After
watching the TED video “Tom Wujec: Build a
tower, build a team” by Tom Wujec, I have to say I agree with Wujec’s
analysis. I think one of the reasons why kindergarteners perform better than
MBA students is because they have fun building things and watching whether or
not they succeed. Whenever kindergarteners see that what they currently built
is not going to succeed, they have no problem starting up again from scratch. It
just does not bother them. Another reason might be that MBA students are taught
to have some type of structure to go off from, and whenever they have to
channel their inner creativity some students have a hard time creating
something from scratch. In another aspect, it can be taken as far as saying
that MBA students are taught structure and therefore, become narrow minded on
how to complete tasks. Kids are free of any feelings or emotions of failure,
while adults aren’t since they know the consequences of failing. MBA students
also spend plenty of time planning and organizing while kindergarteners just
begin by building the tower.
These types of different approaches into the
spaghetti challenge help determine the success rate of the group. If the group
spends too much time planning, then when they begin to actually build the
project they do so with less time. So if they mess up or if the tower falls
apart, chances are they will not have enough time to try again. But, when it
comes to kindergarteners they just start working as a team from the beginning.
I think another reason why kids perform better is because not one kid will get
in front of the group and say, “I’m the team leader”. MBA students tend to
establish first who is in charge in the group, who is responsible for what part
of the project, and so on. But how are kindergarteners and engineers/architects
alike? Do they have the critical thinking skills that MBA students must learn?
Do kindergarteners and engineers/architects understand more the how and why of
things, while MBA students lack the why?
From my point of view, I believe the reason why CEOs with
executive assistants perform better is because: CEOs have the ability to guide
people, set expectations, lead the group to success, view from an overview
perspective what would happen if a certain decision is made, and the executive
assistants have the ability to communicate with the CEOs how they think the
group will succeed as well as what to do to improve and/or follow what the
CEO’s decision. In other words, they bounce off ideas and the CEO makes the
final call on which way to go about completing the project. CEO’s alone cannot
lead an entire group of CEO’s to success. One of CEOs would either rise to the
occasion while the other CEOs follow or the entire group remains neutral on which
CEO should be the person to take charge of the project. No one would want to
step down, so I believe they just gather all the information they have and try
to make the best of it. In other words, they don’t have someone to follow or
choose someone specific to lead the group.
If I was asked to help a process intervention workshop, I
think I could help relate the video to intervention skills by demonstrating how
each group communicated to each other, how member roles and functions were
determined, how was the leadership and authority of members determined, and how
each group approached their problem solving methods as well the decision making
aspect of the project. This video will also help by displaying the different
and combination types of process intervention. For example, one group asked
questions, listened for the each members’ input while another group provided
support, coached, counseled team members, provided feedback, and suggestions,
and so on. Each group expressed and showed it’s own dynamic and form of
approaching a challenge or problem. I think by implementing this video into the
workshop may help members understand the different types of process
intervention skills and processes of each.
I think that one of the things that I take from this
exercise is the different ways each position on a company thinks differently,
and how when you combine or create a form of open communication through various
levels of the organization, the organization works more effectively and
efficiently. Combining or putting people with diverse and unique set of skills
together to create a high performance team is a very efficient form of
accomplishing tasks. Another thing that I take away from this exercise to use
immediately in my career is to open up my mind to new ideas, to free myself
from the every day structure and norms of society and to think for myself, to
try different things, not to let others get on the way of accomplishing tasks
or goals, and if I fail to get back up with my head held high and continue
trying. Also, I now understand the more effective ways to help teams grow and
improve as a team and individually as well as the different types of process
interventions and group processes.
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