Lessons

Okay, three lessons I've learned in this challenge process so far...complete with the situation leading up to the lesson, the actual lesson itself, and what I would do differently if presented with a similar situation in the future. I can already tell, that last part is going to be difficult; I think if "how to successfully handle a large group progressing toward a goal while maintaining enthusiasm, participation, creativity, and idea-sharing" was common knowledge, the business world would be very different than it is today. Everyone would have the tools to lead their companies effectively, making the success of the company more dependent on the talents of the individual than how they work cohesively as a team.

Lesson One:  It's hard to coordinate a meeting of nineteen people.

When we were first presented with the challenge, the logical thing to do was to get together as a group to talk about it. But that wouldn't be easy, seeing as we can't even find a time to meet officially as a full group. I remember Sarah saying something to the effect of, "After trying to schedule our weekly meetings for this quarter, I can tell you that you'll either have to meet in the middle of the night, or on Sunday. Maybe."

The complexity of logistical issues are often easy to overlook when shadows are cast on them by bigger-picture-type stuff. Again thinking of this in terms of a business setting, I am hard pressed to come up with a scenario in which nineteen members of a project team aren't located in the same office building, or don't even have similar working hours each day.

Lesson Two:  Motivation, participation, communication, hallucination.

It's difficult to make sure everyone's motivation is on the same general playing field. Enthusiasm, I think, is different; with individuals having their own interests, odds are that not everyone will love the project. But that doesn't mean that people don't have responsibilities. Relating back to lesson one, the trick is coordinating the team so that each person knows what that responsibility is. A remedy to this is heavily based in communication.

Lesson Three:  Ideation and all its glory.

Speaking as a team member - at times, it feels like the team is getting pulled slightly toward instances of groupthink. It would impractical to attempt to meet (again, lesson one) regularly as a full team to solicit input on all relevantly important issues; being still in the formative stage of this project, everything seems relatively important. Then it wouldn't be too much of a stretch of the imagination to question the system a little bit. As things have progressed, our organizational structure appears to have emerged as some sort of a representative government and its citizens. While not making the decisions, the government is creating the decisions for its citizens to make. I simply find this unexpected, as I didn't realize at the time that I essentially "elected" Joe to an oligarchy (of sorts).

My thoughts tend to be rooted in pragmatism; I usually have questions more so than answers. But one thing my parents always taught me - if I didn't have a better option for a restaurant to go to, I wasn't allowed to complain. This was to be especially in effect when I didn't mind the restaurant that everyone else had agreed upon.