridge High School
    Cedar Park, Texas

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  2. Brent,
    You have such an amazing work ethic, as demonstrated by your phenomenal video and countless hours in the lab. I am so lucky to have you as a friend. THANK YOU!

    ReplyDelete