Week 6:
It used to be a very big struggle for me to work in a group. I would feel responsible for everyone and often took extra work upon myself because I did not know if my teammates were reliable and would get the work done. This was a concern of mine when I started this course. I was pleasantly surprised when it was not like that. Everyone has a specific role and we work together as a team to get things done. We work things through, trying to come up with the best solutions. I have come to enjoy this dynamic experience. We are each in different time zones, many at different stages of life, but we still manage to communicate and help one another. It's a real insperation. I have never met these people in person, yet I feel as if we have learned a lot in our time together.
Pointillism, a method of art, expresses the idea of team collaberation in a unique way. Each painting is made up of thousands, if not millions, of individual painted dots. When one zooms into a specific, single colored dot, it looks small and insignificant, but once you zoom out and take a look at the whole painting, you realize how beautiful and impressive it really is. “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” —Phil Jackson. We need the individuals to create a team. But we also need to create a unified feeling that we are indeed working as a team. "None of us is as smart as all of us." - Ken Blanchard. Even though each individual can be smart, and it ranges with every person, by combining our knowledge, skills, and abilities, we can accomplish so much more than when we work alone!
The collaborative experience in the Global Summit has showed me the value of working as a team. Working alone sometimes has its perks, like not having to negotiate when it comes to coming to a decision. But something important that I learned is that while the end result is significant, the process is especially impactful. As a group, each person has opportunities to push themselves, learn to accept criticism and feedback, and get support by kind, helpful peers. Not everyone is skilled at submitting things on time, or sourcing things properly, but when you work in a group, you need to take others into account as well. I learned to look beyond myself, and to recognize the importance of the people outside of me.

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