Sunteți pe pagina 1din 2

Teaching Through Team Building

Siena Traverso
Purpose:
I will use what I know about teamwork and community building to lead the group in
creating a successful product presentation. The overarching goal is to create a cohesive
group dynamic in which everyones voice is heard and everyone is contributing to the
final product.
Context:
The firm we work at is BioMarin, and my team is working on a presentation for medicine
for PKU. PKU is a condition in which a persons body cannot break down the amino acid
phenylalanine. I am the team lead, however I am striving to make the group a democratic
one. I work to move the team along and to facilitate the activities, while still leaving the
meeting open to everyones ideas. We are on a committee that meets every week for the
month until the presentation. The meetings that we have are to talk about the presentation
and not about the actual product itself.
Materials:
I will need a white board and a whiteboard marker.
Method:
Steps:
1. Week 1: Team Building
a. Get the group to talk about why they are at this company, why they are
interested in biotechnology, and what their specific goals are for this
project. Try to pick out the similarities between everyones ideas. This will
show that I value everyones background and their specific goals. It will
also create a base for the expectations for the group.
b. Team building activities:
i. Count Off: The whole group must count to a certain number (10 or
20) with one person saying one number at a time without two
people speaking at once. If two people speak at the same time you
must start over. There can be no planning. This game works on
teamwork and patience.
ii. Survival: Your plane crashed so the group must decide on the 10
most important items needed to survive. Works on collaboration,
communication, and creativity.
c. Go through everyones roles and try to match roles with each persons
strengths. For example:

i. The very professional woman will come up with resources needed.


She could also be the lead presenter.
ii. The rumored genius will make spreadsheets and crunch numbers.
iii. The doodler will do the design for the PowerPoint and any other
props we use in the presentation.
This hopefully would allow people to become invested in the project by
doing something that they have chosen for themselves.
2. Week 2: Brainstorm
a. Brainstorm ideas for the actual presentation.
b. Everyone will come up with ideas for every persons role.
c. People in each role can sift through the groups suggestions later, but it is
good to get everyone contributing ideas for each role.
d. Include everyones ideas, even the wackiest ones.
e. No judgment or filtering of ideas, simply get all ideas out there to organize
later.
3. Week 3: Check In
a. Everyone will report on progress that we are making and constructively
critique each others work so far.
b. Incorporate any information that the boss has given us since the beginning
of the task force.
4. Week 4: Practice Presentation.
a. Bring all of our different parts together to make a cohesive whole.
b. Go over plan for day of presentation.
Results:
Overall, I think my presentation went well. I was really focused on getting the group to
get to know each other and I think that came across. One participant mentioned that she
liked the way that I focused on teamwork and common goals. She felt this diffused the
need for competition. Another participant mentioned that she felt that these activities
would bring the group together and create a welcoming atmosphere. A third participant
mentioned that she would be concerned about the trivialness of the teambuilding
activities. I had thought about this as I was writing my plan, but decided that it was worth
a try. Sometimes it takes a silly activity to get the group to let down their guards and
come together. I felt like bonding over something that wasnt the work presentation was
important. An additional aspect that went over well was having everyone brainstorm
ideas for all of the roles. This allowed everyone to have input while still valuing the
authority of the actual person in that role. The final positive comment was that they liked
how I had a set plan for each week, so the group would be productive and on task
(something that the group had struggled with at first).

S-ar putea să vă placă și