Unit 19 Team Work and Leadership

Catapult Building
Name: Estelle Gregory Describe the task: In detail, what was the aim of the task? How many teams? What was the team dynamic? Timings? Rules and restrictions? Catapult building. During this task the aim was to build a catapult, the reason for building a catapult is so that we would be aloud to aim to shoot the members of staff of Dragonfly. We were only aloud six bamboo poles and additionally one bamboo stick, which had a bowl at the end to launch the sponges. There were five teams again. The rules were that we had to be in the same groups as raft building. There was a time limit and it was twenty minutes. The rules of this team building activity was the catapult had to be able to move. When we were about to catapult we had to be behind a blue line so that competition was even. What was your role in the team? What did you do? How did you contribute? Leader or team worker? During this task I kind of stood back and didnt do much, I believe I was the shaper from Meredith Belbins Team Roles. I was the person who challenged the team to improve our final catapult. I did this by asking questions to the group but testing what they think and how we could improve. I also pushed our team to finish to the end. During the second half of this task I believe I was the monitor-evaluator. This is because I carefully weighted up the pro and cons of the getting sponged by the members of staff. Since I thought of this I evaluated how responsible it would be if I was to get my dry clothes wet. How did you perform as an individual? My performance as an individual was just testing the ideas that were given out. I believe I didnt contribute as much as I did during the raft building, also I think I took a step back because there wasnt much room where we had to build the catapult. Additionally I believe why I took a step back was because I didnt have the skills that other member of the group had. Again once the competition started I just tired to help set up the sponges and help our group. How did you perform as a team? As I team I believe we performed lower compared to building the raft. Our team didnt really know how to build the catapult, however we knew how to build the raft. Since we didnt know how to build the catapult I believe we used the most of time trying to come up with the decision. Unfortunately during this discussion some of our team had a bit of conflict, this was because other members of the team wanted 1 Estelle Gregory

Unit 19 Team Work and Leadership to use their idea instead of someone elses. During this activity I believe that Rosie was the leader, this was because she stepping into place and giving everyone jobs to do. Also she resolved the conflict that was raised about which idea to use. Other teams performed better I believe because they agreed on how they should build a catapult this is because they were able to communicate and listen to the people in their group. They all helped each other by teaching another member how to tie a knot and wait for the person who knows how too.

What were your strengths? Communication, problem solving, time management, supporting others, physical abilities, confidence, motivation, resolving conflict, praise, questioning, body language, listening, awareness, creativity etc I believe my strengths of this session was communication, this would be because I was talking to everyone in my team politely and nicely. However I was testing peoples ideas, which might of annoyed some people. During working with a team communication is key, because if there was loss of communication then either someone might do something against the rules and regulations and might have been disqualified from the competition. Another was listening; I believe listening was strength because without listening to the teams ideas I would have been able to question their idea. Listening is important working within a team. This would be because if other people in the team might have a better decision than the person who is talking consistency. I believe time management was strength of mine because I led the group to move on quickly and be ready at the starting line. Time management is important when working within a team because if a leader has set individual tasks to be completed by an individually and someone hasnt done their work by the time. The whole team would fail their assignment. As a team our strengths would have been communication because we were discussing our ideas and evaluating which one would be the best idea. This was strength because we knew what we wanted to do. The strengths of other teams was that they were able to agree on how to build the catapult by communicating their ideas and they were able to adapt their structure when they thought another idea was better. What were your weaknesses? Communication, problem solving, time management, supporting others, physical abilities, confidence, motivation, resolving conflict, praise, questioning, body language, listening, awareness, creativity etc

Estelle Gregory

Unit 19 Team Work and Leadership I believe body language was one of my flaws during this team building activity. I had my hood up the whole time. If I was to be placed with a group who didnt know me, I would of came across unprofessional and in a bad mood. This would have been a negative impact to the team. Another weakness of mine during the team building exercises was creatively. This would be because I was unable to contribute creative ideas about how to layout the catapult. Creativity is important during working in a team to think about how to your team will complete the task. The teams weakness was time management this was because we werent able to complete the whole catapult by the end of the given time. This meant our team was rushed. As a team our weaknesses would have been time management because we were talking about the ideas longer than we were building the catapult. When I look at other groups there was one other group, which were building the catapult, this makes me believe that our team wasnt the only group whom were talking about ideas. Weakness of other teams was being originally because they were some copying of one team. I believe this happened because people werent a hundred percent sure on how to structure their catapult. However, the end achievement wasnt the best because none of the catapults could be launched very far. Finally a weakness I had during this activity was resolving conflict. I left someone else to resolve the conflict between the team. If I were the leader of this group I would have to resolve the conflict that was raised. What could you improve for next time? If I were to build a catapult again I would improve by my individual performance, making more of an effort in building the catapult. I would try a resolve the conflict that has been raised. I would talk to the members of the team and solve the problem, this would mean I would have to talk in a reasonable manner, and see how one persons view can help the other persons view. This would mean that our team would have much more time to create the catapult. Another aspect where I would improve on would be my creativity. I would improve this by looking outside of the box. Team performance wise I would improve our time management this was because we were speaking about ideas most of the time and did not realize how much time there was left the build the catapult. However, the other teams were doing the same, which was talking about the ideas, and not actually building the catapult, once the group decided what to do there was one group which were nearly finished building their catapult.

Estelle Gregory

Unit 19 Team Work and Leadership The other teams should improve on being more originally this would be because then other teams catapult could be launched further since there would have been more of a range of catapults. Was there any conflict in the group? If yes, describe why and how was it resolved? If no, what did the leader do to ensure this was the case? There was conflict in the group; this was when two members of the team, Henry wanted to use his idea instead of Sehers. Our leader Rosie, spoke to them both in front of our team and asked what were their ideas were. She looked to see if we could adapt the idea some of each idea and combined the idea. I believe there was no conflict in other teams because they all agreed on how to build a catapult, this made the team work together because everyone listened to each other. Since this happened there was no conflict. How could you use relevant theory to analyse the overall performance today? Leadership styles, Belbin, Tuckman, Adair, Honey, Margerison & McCann, Woodcock. During the catapult building I believe I was two of Meredith Belbins Team Role, which were the Shaper and Monitor-Evaluator. I believe this was the case because when we were building the catapult I was the Shaper. This is because I was questions everyones ideas, also I was finding a possible way to solve the problem. The other team role I took on was the Monitor-Evaluator. I believe this because once the competition started I carefully weighted up the pro and cons of the getting sponged by the members of staff. Since I thought of this I evaluated how responsible it would be if I were to get my dry clothes wet. The leader I believe Rosie was during this activity was transformational; this is because she motivated the team. The type of French and Ravens Forms of Power she use was Referent Power; I believe this is the case because everyone from our team liked Rosie. Its a form of power of fame additionally charisma. From Bruce Tuckmans theory again I believe our group went straight to storming, norming and performing. This is because there was an element of conflict, which was raised about the idea. After the storming stage calmed down the norming stage came to place because Rosie was able to talk to Seher and Henry where a mutual decision developed. I believe there was only a small section of the stage Performing. This is because we were able to complete the task and achieve the criteria. However, our catapult wasnt the best because the sponge didnt go very far. From John Adiars theory I believe that our group was each individual member of the group involved in the task. This is where the peoples needs are met in their allegiance to the group. Also the motivation is where they achieved the task.

Estelle Gregory