Skip to main content

Problems, Processes and Team work

How do I identify the problem ? 

Many of us spend a lifetime in pursuit of this question. I learnt it through an unconventional way.


Recently I was on the Google meet with my team. We are working first time on a project from five different locations. A colleague external to the team was present there. She was scheduled to help us all navigate some tough waters. To push aside a few conflicts and set the narrative right, she was wearing the hat of a moderator. 

The meeting went on for sixty minutes. Each team member got to speak. The moderator could be seen writing notes on a paper. By the end of the meeting a few project related conflicts were converted into clarity with her support.

These roadblocks had persisted over some time. The team had veered into some setbacks. When I pressed the red button to close Google meet session that day, I saw them vanish like ice on a hot summer day. 

Lessons 

How to solve some team issues ?
Write the individual narratives on a paper under names of each person, one after the other. Connect the dots, and then re-tell the story to re-confirm the narrative. The process helps set things right. When the moderator showed calm and ease, it helped the team. 

That is progress. A step ahead to identify the problem within the problem identification process. The step to begin writing the problem is by achieving a consensus about what each team member knows well about the issue. It also clarifies what we do not know. Write that down as well. 

Take some time. Objectivity to each information is the key. 

By the end I felt it was worth the effort we all put in. 

I wonder : could the team have done the same without the  moderator ? how much time could we have saved ? what more (or less) could we have learnt ?

I was able to love the process which I saw happen in front of my eyes nevertheless.

What next ?

I am heading another initiative to support my classmates for application of jobs and higher education. I am looking to stick with the idea. Affirming the same model for organisation could work out well in work-from-home situation in big teams. 


Take away : Listen - write it down - narrate to the group - clarify each fact & suggestion and then confirm with the team whether you have heard it right. (Yup! moderator did it!)  In the process negotiate the terms to come at a decision of where we stand. 

Quote for Today : Believe in serendipity. Often help comes in a 'design' which you least expect. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If Teleportation Was Real

“The Portal Room” A Short Story by a Student In Germany Who Just Wanted to Hug His Maa Without Spending 400 Euros, and 12 Hours Chapter One: The Portal Room It had been raining all day in Gießen. Not the kind of rain that brings kids to the balcony or makes your mother yell from the kitchen, “andar aa jao, bimaar ho jaoge!” (“Come inside, you’ll fall sick!”). This rain was foreign. Cold. Grey. Silent. The kind that made homesickness louder, made your heart feel like a waterlogged suitcase. Arpit sat at his desk, staring at the open laptop. The cursor blinked at him, like a ticking clock, but the words wouldn’t come. His eyes wandered to the window. He imagined what his parents might be doing in Delhi. Maybe Maa was making chai. Maybe Papa was watching the news. Maybe the house didn’t even feel complete without him anymore. His phone pinged. A message from his sister in Düsseldorf. Didi: “You okay? Missed your call. Also, Maa said, ‘Bas ek baar uski shakal dekh loon toh theek ho jaaye.’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Demons and Dungeons : A Framework to Learn In Teams

I have been called many things in my life. Team player is not one of them. It is not as if I have worked in many teams, or many teams have chosen me to work with them. I am the kid who was left out from the group formation as a kid in middle-school standard. Imagine the isolation. Recently, Aparna Piramal Raje, who is also my professor, quoted : Dare to stand alone,  Dare to make yourself grow, Dare to find your purpose, Dare to make it known.  Imagine, I have been doing it since I was a kid. The presence of a group can seem less fortunate sometimes than presence of lone Sysiphious warrior. Although now, it is difficult in a hyper-globalized world. I am learning the art of group management and negotiation, treading Moore's law every second. Since years, when I started volunteering. In the past few months I have been found fortunate opportunity with Anant Fellowship. I am a part of team with four more people. We have frequent conversations on Google meet. We have weekly interac...
Post a Comment
Read more

I am yours !

In you heart; don't deny you don't wanna hold me I'm your part; apart if I'll be you're gonna miss me If I go away;come hold me close Jump in the bay; cross the sea and come! I'll keep you with me today and always I am sweet you'll miss me anyway So just jump and hold me close before I go Pull me by hand carry me or tow I see you; baby-blue eyes staring pleading craving all there They just give your intentions anyway So when I'll go; will you watch train depart Will eyebrows;show sadness of your heart We can be together always Step forward and grab me anyway Just regret don't you feel when I'll go We can still be together you know. ( Note: Inspired by a Song of Shania Twain. An original work)
Post a Comment
Read more