Purpose: This is an assignment to reflect on what teamwork means to me throughout the course of this semester.
This semester, I have realized that there is more to teamwork than to having the right answer all the time. In my Team Reflection from 2018, I wrote about how it was hard for me to speak when I don’t have anything that, in my opinion, is relevant or that I’m one hundred percent certain of and with Physics, it’s a challenge. I’ve come to understand this semester that there are multiple reasons that could explain my character.
In my Adaptive Leadership, we talked about competing commitments. With teamwork, I believe that I have a competing commitment of wanting to actively participate out loud and on the other hand I have a commitment of self-protection of “looking dumb” in front of others. It sounds silly as I write this down because I know that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks and that my teammates are always super supportive. They always ask for my input and carefully listen to what I have to say. I tend to have a behavioral pattern of observing and of taking everything in before saying it. Most of the time I ask questions and ask for clarification when it’s hard to follow the pace of the group thinking. I’m more of a slow pace kind of person. It’s something that I have to work on in order to “be more confident” and “be able to back up” my thoughts as my peers have noted in CATME.
It is my goal in future teamwork activities to be more willing to participate even if I may be wrong. It takes a group to come together and push each other