This semester in physics has been perhaps one of the most difficult yet. Not only has the course work increased in difficulty, but the state of the world itself has provided immense stress. In response to all of this, I feel that the most important things I have brought to my team this semester were a positive attitude, energy, and lots of encouragement. I’m not always the best team player, but this semester I really made it my focus to be engaged and help my team members stay involved and feel supported.
The first feedback I received from my teammates was how much they appreciated the energy and enthusiasm I brought to the team. For a difficult morning class, these traits were very motivating. I am very pleased that my team and I quickly settled into a good rhythm. We all recognized the importance of being prepared for class and communicating with each other, and I feel that we were successful in both of these avenues.
As a team, we were all very comfortable in contributing in our own ways. Some of us liked to propose the first idea or prompt questions from the others, and the rest were helpful by playing devil’s advocate or providing explanations when others were confused. We all helped fill in the gaps for each other, and I was very satisfied by how we operated in class. Our cooperation really showed during our team quizzes. Even if we individually didn’t do so great, as a team we consistently made perfect scores.
This success demonstrated how well we listened and helped each other. This experience has also helped me realize that a front-and-center role may not be the best for me. It was a bit of a struggle sometimes but ensuring that our team was cohesive and that we worked to build each other up was more important and in the end the reason we performed so well.
There were a few moments where it seemed like our personal styles were going to get in the way, but every time we managed to step back and put the team first. We frequently resorted to voting and letting democracy rule when we’d exhausted all other avenues to come to an agreement. In the end, we didn’t necessarily have a set team leader, it was a position that could change depending on the topic or project, and this flexibility and understanding helped our team be much more effective.
I hope that I can take these lessons forward with me into other group settings. For me, there’s always an awkward transition with new groups and having to relearn how to work with new people. Now that I’ve had a whole year of experience working in two different groups, I feel that I’ve gotten some solid experience working in different roles and adjusting to different types of groups. My first group was with people I was already friends with so we were already comfortable. My second group was with people I didn’t know well so we had to start from the ground up building trust and getting to know each other’s styles. This has been an excellent experience where I really had to rely on and trust people and I think it has taught me skills that I will always have to use.
