How do you capture 14 years in a single blog story? The truth is you can’t, but what you can capture is the significance of their impact. You see, last Friday as the clock ticked to 9:00am, I started my 15th year working at the University of Calgary.
In my post on March 17, I wrote that the vast majority of young people are not taught how to collaboratively co-build an effective team or to curate the ongoing factors needed to maintain a strong team environment. This led to tips on how to lay the foundation of a team by creating a shared understanding of each member’s past team experiences – both good and bad.
Thinking back to teams you were part of in school, or even now, do you usually step into a leadership role or do you take the time to understand how each of your group members wants to contribute and then decide how you can best contribute to the group’s work? Both are equally valuable ways to contribute to teamwork, but it’s when each approach is misunderstood that problems occur.
Let’s start with a question this week. Have you ever been part of a team or group experience where you’ve thought to yourself: “To heck with it, I’m just going to do everything myself because it’s the only way it’s going to get done right?” I ask this at the beginning of many of the workshops I facilitate on building effective teams, and without fail, almost every person raises their hand.
As we hear so often, the problems previous generations create are the problems our youth will inherit, or are already having to navigate and solve. This is why one of the most important things we can do as educators, parents, family members, and/or mentors is to empower/continue empowering the youth in our lives to share their voices and become involved in creating the changes our world needs.