What, So What?, Now What?

During the community service event that took place last Sunday, we were divided into teams and participated in teambuilding activities in order to receive bike parts to build our bike. I observed in my group that some people took on leadership roles, with other people following along. While our group strategized the best ways to complete our tasks, I noticed that a few people seemed interested only in creating and finding difficulties with the other team members' suggestions. I was reminded of something that one of my teachers and mentors used to repeat often: "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." I felt that this was relevant because solving a problem in a group setting is only productive when all the members are trying to achieve the same goals and avoid holding each other back. 

The format of the event surprised me because I didn't realize that we would be completing teambuilding activities in addition to building bikes. I thought that this was a good way to meet other people. However, I also thought that if we had maybe set aside a half an hour or 45 minutes at the beginning for teambuilding activities and spent the rest of the time building the bikes we could have been more efficient. I learned about my group members' backgrounds and research projects through talking with them during the teambuilding activities. 

Working in a research lab requires a lot of teamwork, and our lab has learned that recently. Our lab manager recently left so all of us have had to pick up the slack, and also clean up after ourselves more thoroughly since we can no longer rely on someone else to call waste pick-up or autoclave water and pipet tips. Adjusting to this change has required a lot of communication and some leadership as various members step up and take responsibility for certain tasks. Just like in the teambuilding activities at the community service event, communication, teamwork, and leadership are key to working productively in a lab environment. If I could redo the group activities, I would want to be involved in building the  bike because several of the members took that job over and I would have liked to learn how to assemble a bike.