Working through dysfunctions

In lab we learned about the four stages of group development and also the five dysfunctions of a team.

How do these two relate? A group cannot get anything done without each individual working together, teamwork. If a group of people cannot overcome the five dysfunctions, then it won't matter how hard each individual works, they will not succeed. Instead of looking at the negative effects of not overcoming the dysfunctions, I want to discuss the positive effects when they are overcome.

Trust
When members of a team/group learn to trust others, they become willing to ask for help and become more willing to take risks.They give others in the group the benefit of the doubt and can rely on others to help get things done.

Engaging in conflict

Can bounce ideas off of each other allowing the problems to be solved quickly. Each member is able to share their ideas and then the best of each ideas can be chosen and incorporated into each activity.

Commitment
When each member is putting time and effort into the development of a project things will get done. Time restrictions will not be a major stress and things will not get procrastinated.

Accountability
Each member knows that they have a responsibility and they will feel pressure to make others in the group happy by accomplishing their task.

Results/Goals
When an achievable goal is in mind it helps the team keep on track and leads to eventual success.

Our service group is working hard to overcome these dysfunctions. As a group, we have not totally overcome all five, but as we spend time planning and discussing the project, I have found that each of us are finding ways to step over the dysfunctions and then help others understand how to work past the difficulties. Eventually we will all be able to trust each other, willingly confront conflict, become totally committed, become accountable, and to stay focused on our goals.

I have seen the results of overcoming all five together as a team when I work with the members of the Relief Society Presidency to plan meetings. Because we had been working together in a presidency and because we were set apart to our individual callings we quickly became committed to devoting our time in service. As we spent time together in planning meetings or in visiting with members of our relief society, we began to feel accountable of our individual responsibilities. As we worked together to plan activities, we all shared our ideas and then discussed the possibility of each. We were guided to decide on common goals and continually reviewed them. When working with these great sisters, I felt a love and trust grow that I have never felt before. We each came into our callings with different ideas to improve, but when we learned to work together and decided that we wanted to do everything for the sisters in our ward, we became unified and we were able to accomplish our goals.