Shannon Scott

My tier 3 experience in BHLP taught me a lot about group projects, nonprofits and my

own work ethic. This year I worked with the UrbanPromise, a nonprofit dedicated to reaching

children, raising leaders, and restoring community in Wilmington. I thought my group got off on

a strong foot, with a strategy for communication and dedication to the group. After the second

week of assignments, I could see that this year was going to be difficult and that I would likely

have to do majority of the work myself. The five dysfunctions of a team helped me see what

went wrong this year in tier 3, expanded my knowledge on the difficulty of working on group

projects, and taught me how I can apply my experiences to the future throughout my leadership

journey.

The five dysfunctions of a leader are absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of

commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results. The five dysfunctions of a

team occur in a pyramid with absence of trust on the bottom and inattention to results on the top.

Absence of trust is when not everyone in a team trusts one another and cannot be vulnerable with

one another. Trust is the foundation our a team, which is why it appears on the bottom of the

pyramid. Fear of conflict occurs when a team is afraid of sharing their opinions in a debate of

ideas and issues. Fear of conflict can build hostility between group members and can waste time

on tiptoeing around the real issues at hand. Lack of commitment refers to the lack of

commitment to the team, group project, and/or task at hand. Lack of commitment can make

group decisions hard and can result in a team member not following through on his part.

Avoidance of accountability occurs when teams don’t have a clear plan of action and members

hesitate on calling other members when they fail to pull their wait. Avoidance of team

accountability allows for mediocre work from the other members in a group. Lastly, inattention
to results happens where members put individual or other needs ahead of the team’s objectives.

Everyone has a lot on their plate but inattention to results is when a team has lost sight of the

need achieve the final goal of completing the project at hand. This specific dysfunction occurred

in my group and helps explain what went wrong in my tier 3 project.

As I mentioned before, my group had a problem with the inattention to results

dysfunction of a team. From the very beginning, it was evident that some of my group members

had other priorities that fell before BHLP. Sarah skipped multiple classes and meetings because

of her commitment to the University of Delaware’s marching band. Malachi did the same thing

because of his commitment serving as president for UD’s Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and

Multicultural Greek Congress. My fellow member’s involvement in other organizations and

projects left BHLP on the backburner in my opinion. I understood that as college students, we all

had different tasks and work required of us but I always tried to prioritize BHLP, considering it's

the only club I am involved in at UD. I think one of my first mistakes was completing the first

assignment by myself. On the day that it was due, nobody had even attempted to complete it or

contribute to it. After that first assignment, my group realized that I would pick up their slack

and do their work, if necessary. After that, I found myself consistently doing more work than my

fellow members. In addition, since the first assignment, I realized I needed to divide the work,

assign tasks, and periodically check in on their progress if I expected my group to equally

contribute to the assignments. More times than not, I ended up simply redoing their work

because it was not good enough to present to UrbanPromise or our class. We were receiving a

grade for the first part of tier 3, which meant our work and contributions were important. I truly

do not think our group fully grasped this concept.

 I will be first to admit that our idea for a “Community Fun Day” was neither original nor

a strong idea. Considering my academic background of criminal justice major, minoring in legal

studies, organizational and community leadership and on track to law school, creative thinking

has never been my strong suit. I am much better at compiling data, memorizing facts and

presenting my argument. My group could not think of a more substantial idea than a community

fun day. I knew from the beginning, it was not the best idea but everyone in my group loved it

and we had already done so much work on it so I decided to ultimately roll with it. Our

presentation pitch in December was simply embarrassing. My group decided that Sarah and I

would prepare the powerpoint, and Malachi and Delilah would present the information. I found

myself doing 75% of the powerpoint, which was very frustrating since it was finals and everyone

was swamped with deadlines. I was embarrassed in our presenter’s inability to accurately

describe our project and answer any questions on the subject. I felt like they walked in circles

around the topic but were truly unable to answer simple questions, making it clear that they had

not prepared for the presentation. I was so mad and embarrassed after the presentation. Their

inability to fully prepare for the presentation would result in C for the presentation and a B+ in

the class, which effected my GPA. I can’t entirely blame the C on them though since the idea

was simply not good. The other groups had creative beneficial ideas and none of my group

members could formulate an idea like that. Ultimately, we had to rely on an idea Susan thought

of, the creation of an UrbanPromise RSO.

If I could go back to September, I would have signed up for a different group. I truly

believe all the anxiety and frustration this year could simply have been avoided if I had joined a
different non-profit. With different group members, I believe that everyone would’ve equally

contributed; thus, my tier 3 experience as a community fellow would have been more successful.

In addition, I would have started the year by not picking up the slack and would have made us

sign a contract on our commitment to the project and tier 3. A contract would include a strategy

and game plan for the year, designating roles and obligations. I used a contract in one of my

leadership classes this semester and it was very beneficial. Everyone did what they were

supposed to and the contract signified their commitment to our group and our project. People

were equally contributing and were held accountable if they did not follow through on their

specific task.

I learned a lot about myself and group projects in regards to my leadership journey. First,

group projects are difficult. It is difficult to get a group of people on the same page, dedicating

equal time and commitment to a specific cause. It is important to have conversations about the

expectations for one another and the project itself. Also, it is vital that team members are held

accountable, putting the group’s results first, and reward behaviors that contribute to the group’s

results and overall success. Secondly, I was able to see my strengths and saboteurs through tier 3

experience. My strengths of activator and command were evident as I always divided tasks,

telling other members what to do when given an assignment. My strength of restorative shined

through as I tried to think and solve the problems our group faced. My saboteur as controller was

apparent as I tried to constantly control my group during the year. I should have tried to back off,

giving them the opportunity to contribute by themselves but I feared the freedom I gave them

would result in no work getting accomplished. Lastly, I learned that no matter how hard you try,

some groups are just not compatible. Although, I personally enjoyed creating better relationships

with the members in my group, I do not think we functioned well as a group. They are good
people with their hearts in the right place but I do not think we were ever on the same page about

BHLP, UrbanPromise or tier 3 as a whole.

BHLP has always felt like a home away from home to me since I fell in love with the

organization during Quest. It is the only club/organization I am involved in at UD. I feel like

through BHLP, I have learned the type of leader and person I want to be in the world. I realize

how everything I have learned in this organization can be applied to my life now and in the

future. Also, I have learned that helping others and contributing positively to one’s community

goes hand in hand with leading a meaningful life. In addition, I have gained a better

understanding of how non-profits function in the community. Although I was unable to finish the

project with my tier 3 group of UrbanPromise, I was able to still help the organization by aiding

the tier 2 group working with UrbanPromise. I attended their weekly meetings, helped them

continue contact with our liaison, Rob, and helped compile data from the tutor surveys so that

they could present it to Rob and tier 2 evaluators by their presentation date on April 23rd. Also, I

attended their presentation and helped Dabney evaluate the other presenters on that specific date.

Although I did not complete tier 3 in the traditional sense, I think I was still able to help

UrbanPromise in a way that furthered their mission, guided the tier 2 group to a successful

completion of their project and learned more about my leadership identity in the process. I would

be honored to be given the opportunity to continue on to tier 4, applying all that I have leader in

the past 3 years and potentially share my experiences with the other BHLP tiers.