Reflective entry_Zahra : Week 11

I think that the way we have decided to do the reflection is interesting. The fact that we meet each week to talk about our assignment is a really a good approach. Thanks to this meetings we can see each other’s facial expressions which can be helpful and we can also communicate more easily and more freely.

Talking about this week’s assignment with the girls made me really emotional because I have talked about a person whom I appreciate and who has a special place in my heart. 

As a coach, I was really inspired by how the coachee talked about the amazing leader that she had worked with. I was interested in her story because it’s not every day that you meet a great leader like the one that my colleague talked about. I have sensed that my colleague was really proud because she got a chance to meet with this person and felt confident when studying with him. In fact, at first she said that it was a bit intimidating because this person has a lot of experience and it shows, but according to my colleague he wasn’t trying to act superior or impose his ideas. This leader was encouraging the group to work together and build a positive team spirit. 

This is exactly what we all love about the M.B.A program. Besides the fact that you acquire new information and extend your knowledge, you also learn how to work in a group. Actually, you get to see if you can handle difficult situations, conflicts or simply how to get your ideas implemented in the process. We also learn from each other, communicate and share our different perspectives. 

As a coachee, I have talked about my experience which is having to work with my dad. I was kind of shy to talk about it at first because I was going to talk about my father but the support that I was getting from my team members has helped me and so I told my story.  I felt that the coach was interested in what I was saying and she was also nodding her head from time to time to show that. The coach has asked some questions about the fact that I have worked with my father and she also asked me if now I see my father differently. 

As an observer, I have noticed that my teammates feel comfortable when talking about their experience (as a coachee) and when doing their role as a coach. I believe that each person of the group likes to share his thoughts and concerns. In fact, the group likes to communicate and ask different questions when needed. The group feels also more familiar with the different five key processes of a coaching conversation. We all find it interesting to listen to what the other person has to say and we like to learn more about each other. These assignments actually make us aware of our strengths and weaknesses and whether we are good communicators or not.  

Zahra_In depth analysis of an effective team leader

In this week’s assignment I would like to talk about a person who is very special to me and how working with him made me change how I see things. But first let me tell you how I ended up working with this person. Well, it all started when the university that I used to go to back in my home town decided that it was mandatory for all the students to have an internship in relation with our major. Since I was studying marketing and communication I thought that it would be nice to have my internship in a bank because they are constantly dealing with customers and trying to help them effectively. 

My father worked as a director of a bank (Crédit Agricole du Maroc) and I thought that it would be really interesting to do my internship in the bank that he works for, not with him though. Luckily or unluckily I ended up working at the same bank that my father works for. I wasn’t ready for it and to tell you the truth I was a little scared to go to work with him. So as you can imagine at first I didn’t like it at all especially that everyone was trying to avoid me because I am the daughter’s boss but as the time went by all this has changed. 

I remember that everybody loved to be working with my father. Why? Well simply because he cares about the people that he is working with and he likes to show it to them. I felt a great energy and team spirit while working with the whole group, I felt that they shared certain values and they had a common vision. My father used to encourage a lot his team to work hard and sometimes when they felt tired he would organise fun events to make them gain a team spirit. He would have a picnic, go to a restaurant or simply share a cup of coffee with the team and this made them feel happy and energetic. Also, my father used to encourage his team to think about creative ideas and made sure that their ideas were being implemented. He truly believes that good communication and active listening are essential tools when dealing with the employees and he wants his team to have these qualities too. So he developed a certain credibility and I felt that the team was trying her best to support him and back him up when needed.  

I’ve got to say that I wasn’t that exited when I first heard that I was going to be in the same office with my father but, doing this internship with him and the team was really rewarding because I got a chance to see another side of him. In fact, I remember that by the end of the internship my father asked me if I was interested in becoming a manager in the future and frankly I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to be in a position like him because it demands a lot of effort and dedication. But he said something that got my attention, he told me that one of the many things that will make me a great leader is to care about people and show that to them. He explained that when you provide this positive vibe around you people will be willing to be there for you when you’ll need them.

