PROFFESIONAL AND ACADEMIC SOFT SKILLS

Learning is a continuous and perpetual process, a person never stops learning till he breathes his last. Learning can be defined as the cognitive process of acquiring knowledge and the required skill. (www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn). The purpose of this essay is to highlight the knowledge and the skills acquired, the strengths and weaknesses identified at the Buxton residential organised by the Staffordshire university. The residential included a lot of activities in which we had to take part as a team. Allocation of teams and their respective members was done in the second week of the course with the help of a psychometric test. The team members were allocated in such a manner that each member of the group came from a different background and had different strengths and weaknesses. There are 4 stages of team development viz. Forming, Norming, Storming, and Performing (Tuckman, B, 1965). We recognised that, to become an effective team we should collectively build on to our individual competencies (Holtzman,Y & Anderberg, J 2011). Each team had to prepare an academic poster before going to Buxton. The first 3 stages of the model can be said to have implemented within this activity. Initial apprehension, lack of communication and vision were all part of the process (Forming). The quiet and shy people of the team were not comfortable to open up and start communicating their ideas. There was a time when the quiet and shy members could not adjust to the method of working in a group. The responsibility of making them feel comfortable was undertaken by me and another team member. We arranged weekly meetings which helped the team in building a rapport with each other. Due to on-going, continuous interaction between the group members we got to know each other better, everybody then started to contribute (Norming). Each member presented his/her idea to the group (for the poster) and the one agreed upon by everybody was selected (Storming). Then we unanimously assigned specific tasks to each individual for the research on key areas of the topic selected by the group. Being used to the team members by now, we started to plan ahead for the activities lined up. Every team has to recognise some critical success factors to succeed in whatever tasks they are assigned with, Holtzman,Y & Anderberg, J (2011) have identified these factors to be, Competence, Common goals and clear performance metrics, Commitment to achieve the desired goal, Participation, Supportive environment, Alignment (co-ordination of plans). Competence refers to having required knowledge and skills. As a team having members from different backgrounds and culture helped us in achieving the competence. Performance metrics and common goals refer to having short term objectives and executing them to measure the performance of the team. Common goal of the team was to be the best team at the residential, having the best overall performance. Participation refers to actively being part of all the tasks and contributing. Participation and

supportive environment as mentioned earlier was achieved during the initial stages when the group had started to norm and all the members started to contribute. Alignment refers to the co-ordination of plans and the team members. Planning and co-ordination was started from quite an early stage. Most of the performing part of Tuckmans model (1965) was implemented in Buxton. Activities in which we were supposed to participate were not much of a challenge for the group members due to the fact that we were already used to the way each member worked. Belbins team roles can be aptly applied to our team. The role of a team worker, shaper, implementer, monitor evaluator, coordinator were identified (Belbin, M, R, 2010). The planning really helped us to decide further course of action for the activities (ex. On the town trail activity we had a plan to split into two groups, there was continuous communication between the split members of the team, this gave us enough time to complete and even confirm our answers before handing them in). We were really happy and satisfied with the way things were progressing; however the announcement of one extra member joining the group almost ruined the dynamics of the team. All the team members were apprehensive about the new member joining. Although that came as a surprise, the team accepted the decision and welcomed the new team member. The new member not only felt welcomed but comfortable as well with the dynamics of our team. The escape team who had organised all the outdoor activities had arranged a session to brief us about all the activities. According to them, each and every task was designed in such a manner that it would help our group gain deeper understanding about how a team can perform in an efficient manner. They also mentioned that, more than the end result of the tasks, the journey in completing the tasks is what they were most interested in. We had an auction where we could bid for any extra tasks we were confident in achieving. We had to calculate and make logical decisions otherwise we would have to suffer a loss. (Monitor evaluator). We were handed a booklet with all the details on the activities for the outdoor tasks. One member took up the responsibility thoroughly read through it and explained it to others. There was a map of the course which we had to follow throughout the day (Team worker). In all the activities the team had to entitle a Leader and a debriefer, unlike most of the teams, due to our strong planning, we had already decided on the role of every individual in our team for each task, made it a point to fill in all the details before handing it in. The activities for the day in chronological order and the experiences can be summarised as follows: Blindfold Square: We as a team learned a lot of weaknesses from the task due to failure. A lot of time dedicated to planning, leaving less time to execute, not listening to the instructions, poor adoption. Personally, I learnt how to give positive and constructive feedback. Stepping Stones: After the failure, encouragement helped us move forward. Another member helped me in lifting the team spirit which enabled us to perform well in this task. The strengths identified

