While individual and team projects are important to learning, it is a challenge to focus on both at the same time. However, many jobs (including my own) require this as a part of everyday work. There are the projects that are small enough for you to be both owner and doer of the work, and then there are projects that require extensive input from multiple people, with separate owners, doers, editors, and more.
For the individual, smaller projects, often you are able to set your own timeline and devote as much or little time is necessary or available to complete the project within the requirements. As your own schedule changes, so may the timeline adjust to fit. For the group, larger projects, it is usually necessary to agree on a solid schedule up front, as well as "rules" and "roles" for everyone to fit into. Since the project doesn't just affect you, meeting the due dates becomes more of a priority, for the sake of the others involved (and so you don't get blamed for ruining the project).
Both small and large, individual and group projects are important in different ways, developing unique skill sets that equip workers and learners for things to come, as well as producing some result (the final product/assignment) in the process. Following are some notes on my own journey through the group and individual processes:
Group Process:
While our interactions this week have been minimal due to the focus on the individual projects, we have still managed to post thoughts and communicate on our availability, assignment, and posting requirements. Everyone has worked well together and is supportive of the final product, but at the same time also focused on their own unique article ideas.
Individual Process:
Strangely enough, I thrive on individual projects, as they allow me to explore whatever I am interested in, to whatever degree I am interested in it. They allow me to make assignments as relevant to my work as I can make them, without worrying about how it fits in with everyone else. They also enable me to do research on my own, reading articles and discovering interesting facts about all sorts of topics relevant to my own ideas. Because I love to read so much about what other's think, often I dwindle in research mode and only settle into outline and writing mode when I know time is running low to produce a good product. I can tell that the research part of my article must soon come to a close, as I will have too many ideas and not enough space (or time) to write them in. Thus, I will soon move onto consolidate my ideas and formulate them into a (hopefully) cohesive, focused product - my article.
All in all, both processes have taught me that doing schoolwork can be a lot like completing projects on the job, and oftentimes that is best because it helps me to translate/apply learnings from school into the work sphere.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Decision-making in Teams
An interesting fact of my (work) life is that I teach a course on decision making, in particular, rapid decision making. The reason this is interesting is because if you asked anyone who knows me really well, they'll tell you that I only make decisions when I'm forced to - most of the time, I'll let others make the decision, and I'll go along. In a team setting, this usually is portrayed as not having initiative or not being a leader, but I see my role as more of a "watch, listen & then respond" instead of a "speak, speak louder, & wait for everyone to follow". I won't be the first one to suggest a course of action, but I'll certainly give my opinion on the various options.
As my course on rapid decision making suggests, people have different decision-making tendencies, some more extreme than others. Recognizing your decision-making tendencies can help you find a balance when making decisions. One good way to balance your own tendencies is to work with someone that has different tendencies, but to work together so that the combination results in a balance of the two. As you work with people on a team, you develop a better sense of their decision-making tendencies, and then can use their strengths and support the weaknesses by applying others' strengths. Together, with good communication and respect of different tendencies, team members can produce a solid, well-balanced decision that everyone agrees on.
In our case, when a good idea presents itself, it's not hard to jump on the bandwagon and move towards the realization of the idea. We all seem to work for "the common good", shown in particular by selecting an idea that was relevant to all of us. Once the idea was chosen, then the focus could shift on generating ideas for how to implement our topic. As in most collaborative teams, when the focus is on the topic/goal of the team instead of the individuals, much can be accomplished by building off the ideas of others. I believe our team will be successful in continuing to work together, make decisions for the benefit of the group, and producing a result that is greater than the sum of the individual efforts.
As my course on rapid decision making suggests, people have different decision-making tendencies, some more extreme than others. Recognizing your decision-making tendencies can help you find a balance when making decisions. One good way to balance your own tendencies is to work with someone that has different tendencies, but to work together so that the combination results in a balance of the two. As you work with people on a team, you develop a better sense of their decision-making tendencies, and then can use their strengths and support the weaknesses by applying others' strengths. Together, with good communication and respect of different tendencies, team members can produce a solid, well-balanced decision that everyone agrees on.
