Choose two topics, one from two different lessons and use these topics for your essays. Reflectively express why these topics are important to you and how you will implement what you learned from BLC

SPC WELCKER - 3

Reflective Essay – Basic Leader Course

In the Military, we work in teams. Teams shape our self-image. They define our work and empower us to achieve expansive goals; but team dynamics are complicated. Why am I here? Where do I fit? How do I work? What is the objective? These are only some of the questions we ask ourselves when working in teams. While some appear able to answer these questions immediately and drive into action, others hang on the peripheral waiting to be acted upon; but why? What is the cause of tentativeness in some and audaciousness in others? Second, why do some people work well together when others do not, and at what point do teams overcome challenges together successfully? The subject is important to me because I have worked in teams for many years and have found myself at one time or another in some different part of this spectrum, and I have often failed to understand why.

Tuckman’s study of the stages of group development answer these questions and show me why. As we discussed in class, teams develop in stages: five stages, in point of fact. These stages include forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. It is a nice list, but what does it mean?

It means that teams develop in stages, transitioning from one stage to another over time. The question I have is: do the transitions from one stage to another happen naturally and effortlessly or does it take effort on our part to reach the most effective point? Perhaps it is a little of both. Perhaps teams naturally transition from one stage to the next as they make the effort to coordinate and achieve a common objective. In that case, how do teams remain at the effective point as opposed to wandering haphazardly back and forth between stages of group development? If I could answer these questions, I could be a more effective team member—I might even become rich—or at least capitalize on the optimum point of effectiveness in teamwork.

Although many factors contribute to the stage a team is at, to be a more effective member of my Army team, I have to be able to recognize the stages of team development. I have to know where I have been in order to know where I am going. From learning about the stages of group development, I know I will experience uncertainty and cautiousness in the forming stage. I know the storming stage will be fraught with conflict, power struggles, and challenges. I know that norming occurs when team members determine to cooperate, share, and support each other and that performing is possible where creativity, critical thinking, and coordination meet defined roles and relationships. Adjourning results in stronger networks and future opportunities.

I can implement what I have learned by recognizing, and helping the members of my unit recognize, where we are in our development as a team so we can proactively improve. It will take team meetings, Sergeant’s time training, self-assessment, and personal discipline. The possible obstacles to implementing this knowledge are my probable team dynamics at present, the complexity of our relationships, and my inability to describe to others where I see we are as a team. However, I can overcome these obstacles by adhering to the principles of time, patience, articulation, and proactivity. I can be both persistent and persuasive. Over the course of BLC, I have taken notes, asked questions, and discovered tools that will help me become a more effective leader of soldiers.