It’s day 2 of the intensive Hyper Island way week, based on the infamous UGL courses – to learn about yourself, team dynamics and the role you play in this.
Most of our exercises are based upon the effective team leadership/membership principals by Dr. Susan Wheelan. It is Wheelan’s belief that it takes 6-8 months to create an efficient team – and through concentrated effect, perhaps we will reach this nirvana at an earlier stage. Although, as Wheelan states groups often do not develop past Level 1/2 and I can agree from past experience that it can be very difficult to move forward from this stage – when a group vision/understanding is not shared. Below is a quick breakdown of the 5 stages.
Stage 1: Depency and Inclusion
- Conformity is high
- A lack of group structure is evident
- Members fear rejection
Stage 2: Counterdepency and Fighting
- Conflicts about values emerge
- Subgroups and coalitons begin
- Goal clarification begins
Stage 3: Trust and Structure:
- Roles and structure are adjusted so likelihood of achievement is possible
- Cooperation is more evident
- Leaders role becomes more consultative than directive
Stage 4: Work
- Role assignments match members abilities
- Members are clear/agree about teams goals
- Team is highly cohesive
Termination
- Reflection of how the work/group performed
To learn more about Wheelan’s methodology I reccomend reading “Creating Effective Teams” and/or watching her lecture below. (Do note the audio/visual quality is not superb, and that Wheelan often digresses – yet the content is overall very good.)
Hyper also place great importance to reflect upon each task/day and one finds oneself considering their actions/reactions at a far greater level than experienced before. Personally, as I am by nature quite reserved in new group situations – it has been of great insight how I can improve my interaction with the team to better serve the group and ultimately quicken my learning experience. Yet, it is only Day 2 – and I am certain there are far more joys and frustrations for the year at hand.