In our case, when a good idea presents itself, it's not hard to jump on the bandwagon and move towards the realization of the idea. We all seem to work for "the common good", shown in particular by selecting an idea that was relevant to all of us. Once the idea was chosen, then the focus could shift on generating ideas for how to implement our topic. As in most collaborative teams, when the focus is on the topic/goal of the team instead of the individuals, much can be accomplished by building off the ideas of others. I believe our team will be successful in continuing to work together, make decisions for the benefit of the group, and producing a result that is greater than the sum of the individual efforts.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Spanning the Generational Gap Online
One thing the online world does for community is become the great equalizer, even if it is only initially. Without seeing someone face to face, it is not as easy to make judgements or establish prejudices when the only thing you know is their name (or their "screen name"). In this way it could be easier for people of different backgrounds and experiences to come together and discuss a certain topic or general interest, without necessarily focusing on a person's background or personality, per say.
I see this as an important aspect of online communities not only for my particular work setting, where the two biggest populations are those about to retire and those just getting started in their career, but also for educational and work settings everywhere. In many different ways, people have attempted to bring different generations together, some successfully and others not so successfully, but I believe the online world enables a different level of bringing people of common interest together regardless of their age, location, occupation, race or gender. What this means for community at large is that people can relate to and commune online with others they may not have given a second glance on the street, but it also means there is the potential for a great community of sharing knowledge and learning from each other - bringing generations closer together instead of estranging them from each other.
Certainly once you get to talking to someone online you discover different aspects of their background, experiences, and personality, but the online (text-based) format of communication allows the focus to be on the content of the conversation instead of the appearance or personality of the person(s) communicating.
This idea is applicable to anyone who seeks to enable different generations to interact together in a place where the focus is on the content, learning from each other, and discussing issues that are important to the individuals. If generations become so segregated that we cannot communicate with each other, then we will cease to learn from the work of others and be forced to learn only from our own experiences.
I see this as an important aspect of online communities not only for my particular work setting, where the two biggest populations are those about to retire and those just getting started in their career, but also for educational and work settings everywhere. In many different ways, people have attempted to bring different generations together, some successfully and others not so successfully, but I believe the online world enables a different level of bringing people of common interest together regardless of their age, location, occupation, race or gender. What this means for community at large is that people can relate to and commune online with others they may not have given a second glance on the street, but it also means there is the potential for a great community of sharing knowledge and learning from each other - bringing generations closer together instead of estranging them from each other.
Certainly once you get to talking to someone online you discover different aspects of their background, experiences, and personality, but the online (text-based) format of communication allows the focus to be on the content of the conversation instead of the appearance or personality of the person(s) communicating.
This idea is applicable to anyone who seeks to enable different generations to interact together in a place where the focus is on the content, learning from each other, and discussing issues that are important to the individuals. If generations become so segregated that we cannot communicate with each other, then we will cease to learn from the work of others and be forced to learn only from our own experiences.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Online Learning Communities in the Nuclear Industry - Learning from our Experiences
One of the "hot topics" in the nuclear industry today is Human Performance. Basically it's all about identifying actions we do that can lead to errors (aka "error precursors"), and then trying to figure out how to prevent those actions from occurring, thus eliminating the errors (aka "events"). Certainly this is an excellent opportunity for sharing in an online community, and my company (as well as others) have internet or software-based programs that enable employees to share "lessons learned" from errors that did occur, in hopes that other employees will read them and not make the same mistake again.
This is a great idea, but it seems that even with "requiring" employees to look at lessons learned before starting a new project, it is far from being a true culture shift in how employees operate. I believe one of the problems is that the system holding these lessons learned needs to be more than a database holding information - it needs to be a community of people coming together to share issues and work toward preventing and solving problems in the future, but also as they arise. But how do you get pertinent information to the right people at the right time? Herein lies the problem.
How do you get already overworked employees to spend additional time sharing and researching information, simply because it is in the best interest of the company? How do you develop a system that is easily accessible to people of varying ages and computer literacy?
This is a great idea, but it seems that even with "requiring" employees to look at lessons learned before starting a new project, it is far from being a true culture shift in how employees operate. I believe one of the problems is that the system holding these lessons learned needs to be more than a database holding information - it needs to be a community of people coming together to share issues and work toward preventing and solving problems in the future, but also as they arise. But how do you get pertinent information to the right people at the right time? Herein lies the problem.
How do you get already overworked employees to spend additional time sharing and researching information, simply because it is in the best interest of the company? How do you develop a system that is easily accessible to people of varying ages and computer literacy?
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