However, after interacting with the students of different grade levels I realized that we would work productively and efficiently. The seniors took charge, they organized the class and were the leaders of the group. Even though they encouraged us to participate, they were the only ones who took initiatives and talked, everyone else stared and listened. After a couple of hours the group started to tear apart and the seniors told the entire class that IA wasn’t like that. They reminded what being part of a culture of excellence was like, and stimulated the good vibe by turning on music and
The energy was low and we had to put of our part to rise it, participation was a must, and the vibe of the group must always be positive. After this, most of us (sophomores and juniors) started to understand IA’s culture, we started to work as a group, ideas began to flow, and it seemed as if we were no longer of different grade levels. After that moment, productivity and efficiency improved a lot. It is clear that in a company there must be trust and confidence, and a clear culture/ philosophy of why we get things done and how we do them.
When there is trust and confidence in the group team members are also free to share their strengths. During iWeek this worked really well because the ambient was easygoing, hence we all knew each other very well. There were three different roles in the team: video-making, presentation, and product. I was in the product group, since I'm really good in the hands-on work, but I always knew what was happening in the other two sections. The three groups intertwined with each other and helped to reach the common objective: win the "IWEEK". Typically, "group work" is considered as a group of people literally working together to reach a goal, however, I've learned that team-working is more proficient if roles are giving according to the strengths of the team members. It's like soccer, the defender is good at stopping the forwards, and the forward is good at scoring the goal; they work in different positions but have the same goal, to win the game.