during this activity were, effective planning, this time having a time keeper helped us to utilise time more effectively, team dynamics were good, support and encouragement levels were high. Individually, I learnt how important it is to manage time, and how enthusiasm alone helps in driving the team toward success. Caf Challenge: After a successful task, the team went on to enthusiastically solve the caf challenge. This activity highlighted the importance of generating ideas (Storming), discussion, review/checking the answer, this was the activity when as an individual I learnt that sometimes it is better to step aside and let others do the work. Team Ski: After the caf challenge and a much deserved break, team ski was the activity where we realized effective planning and practice can help in achieving the goal even after stumbling (more than one member fell of the ski). The weaknesses observed were that, the leader lacked communication and confidence, time management was a concern, Individually, I learnt that it is necessary to plan and practice. Walker: This was meant to be a collaborative task and needed an exchange of leaders between two teams; I was assigned to be the leader and was able to lead a different set of people from a different group. It really helped me to understand that confidence shown by the leader can have a great impact on the performance of the team. The encouragement and showing direction is an important aspect of leadership. Nuclear Fluid: This was the task when one of the quieter members of the team was the leader, and we performed really well. Time management and planning really helped, as a group we learnt from mistakes, communication between team members was great. As an individual I realised that no member of the team can be underestimated and has to be given full credit when he/she deserves it. Traffic Jam: I was the leader of the task, we performed exceptionally well, and we even aimed at the world record for the time taken to achieve the task. Logical approach was needed, strengths of individual team members was used to achieve the task. Gutter: This was the task when the team failed miserably, we gave a horrible performance, the leader showed lack of confidence, lack of ideas, communication was a big problem. Although, we did have a no blame culture, which helped the team to stay together and showed a desire to learn. Personally I learnt a lot out of this task, no blame culture and not yelling at team members is essential if the team has to stay together. Mountain Rescue: A collaborative task, two teams joining hands to achieve a task. This task helped us in interacting with different people, time management again was very good. Personally, I was the leader in this task and due to the miserable failure from the earlier task lacked the enthusiasm and interest in performing. Orienteering: In this task we were expected to manage our resources and plan for what can be

achieved in the time at hand. This was done exceptionally by our team by sacrificing one of the low scoring cards to achieve a bonus for returning well before time. Personally, I learnt that effective analysis of the resources and benefits is very important in achieving the goal. All the outdoor activities helped us in learning many aspects of being in a team and performing as a team member. The overall strengths identified can be identified as; we stayed together and supported each other, exhibited good team dynamics, celebrated success. Trust between the team members is a very critical aspect of overall team performance (Hoe, S 2007). The good team dynamics and interpersonal trust helps in giving constructive feedback to each other, no one in the team was apprehensive about pointing out the weaknesses exhibited by any other member of the team. The level of communication between the team members depends upon the level of trust between them (Hoe, S 2007). Personally, in the forming and norming stage, I had great difficulty in trusting and believing in the ability of my fellow team members, soon after getting to know them personally, communicating and performing various activities together I started trusting them and started believing in them. Communication is not always about talking and putting your thoughts across in a cohesive manner, but it is also about being able to listen. Communication should always be referred to as two way communication (Hoe, S 2007). This helped me in understanding and working on some of my own individual weaknesses. I realised that, first, I speak a lot, more often than not interrupting other people when they are speaking. Second, I am not able to convey a message or an idea in a precise/concise manner. Last but not the least; I am delighted and deeply thankful to Staffordshire University for arranging such an event. It has truly been a life changing event and helped me identify my personal strengths and weaknesses, an opportunity to work on the weaknesses and concentrate on the strengths. I would also like to add that this opportunity has given me immense exposure and an occasion to interact with people of various cultures. This has helped me in having broader perspective in evaluating situations. Finally, these are just some of the observations and learnings from the Buxton residential, there is so much more to reflect upon and write about, unfortunately, the word count does not permit in doing so.

List of References Belbin, M, R. (2010). Team Roles at work. 2nd ed. Butterworth Heinemann. Holtzman,Y & Anderberg, J. (2011). Diversify your teams and collaborate: because great minds dont think alike. Journal of management development. 30(1). p. 75-92. Hoe, S.L. (2007). Is interpersonal trust a necessary condition for organisational learning? Journal of organisational transformation and social change. Vol. 4(2). pp 149-156. Tuckman, B. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin. 63(6). p. 384-399. www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn