Hi there and welcome to this third and final lecture on working in an effective team: top
ten common problems and how to solve them.
My name is Marina Miletic.
In this lecture we'll continue discussing common problems that I've seen over the past
ten years of teaching chemical engineering seniors.
After there have been some problems with a specific group member, a common issue is,
I don't trust person X will do the work they promised.
I see this sometimes with students who have higher GPAs that other people in their group,
or people who have had a negative group experience with somebody in the past.
I suggest that you give the person a chance to show progress by setting early and intermediate
deadlines, and seeing how they do.
Give them an opportunity to show their work in progress, make sure you give them feedback,
and ask for feedback on your own work too.
Convey confidence and respect towards the person, not doubt.
Most people do notice when others doubt their abilities, or don't trust them, and this doesn't
help with establishing a strong working relationship.
Give the person the benefit of the doubt and try not to prejudge them.
if the teammate has proven they can't complete the intermediate work as promised, then take
action.
As stated before, speak to them directly and try to communicate the problem as you see
it.
Then if necessary, involve the whole group, and if that doesn't work, speak to the TA
or professor.
This next problem is one that is very likely to happen between people with different working
styles and schedules.
Person X likes to procrastinate and work under pressure, but I need to get things done early.
I've had students who have children, and cannot pull of a series of all-nighters to complete
a project.
One of the first things you should do as a group is agree and compromise on deadlines.
Make sure everyone is aware of those weeks when you have four exams in a row, and plan
accordingly.
Even if you're a procrastinator, like most people are, do your best to complete your
work ahead of time rather than later.
No matter what, always set intermediate deadlines.
For example, the background research must be complete by blank date.
The diagram must be finished by this date.
The writing must be finished by that date.
And stick to these deadlines.
Don't push back deadlines arbitrarily, setbacks will always happen and you need to build some
slack in the schedule to account for them.
Lastly, my team says I'm hard to get along with sometimes, I don't know what I need to
do to be well-liked by my group.
Here are some final suggestions on how to maintain a good relationship with your group.
First, start your work early, and work a bit every day on your project to stay focused.
Give and ask for feedback on a regular basis.
Be honest when giving someone criticism, but also recognize something they've done well.
In line with that, compliment teammates, tell them you appreciate their unique contribution,
and offer lots of encouragement.
After working hundreds of hours on a project, everyone could use some positive reinforcement
from their team.
Celebrate completion of projects.
Go out, relax, and show your group that you're proud of the work you've completed by celebrating
a job well done.
I'd like to conclude this lecture series by saying that in industry and academia you'll
be put in teams not so that everyone can work on their individual parts in isolation, and
then get together to assemble some final document.
If this were the point, your boss could give everyone separate assignments, and then he
or she could put together a report based on everyone's individual work.
The entire point of a team, and the advantage of having a team is to have people continuously
working together, giving each other feedback and improving every aspect of the project
until it's complete.
The point of a team is to create something much better than everyone's individual contributions.
Which is why all of this comes down to two things, good communication with the team,
and diligent effort.
If you work on mastering and improving these two skills you will be an exceptional team contributor.