Gibb’s Reflective Cycle
A reflection of the above report
The above report on elements for becoming an effective team leader was written due to the waves of thoughts and ideas I had in my mind regarding leadership. Using the six phases in the Gibb’s reflective cycle, this paper provides a reflection of the rationale for having written this report.
Description
In the past weeks, our teacher had arrived in class on time just to take us through an assignment that he expected us to have done in groups of five. The assignment appeared tough but with the combination of the ideas and intelligence from five students, it was possible to have it completed in due time. The assignment involved writing a thesis document and making a power point presentation which would give an overview of what we had written in the thesis. The power point presentation needed relevant well-labelled pictures and a few words which we would use to narrate the presentation before class. My four close friends and I made up the group of five and we first met and agreed to divide and research the thesis among ourselves and we would later on combine our parts to make a complete document. The power point presentation was agreed to be done after making a full compilation of the thesis.
Before we ended the discussion one of my friends suggested that we choose a group leader. Suddenly, there was a short lull, neither of us wanted to look into each other’s eyes due to the fear that they may call you out as the team leader. None of us wanted to lead the team, even after doing lots of convincing to those we saw as being potential leaders. The whole group fell into an argument, then I suggested that we should first concentrate on having the assignment done and we would choose a leader before the final day of turning in the assignment. Everyone agreed to my suggestion and ended the meeting. Afterwards, none of us talked to each other concerning the thesis until the day we met again to put our parts together. All of us were present at first, and one of us, who appeared to be on their cellphone the whole time as we figured how to write the thesis as one full document, left without telling us where they were going.
Another problem is that, none of had done enough research on our parts which was evident by the amount of information they had presented for compilation. Since not all group members were complete, we left without choosing our group leader and making the power point presentation. As we approached the last day to turn in the assignment, I tried contacting my friends so that we could finish up the power point part but they turned out to be either busy or unavailable. I decided to make the presentation by myself and on the final day of presentation, we had little team coordination as our presentation was dull and my group members had only rough ideas of what was being presented before class.
Feelings
The whole presentation was awful and my group members were arrogant. I felt that I should have volunteered to be the group leader for this assignment but I did not because I feared being used by my friends. Our group appeared to have little seriousness especially since everyone was arrogant and during the presentation, we would reach a point and remain silent hoping that one of us would say something intelligent to save us from the embarrassment. I also felt that my friend should have not been stubborn earlier while he was being suggested as a group leader since he appeared to have the potential. Moreover, I totally accepted the marks that we scored for both the power point presentation and the thesis as we had not collaborated and worked on it to our level best.
Evaluation
I learnt that it was worth to have had such an experience with my group because it actually taught a lesson to not only us but the whole class in general. I acknowledge myself for having made the power point presentation to save our group from further disappointment on the final day. I also discovered that if we would have had a group leader, the whole group would have good communication and everyone would have done deeper research on their parts of the thesis. Everyone would have paid full attention during group meetings and the presentation of the assignment would have been better than what we did.
Analysis
First, our group was made up of friends who were too close to each other. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we were highly likely to us them against each other when choosing group leader. If our group was made of totally different students, we would have collaborated to have the assignment done in time since none of us would want to let the rest of the group down and end up having a bad reputation among them.
Secondly, if I would have volunteered to lead the group, I would have made sure that everyone contributed fully throughout the discussions, compilation of the assignment and presentation in front of class. Distractive elements such as cellphones should not be kept up with during discussions and withdrawal in the middle of group discussions is an unprofessional action.
Third, the group ought to have had a leader because there cannot be order and uniformity in doing work in a group in absence of a leader. The leader would have made clear the content that everyone should have presented. The group’s success would have been due to our collective responsibility such that everyone would be accountable for their actions.
Conclusion
To sum up, a leader was relevant to take us through the assignment. Although it appeared to be tough, with the efforts of a responsible leader, our efforts would have borne better results. In fact the biggest mistake that we made as a group was failure to agree on a leader and ended up blaming ourselves for the poor presentation.
Action taken.
Having seen the loss our group incurred, I took a step to look into what are the necessary elements that one needs to have in order to become an effective team leader. The mistakes we made in the absence of a group leader would have been avoided if we would have had a leader. Of course it’s not easy being a leader but with the right people and the right values as a person, a small group can be led into achieving its goals. For our case, we would have made an excellent and outstanding presentation in class.
