Blog Topic 2- Values and Vision- by Onder

I think the team-building aspect of the Blind Square Exercise can only be realized with repetition. The first try and the follow-up discussions introduced everyone to the problem, the challlenges, and the possible solutions. People in the team started to learn about the other team members, they had time to reflect on their own feelings and actions, and they observed and/or heard about how the others felt and acted. These are likely to lead to substantial improvements in the individual and team performance in subsequent exercises.

A very important requirement for good team performance in this exercise is that all team members must participate in the exercise wholeheartedly. Non-participation or reluctant participation of few team members would make the task difficult or impossible. This means, everyone must be highly motivated to participate in the teamwork.

Why would some team members not be highly motivated to fully participate in the exercise? After all, by enrolling in the MBA program they have demonstrated their desire to learn and improve themselves. And, they must be in this class to improve their leadership skills. So, what could be the problem?

This is my last course in the on-campus MBA program, and I have worked on team projects with quite a few students. Most of my past teammates were intrinsically motivated: They wanted to learn, they worked hard, and did their best for the team projects. Those projects were indeed rewarding and fun for all of us. Unfortunately, I had a few teammates who did as little as they possibly could, and did not care if the project was less than perfect- so what if we had a few typos on our slides! My guess is that they were here primarily for the rewards the MBA degree would get them, such as a promotion and higher pay, and not for the knowledge and personal improvement.

Now that I picked on some past teammates (hopefully without offending anyone here), I need to point out that the on-campus MBA program does not offer many choices for elective courses due to our budget problems. It is possible that some students in this class are not fully motivated, as they would have preferred to take some other class if they had a choice. If they are here not by choice but out of necessity of fulfilling a requirement, they may not be very enthusiastic participants in the class activities. This is where the personal core values come into picture. Some people take pride in doing things well and they would do things well even under less than desirable circumstances. People who value teamwork and team spirit would also put out their best for the success of the team, even if they personally did not enjoy or benefit from the activity.

I do believe that "if it is worth doing, it is worth doing well." I also believe in "continuous improvement." Even when I am doing something I have done many times before, I try to find a better way of doing it. Like many of us, I did not do well in the first exercise. But, I tried pretty hard. Next time, I am likely to do better owing to my experience and insight gained from the first exercise.