Facilitating Team Meetings

At the start of every meeting a few minutes should be spent talking to each other about about stuff unrelated to the project and maybe engage in a fun activity to enhance group cohesion.
After small talk then the meeting can be started up by going over the agenda. According to Levi, the facilitator of the meeting directs 5 main communication activities :
1) Maintain an open and collaborative climate

-focus on issues, ask clarifying questions, organized discussion

2) Manage disruptive behaviors

-firm but friendly, acknowledge/reward good behavior

3) Manage differences

-clarify different viewpoints, define areas of agreement/disagreement, resolution through problem-solving techniques and consensus decision making

4) Summarize important decisions

-summarize team's conclusions after discussion of each major agenda item

The meeting can be wrapped up by tying lose ends, checking results, and evaluating the group process. 5) Evaluating the group process involves discussing possible areas of improvement for meeting operations and providing feedback to team members on performance. This process helps to address and fix team or task problems before they get out of hand.

So what?
The key component of successful team meetings is collaboration, coordination, and good communication. Team meetings that are poorly structured waste time, reduce motivation, and produce frustration. The team facilitator fills the role of maintaining the 5 main communication activities, although other team members have a responsibility to help facilitate. Good communication skills are learned and reinforced with practice. Someone who demonstrates good communication skills asks questions, actively listens, gives constructive feedback, and manages their emotions.

Now what?
After my team's first outside of class meeting, our goal was to brainstorm and narrow down ideas for our service learning project. We didn't have an agenda and discussion was not very organized, so the meeting took much longer than expected. We practiced good communication skills by asking questions and providing feedback. We also managed our differences when it came to deciding what project idea to proceed with and at the end we summarized our decisions. To help increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our next meeting, we delegated tasks to be completed and are preparing an agenda to help guide discussion and keep us from going off topic.

What Makes a Team?

Daniel Levi defined a team as a special type of group in which people work interdependently to accomplish a goal. A team is a special type of group. A group has goals, interdependent relationships, interactions, structured relations, and mutual influence.

The best example demonstrating a team relationship was The Wisdom of Wolves. It really drove home the concept of a team. A lot can be learned by observing wolves. Their group norms include loyalty and communication. One of the quotes from the video that stood out the most to me was "Wolves do not aimlessly choose or harass their prey. They are content to be keen observers analyzing the physical and mental state of each member of the caribou herd."

So what?

The best team members are very observant of others behaviors and emotions. The first few weeks are the most important for reading other group members' personalities and expectations. For the greatest chance of success, each group member needs to know the best way to communicate and work with each member of the group. This is related to the wolf choosing the best caribou to go after in a group that has the greatest chance of success. This strategy is also related to a long-term goal over a short-term success. If the wolf chooses to randomly attack a caribou, a member of the pack has a chance of being killed by a caribou hoof. The wolf would rather accomplish the long-term goal of keeping the pack together than the short-term success of killing a caribou.

Now what?

In the beginning stage of our team service project, it is essential that we set specific goals and get to know each member of the team. We are most likely to have success if we are all working together interdependently toward a set common goal.