Gibbs Reflective cycle: Group Task Reflection 2

 Gibbs Reflective cycle: Group Task Reflection

 

Working effectively in a group is an important skill set to have because it may help you develop leadership skills and teach you how to delegate and communicate effectively (Doyle, 2021).While working in a group, obstacles are bound to surface. Individuals can learn from their mistakes and comprehend how things could have been done better by reflecting on experiences (The University of Edinburgh, 2020). The Gibbs Reflective Cycle has provided a framework for making assessments about experiences as well as enabled us to determine in advance about the things that go good or bad. It is a six step process including Descriptions, Feelings, Evaluation, Analysis, Conclusion and Action Plan (The University of Edinburgh, 2020).This report will examine how my group collaborated, identify what worked and what didn't, and make ideas for how we could improve our teamwork.

 

Description

Our tutors invited me to join a group of seven engineering students . I only knew 3 people in the group, the rest of the people were chosen at random by the tutors. We collaborated to create and deliver a project plan for the off-site restoration of a tower crane collapse on Paradise Street in Coventry. The job was organized and presented over 4 days, with the first two days taking place in a virtual simulation center, in which we were able to see the setting and its surroundings. We worked as a team in real time to answer questions, challenges, and on-site activities while concurrently constructing the project plan. This entailed the team being approached by a variety of persons, including the local press, vendors, and the facilities manager, to answer inquiries about the site's specifics. Each team member was assigned a role to allocate tasks, and each member acted in that role for the life of the project. I was assigned the role as Health and Safety Lead. The third day was spent preparing the PowerPoint presentation, which we planned to deliver live on campus. Each team member created slides based on the tasks they were responsible for. On this project, I served as the Health and Safety Lead. Overall, our group did an excellent job of completing the mission. All participants collaborated for preparation of PowerPoint presentation due to these dedicated efforts we were able to complete the task as per schedule.

Feelings

As this was my first experience to work “virtually” so I was little bit confused and I'd had unpleasant virtual group work experiences in the past (DOCU, 2022). I was concerned about how each team member's attitude might change under pressure while working in a fast-paced setting. However, after the initial introduction and discussion, everyone seemed enthused about the assignment, and I felt comfortable, optimistic and peaceful. All team members claimed prior experience working on construction projects. During the two-day online simulation center, five team members were constantly debating the tasks needed to create the Gantt chart, rather than working within their individual roles to create content for the plan. I felt overwhelmed because I thought I needed to multitask while still contributing to the Gantt chart debates. I assumed the others didn't think I was acting like a team member and also felt isolated.

Meeting in person to prepare the presentation reduced my anxiety because I could watch each group member's performance individually. However, the overall project plan was delayed as a result of spending too much time on the Gantt chart. 'They're attempting to impress their conversational counterpart with how brilliant they are, because often they don't feel that way inside,' according to linked literature (Goulston, 2015).The project manager role was not considered which caused uncertainty. Despite this, each team member delivered high-quality work on time for the presentation, which contributed to the positive attitude.

Evaluation

We had excellent communication among group members. The things that were good and worked well was the fact that each group member produced good quality work for the agreed deadline and all sections were completed. Moreover, we had good communication and attendance rate for discussion on issues. That contributed positively to the group’s work ethic. We have identified the Project manager as a group leader. The things which were not good on our end was lack of practice for presentation, no proper planning about how to present and we were more wordy then doers.

 Analysis

I believe our initial work division went well since everyone had a choice in whatever part of the assignment they wanted to concentrate on, and we divided based on people's self-identified capabilities. I've done this before and noticed that when I'm working alone, I prefer to work in areas that match my talents. This appears to me to be the case in groups as well. I believe things went wrong because we failed to consider the participants' learning styles and were late in establishing leadership roles. Finally, a plan was not established or followed from the start even though the project was fast-paced and things changed, we were able to adapt the plan as we went along.

Conclusion

Working within this group I have learnt how to plan and stick with assigned roles to meet the deadlines. Similarly, I have learnt that how teams work and how we can control the conflicts among members. Finally , this project has allowed us to ask more questions from class tutors and indirectly it increased our confidence to speak. My personal relationships with group members were established with other group members.

Action Plan

            If we decide to divide work, I'll insist that we outline our expectations long in advance. I could have been more forceful and spoken up more so that the group would consider my risk assessment for health and safety. I'd take a course to learn how to deal with conflict or power struggles in teams, which would be useful in my career. I'd enroll in a presentation course to improve my skills. I could be a little more proactive and spoken up more so that the group would consider my risk assessment for health and safety. I'm convinced that this recent experience will serve as a reminder to recommend this if the identical project is proposed again in the future. Finally, I'll ask if we can question our original decisions so that we can be sure we're making well-informed choices. I'll let the organization know if I have any problems. 

References

DOCU. (2022, January 01). Communicating In Small Groups - ID:5c128d8e22555. Unlimited reading ebooks documents magazines. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://docu.tips/documents/communicating-in-small-groups-5c128d8e22555

Doyle, A. (2021, March 18). Important Leadership Skills for Workplace Success. The Balance Careers. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-leadership-skills-2063782

Goulston, M. (2015, June 3). How to Know If You Talk Too Much. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2015/06/how-to-know-if-you-talk-too-much

The University of Edinburgh. (2020, November 11). Gibbs' Reflective Cycle. The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/gibbs-reflective-cycle