My personal application of our theoretical model is reflected through my college career. When I say college career, I do not only mean school and classes, but also work, volunteering, and my social life. Finding a balance between all of these factors is something that I have learned, and many parts of my life involve team dynamics.
In my job, I work in catering, and I am one of 10 supervisors that oversee over 150 student employees. This job is complicated, because I am the same age as most of the other students, yet I am responsible for managing them. Something that I have learned through this part of my life is how important it is to have a committed team. The group of supervisors that I work with are all very committed to our job, and to helping one another. This relates to the commitment part of our model, because we must as a team remain committed to small tasks, as well as the team dynamic as a whole. It is very important that we remain confident in our work, and helpful to the people we manage. If one of us supervisors is having an off day, we take the responsibility upon ourselves to make up for them. Through this, we show our commitment to our job and one another.
Another part of our model that I apply in my life is being organized. Through being a full time student, working 30 hours every week, and volunteering on weekends, I have to make sure to remain very organized in order to accomplish all of the tasks that are required. A component to organization in my life is time management. I always am able to accomplish my tasks, and still have down time, because of my ability to work diligently and focus on completing my tasks. I use the in-between times of my life productively, and through doing this accomplish many more things without really noticing. I am the type of person who has trouble enjoying myself until my responsibilities are taken care of. Therefore by using organization, I am able to complete my responsibilities and maintain a quality life. Through organizing my responsibilities and time, I show how I use organization in my life.
Another part of our model that I apply to my everyday life is finding common goals between people that I am working with. I come from a large family of seven, so for me in order for our house to function properly and effectively, we all had to be on the same page and work together. We all knew one another’s strengths and weaknesses, and we would use those in order to most effectively function. As I have grown older I have worked many jobs, and I have learned that this concept also carries over into the workplace. It is crucial to share a common goal with your co-workers and bosses, so that all processes can run smoothly. Also, by establishing common task goals, as well as general goals for an organization, controversy is avoided.
A part of our theoretical model for creating an effective team that I use daily in all aspects of my life is creativity. When working in a group setting, or individually, I always try to remember to think of things from perspectives that I normally would not. By going beyond my first instincts, I am able to reach new heights in success and creativity within my life. This applies for my job search, my choosing of my major, and my choosing of my workplace. Many of the parts of my life that I most enjoy today are parts that five years ago I never would have seen myself enjoying. By being creative I have been able to learn about myself, and expand my horizons. Through creativity, I have learned to understand the purpose of trying new things, and thinking outside of the box.
All in all, the theoretical model that we constructed applies to making a team successful as well as making an individual successful. We thought this is something very special about our model, and makes it unique and applicable to everyone. Through this model, we have a better understanding of what it takes to be an effective, high performance team.