Week 11 - Reflective Entry

My role as a coachee:

After talking about my experience with my dysfunctional team, my coach asked me if I was planning on confronting “the troublemaker” with the issues we were facing in the group. I told her that to be honest, I didn’t think it would help. Even though I believe he is not aware of the problem, his actions make me feel that saying something will not do any good. I realized that in a way I have given up. As has the rest of my team. Because we don’t trust his abilities (because we haven’t really experienced them), we decided to do some of his part for him, instead of “forcing” him to do it. I know with myself that the best thing would be to confront him, but then I think about the limited time we have left. In three weeks the entire semester here is over, and we will not see each other again.

If this had been a more long-term cooperation, I would have done things differently. And throughout this course I’ve learnt more about how to handle these types of situations, and how to be able to recognize them early on in order to prevent them. I didn’t realize how our group dynamic truly was until I wrote it down for this assignment, and discussed it with my coach. I knew our group wasn’t optimal, but when I saw what I had written and saw how we should have been in the different stages, it really made me realize how far this group dysfunction had gone.

My role as a coach:

My coachee had a very interesting story to tell. I found myself focusing more on what she said then on my role as a coach. So when she was done telling me about her experience, I needed to take a few seconds to readjust and claim my position as coach again. I was able to make the switch, and soon was asking her a few questions. I noticed how she was able to give me very fulfilling answers. And as the observer remarked, she seemed very engaged when answering.

I find that the four key processes of listening, mirroring, questioning and aummarizing comes quite natural now. I find I am genuinely interested in hearing what my coachee has to say, and I also have this wish to help her move forward. The catalyzing part I still find somewhat challenging, but I find that when the genuine interest is there, you have more motivation and perhaps this shines through when you’re having the conversation, leading the conversation to feel more catalyzing.

My role as an observer:

As an observer, I’ve also noticed how my teammates have grown more comfortable in their roles. We all feel safe around each other, most likely because we’ve had to open up and share thoughts that we usually don’t share with other people. And after every session, we tend to discuss what we’ve just talked about, and everyone shares their point of view. I always find this part of the conversation very intriguing, because it helps you see things from another perspective. I think it also makes us more susceptible to listen to others outside the group as well.

Ingrid Elisabeth Sørensen

Reflective entry week 11: TEAM (AS)

The American author and political activist Helen KELLER once wrote: “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”. In my opinion this quote suits very well this week’s coaching assignment. Indeed, while writing my assignment about the characteristics of the leader that I have admired, I realized that the work that we did was so good that I wouldn’t be able to do something like this on my own.

As we are exchange students, we figured out that in Canada group work is something very common, in each class we have at least one work to do in a team. This is not the case in Norway or in France, but thanks to that exchange we now feel the need to ask our friends or colleagues for advices when we are facing a personal work to do. It’s to reassure us that we are going the right way that our ideas are correct. Speaking for myself, I wasn’t a huge fan of group works before coming here, I didn’t knew how to work with others because there was always one or two persons that were not doing the same amount of work as I was doing and we were getting the same mark. As the time passed by and I had a bigger experience in working in groups, I realized that actually if a group is able to be unified and connected, we can all rely on each other. If I cannot do my part on time, I can count on my peers that they will help me and understand my situation. And it’s the same thing for them; they know that if something is going wrong they can count on my help. “Having the back” of someone and knowing that someone has yours is reassuring, you don’t feel alone and your stress level is diminished.

But to achieve that stadium of trust and connection, everyone need to be aware that the project is common so no personal goals need to be put ahead. This is why it’s very important to follow the 4 stages of building an effective team: forming, norming, storming and performing. It helps the team to improve and be even more effective in their work. Working with others also enables you to understand more about yourself, your strengths, weaknesses and limits and this will for sure help you to work better.

Finally, I realized that as far as I am concerned when we are setting goals in teams, it’s better to have an Everest goal. If you are a good leader you can really push your teammates to do the best they can and even better. Being proud of the work you have accomplished is a very rewarding feeling.

