Question: Debriefing and Adjourning
Slide 1: Why are team communication skills so important in today's workplace? Communication skills are the essence and fundamental base for a group to be successful in a desired goal. For many virtual teams similar to the one we participated in, communication will either make or break the team in terms of achieving their desired goals as well as staying effective and efficient with their time. Communication was one of our main strategies in our business report as we believed in the power of open dialogue and healthy trustworthy form of communication between members.In order to maintain a successful virtual team, we chose this skill/ strategy due to it's effectiveness in an open dialogue and how the frequent exchange of ideas help shape the final product of our assignment and how it can be used in actual virtual teams. Applying this same strategy in a business workplace virtual team will surely ensure a better result in the desired objective by analyzing constructive criticism and taking into account different perspectives from all team members. Along with communication, trust and accountability will help maintain a direct focus into obtaining a workplace goal and contribute to further projects' success.
Slide 2: During our time working with each other in group 3 we reflected and concluded that we went through the stages of team formation. We all began as strangers and once we needed to communicate we started the forming stage and agreed to use a platform that would benefit and enhance our communication with each other. Next in the storming stage we began to ponder on ideas of how we could tackle our assignment efficiently and effectively in order to achieve the best outcome possible. Next, in our norming stage we assigned roles and area of responsibility to be held accountable for in the report. Once all was settled, the performing stage was started and we held almost daily communication and had small achievable goals and deadlines to review each other's work. The main key in our group's success, which was also one of our strategies, was our effective and open communication with each other that only help contribute the final ideas that finalized our report.
As we reflected on our experience, we pondered how we could have done better and how this would reflect on a real workplace scenario. One of our main obstacles, was due to all of us being students our schedules for academics and work often conflicted and we had to adapt to changing schedules. We overcame this small obstacle by either changing areas of responsibility or changing our rough draft due dates. Overall, we contribute our success to out three strategies of effective virtual teams. From the experience we could conclude that many of the challenges to achieve desired objectives could also be experienced in workplace situations and create even greater challenges due to the nature of the business and how well communication is prioritized in order to be successful.
Slide 3: Nowadays, employers are hesitant to hire applicants due to their lack of communications skills. They are afraid they would make the company look bad to clients if they can't communicate effectively. There are a variety of ways to enhance virtual communication. It needs to start when they are younger. There needs to be classes that force students to interact in groups to complete tasks. First, they should read up and study on the importance of communication, and how to do it effectively. There needs to be tasks that are online, in person, and on a web cam. With technology advancing, there will be a bigger need to know how to communicate effectively from another location. Large corporations have more than one location, and the majority of meetings will end up not being in person. The students need to reflect on their assignments and discuss among classmates what worked and didn't work.
After each cycle, they need to keep practicing it. Students need to keep doing the group projects with a new team each time. This forces them to interact with unfamiliar faces and practice what they have been learning from each other. Each time they complete the different communication assignments, they need to reflect on their experiences.
Slide 4: Time management skills allow people to organize their work and personal life efficiently. If you don't control of your time you can run into some trouble. I will be discusiing3 reasons why people don't manage their time well and 3 ways to improve time management skills.
• Procrastinations the most obvious result of poor time management skills. Studen't have control who don't have control over their time end up letting tasks sit until the last minute
Inefficient work flow. If you don't plan ahead of time and stick to daily goals, you will be less efficient. For example we had some members who were not as efficient as others, resulting in us having low productivity and having other members pick up the slack.
Poor quality work is another issue you will run to if you don't have time management skills. If you don't manage your time well, your work quality will suffer especially when working in teams bc you don't know what the other members are capable off. In trying to complete tasks at last minute, you will sacrifice quality for speed.
You can improve your time management skills by making a schedule and sticking to it. It's important to organize your days in advance especially if you are a full time student and a full time worker. Life can get hectic and by having a planner you can foresee any future predicaments.
The second way you can improve you time management skills is by prioritizing. As students we have other classes to worry about. It's best for students to prioritize assignments based on the importance of them, Never procrastinate. If it can be done today, do it today. Working in groups you come to the realization that time is essential. Its better to finish a task early rather than procrastinate and doing it last minute.