Event Design And Developemnt Reflective Essay:

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Introduction

Design development is a collaborative exercise. But a mere bringing of individuals together does not essentially ensure they work effectively as a unit. Effective teamwork has never happed robotically. It can be undercut by a number of problems for instance, misunderstanding, lack of organization, insufficient participation and poor communication.

According to (Heller 2008) a team is a group of persons who have complementary skills and are dedicated to a common objective and hold each other mutually responsible for its attainment. In the actual sense, they establish a unique identity and function together to realize their objective or goal. Task effectiveness is the level upon which the team is successful in attaining its task-linked goals. Shared objectives are highly likely to be realized through functioning together and pooling expertise and experience.

In our event design and development I was involved in the selection of our team members. I realized that that team members of great ability have greater contribution when the rest of the team is also of great ability. However, in establishing and managing the team, I found out that it is significant to not just the person’s knowledge, technical skills and experience, but also their capability to co-ordinate operations and their interpersonal skills. Hence in selecting potential team members, it is critical to consider individuals who can work positively with the rest of the team and have interest to grow and develop while they are in the team.

This proved to be of great value in achieving the objectives of our design project. On my side I was committed to the common goal of our project, I was listening and responded the members of the team in a productive and objective manner. I also performed various roles in the team so that we could attain the sole objective of the project. I was honest and open with my concerns, ideas and values to escape bearing hidden agendas during the team meetings. I found out that people who are unlikely to operate properly as members of a team are persons who attempt to maintain their position by harboring their expertise or like to work individually and unaided.

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Leadership

I found out that Leadership is very important to teamwork. A team leader should be that individual in charge to ensure that the team members are working effectively as a unit to attain their objectives or goals has to facilitate the coordination essential for the team to work well. As a team leader, I ensured that the team has the necessary information and resources to accomplish their tasks (Spence, Kirby, & Macmillan 2008).

I created a supportive environment of trust, openness and mutual respect which enhanced cooperation and loyalty and developed a “blame free culture”. I assisted the team to concentrate on clearly outlined vision with apparent goals and objectives. This process helped me to identify the objectives and goals which are in line with each member’s own objectives and goals. I developed a work schedule in which every member was assigned clearly described tasks which are challenging and meaningful for every person. I realized that this is critical in gaining commitment from the member s of the team to accomplish their tasks, and in certain occasions motivated them to “go the extra mile”.

I ensured that each team member got the feeling that what they contributed towards the event design and development was visible and valued by the entire team. I also think that the project was successful because of I made sure that there was clear, regular and correct feedback to the team concerning their performance in the course of the project. We shared the success of the team as one whole lot. Through this, I found out that an effective and confident team leader seeks answers from the team and invites constructive suggestions and challenges for an alternative course of action. I clearly remember of one the team members always bombarding me with very challenging questions how to do the decorations.

What I noticed that is synonymous with team is conflict or disagreements, for instance at one point two of our team members fiercely disagreed on which materials to used that will not only be fashionable but also cost effective. I realized that is to handle such situations, as a team leader, I needed to deal with diverse interests and conflict positively by way of negotiation and mediation as (West, 2007) found out. I noticed that a leader has to be well equipped to tackle hard decisions and be ready to offer an explanation on the basis upon which the action or the measure has been taken.

Thus, in the social aspect, a team leader needs to be conscious of the loyalty of the participant to organizations or people who are outside the team. In doing so, the leader must be seen as being impartial and fair mediator of issues, whose objective is on the members co-operating to attain objectives. When a leader doesn’t have this capability, he/she may fail to command respect required to assist team members.

Team meetings

Meeting offer personal contact on regular basis. Meetings are valuable both for business and social functions. The social significances of team meetings need not to be underestimated – team identity, respect, trust, and familiarity with each other’s style of operating are established here as (Heller 2008) found out.

I observed that for business functions, meetings should incorporate; sharing of information among the members of the team, resulting to the team to deliberate and agree on future course of actions.

Decision making which comprises evaluation of options and also final selection of what to be done next

It was during the meeting that I assigned duties and we identified follow up procedures.

The meeting that I organized proved to be valuable since they acted as deadline for team members to offer information that was really needed by the other member. What I also observed is that meetings could also be a waste of time, particularly when are no social reasons overriding (Adair 2008). Thus, meetings should only be arranged when actions and decisions are required. Merely relying information between members of the team could be better done via other avenues. An official agenda supplied in advance can assist to make sure that the members of the team are adequately prepared and critical tasks are not disregarded. Supportive paperwork that I supplied prior to the meetings, gave team members ample time to comprehend the content and plan for their responses. When people fail to do this, may hinder the team from obtaining the complete value of their meeting. When this is done deliberately so as to hinder the team members from having a meaningful debate, I noted that it will soon end up in frustrations and loss of confidence and trust among the members of the team.

Conclusion

The team focused absolutely on the assignment that they were given and very rarely on the teamwork process. It is likely that there was some form of resistance on the side of some members to the idea of self examination and self evaluation. However, there is price in stepping back so as to assess and reflect on the existing modalities of working things. Regular reflections can result to greater consciousness of skills and strengths, as well as problems and weakness areas. Thus they are significant approaches of ensuring that the team continues to be effective. The ideal place to begin wit is what teamwork implies to every member of the team. When team work is properly defined, it will assist shape how members of the team function together to outline common goals.

The team needs to review if it has a supportive, cohesive and constructive social environment that offers sufficient support for training, skill development and personal improvement. As for the assignment itself, the team needs to reflect occasionally: The original goals and if they have changed or whether they might change in the future. The best practices in realizing current and future goals of the design project, and the adequacy of teams’ approaches of functions to attain present and future goals. If the output of the team exceeds or meets the standards projected and finally, if the deadlines and milestones are being realized.

In summarizing, the success of our event design and developed was attained because as team leader, I concentrated my efforts on the possible solutions as oppose to the problems, and highlighted that getting quick solutions is for the good of the whole team. It made sure that all members of the team were offered an opportunity to contribute to through ideas and suggestions.

References

Adair, J. (2008). Effective Teambuilding: How to Manage a Winning Team

Pan Books, London.

Belbin, M.(2010). Team Roles at Work Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, Press.

Durcan, J. & Oates, D.(2008). The Manager as Coach: Developing Your Team for

Maximum PerformanceFinancial Times/Pitman Publishing, London.

Heller, R. (2008). Managing Teams Dorling Kindersley, Harvard University Press.

West, M. (2007). Effective Teamwork British Psychological Society, Leicester.

Spence, R., Kirby, P. & Macmillan, S. (2008). Interdisciplinary Design in Practice

Thomas Telford, London.