Having a good team can be assimilated to a family. Indeed, we know each other, we can count on each other, and we are sharing common goals and all of that in a respectful and supportive environment. For me, being part of a team is being part of something bigger than myself, so automatically I feel more secure, and have more energy to accomplish every task. 

In-depth analysis of an effective team leader (AS) Week 11

I had the opportunity to work in a group where the leader was fantastic! But before becoming fantastic in my eyes he had to make his proofsJ. We were a team of five people, complete strangers from different nationalities. This person said at our first meeting that we need to introduce ourselves in order to learn a little bit about each other before starting the work and made a comment saying that this work is a common work so the individual goals need to be put aside. Then he asked us to make a list individually about every person in our group, our impressions, what we think about the person why we might have troubles or not with that person and to keep it until the end of the work. I found it weird but I did it. He was older than me so I thought that he has much more experience than me so I might discover something out of it. As the time pass by, I discover a person full of positive energy, always smiling and true to his values that he shared with us at the first meeting, and he has a kind of magnetism that made him very respected. It was no doubt that he was the leader of our team. He was very effective; he was able to bring us together no matter what and was very engaged in the project. At every meeting he was clearly setting up our goals so everyone understand where we are going, when there was a conflict he was using the two side arguments (even if most of us were having congruent behaviors we were masking them because we were feeling that it’s better to avoid conflict but thanks to his behavior it was natural!!), always looking for the best in us. He was the leader but he was sharing responsibilities in order to keep the motivation and by behaving this way he created a unity and collaboration in a very healthy environment. He was very humble, he was open to ideas, different perspectives and was always reassuring us that he does not have all the answers! This attitude made us avoid group thinking while we were working. When we were at the last stage of the project, we were feeling bored and very tired of all the work, he was able to find the proper words to cheer us up. Actually he became a coach for us, because he was supporting and that made us perform to the best of our abilities. He really trusted us, he was not into the “if you want something done properly, do it yourself”. He was always recognizing that our work is well done, and knew how to take the best of each other because he was really interested in our way of working (at least I felt it like thisJ).

Looking back at this time, I now know that he used the strategy of “Everest Goal”. Indeed, he was always going beyond what was expected, he really wanted us to achieve an extraordinary accomplishment in order for us to be proud of ourselves! And at the final presentation, I felt very proud of what we have achieved and that feeling was a great reward for all the work we have done. I also took a look at what I have written on my list about my first impressions about my teammates. I was shocked, literally, none of what I have written was true! Thanks to that experience I understood, that working in groups is a powerful tool to improve your own abilities but also to know other people and learn from them by the establishment of a connection with a common goal. 

Week 11 Coaching Assignment - Building Effective Teams - Assignment 1

Since the start of this semester I have been working with the same team throughout one of my courses. In my team we are four people, and we have one person who is especially perceived as the “problem”. He rarely does his part, and he complains about other people’s parts. For example, he will say that an idea will not work, without providing a better solution. This creates a negative environment and people become reluctant to share their ideas. Another problem that has occurred due to this, is that when this person is not around, the rest of the group will talk behind his back. We all have the need to let out some steam, and so we complain about him together. And I realize that this is not helpful and only fuels our frustration, as we become increasingly more negative to anything he has to say. I believe our problem can be explained more thoroughly using the four stages of team development.

The forming stage

When we first got together, I knew only one person on my team. And I think the same applied to the others; we were all relatively new to one another. Our first problem was that we didn’t take the time to get to know each other. We barely had an introduction of our names and our nationality, before we went straight to business. This did not give us enough time to get acquainted and become comfortable around each other. We were unable to create a productive atmosphere, because we were uncertain about the others’ reactions and work methods. None of us really provided any direction, clarity or structure in this stage (Developing Management Skills, p.499). High-performing teams have high credibility and trust, and these are attributes that we should have focused on from the beginning. In addition, we should have created direction and goals within our group.

The norming stage

Because we were unable to set clear goals in the first stage, it became difficult for us to create a cohesive unit or a “sense of team” (Developing Management Skills, p.499). Expectations were not clear. We made plans to have a certain amount of work done by a certain time, but several people failed to do their part. And perhaps this was caused by our inability to create a sense of responsibility towards the team. We didn’t know each other well enough to feel a commitment towards each other. And this lack of commitment also led us to spend even less time together. Everyone downgraded our team work, and paid less attention to it. And fewer meetings meant even less interaction, making it difficult to create common behaviors and perspectives. We were unable to create a culture of our own.

In this stage we should have focused on identifying the expectations from our team members, and create commitment to our goals. We should also have focused more on the personal aspect, for example like being able to provide supporting feedback to each other. High-performing teams share a purpose and vision, which in turn enhances commitment, trust and motivation.

The storming stage

Because we didn’t know each other that well in the beginning, we were very conscious about what we said, and afraid of creating conflict and discomfort. However, after a while this became increasingly more difficult. Especially communicating negative information became an issue. And perhaps this is where the disagreements within the group truly occurred. I noticed that my connection to two of the group members were stronger than with the third one – the “troublemaker”. In a way, we created a subgroup where we would let out our frustration about the fourth member of our group, never really facing the issue head on and giving him a chance to improve. And so, we also became part of the problem.

Here we should have tried to focus on communication and how to manage conflict. We should have figured out ways to discuss the issues with our fourth member, in order to be more productive. Perhaps he had a different view than us, and exploring these might have enhanced cooperation within the team.

The performing stage

I feel we have not yet achieved this stage. We are still unable to work at a high level of performance. Our issues remain, such as uncertainty, nonparticipativeness and self-centeredness (everyone focuses on other assignments they have). Before we can reach this stage we need to work on the already mentioned issues, while at the same time create clear work roles for each member and gaining knowledge of the core competencies that each member can provide. Only by doing this can we achieve high-performing teams that provide satisfying performance outcomes.

Ingrid Elisabeth Sørensen

W9 - Reflectuve entry by Zahra

This week’s assignment was helpful (like the previous ones), I kind of consider it to be more like an activity that an assignment. Having to keep a gratitude journal was a new thing for me, I have never thought about it. At first I thought it was amusing because I have so many things that I am grateful for but having to write only three specific entries was a bit challenging. I actually asked one of the team members if it was an easy task to narrow down her choices to only three. 

It was an interesting experience for all the three of us. In fact, the three of us realized that we should work on this gratitude aspect and be more thankful for what we have in our lives. It is clear that we know that we are lucky to have amazing parents who support us no matter what and friends who love us deeply. But as Agata said maybe we should tell them that more often and most importantly we should express our feelings more. So communicating how we really feel to the persons who contribute to our happiness is something that should become part of our everyday priorities.

Keeping a gratitude journal this week was beneficial for all of us. It has also made an impact on us and on our behavior because it brought us back to the past and to remembering the great moments that we had spent with our families and friends.

As a coach, I felt that the coachee was really into the subject and that she was sharing a lot of valuable information. The coachee was also emotional at times when talking about her father which made us go deeper on our feelings. We felt a great connection between the three of us especially because we appreciate our families and we care a lot about them. As a coachee, I tried to open up a little more and I felt that the coach was really enjoying the discussion. She asked some interesting questions that helped me share more information and talk freely about the three entries. As an observer, I had to make sure that all the five key processes of a coaching conversation were implemented in the discussion and they were.

The gratitude journal makes you see and be aware of the positive aspects that you have in your life. Becoming aware of what you have is certainly a good step towards a rewarding change. I don’t know if I am going to keep the gratitude journal for the rest of my life but I am going to try and be more appreciative for all the good things that I got. It is really difficult to do so because when you get caught in your everyday routine you certainly forget about sharing your feelings and emotions. I am sure that our parents and friends like us for who we are and we are blessed to have them sharing the good and the bad times. That’s why thanking them is the least that we can do.