Blog Post #6 (Grand Summary)

 Grand Summary

    For the grand summary, we will briefly be discussing the posts previously being:

    Understanding Your Communication Style: Being Passive, Aggressive, Passive-Aggressive, and Assertive

    The Secrets of Great Teamwork: First, have a clear compelling direction to provide a purpose. Second, have the right mix of skills and expertise and lastly, a supportive context such as a reward system, information system or securement of resources.

    How to Build a Successful Team: First, make a plan and a clear goal. Second, set team values and cultural guardrails. Thirdly show respect towards the team and yourself and lastly have conversations.

    Secrets of Successful Teamwork Insights From Google: Featuring two behaviors being, having proportional talking time between team members and high social sensitivity skills

    Effective Communication: First, being an engaged listener. Second, paying attention to nonverbal signals. Third, keeping stress in check. Fourth, asserting yourself confidently and not negatively.

    With all the topics listed at hand, one of the recurring themes that was seen throughout was respect. Being able to admire others is a very important skill and allows you to form connections with others, it is also essential in teams because it allows for more effective collaboration and constructive feedback. It also builds trust, it allows members to be more honest with each other. Another thing respect brings is motivation, a respectful environment can be motivating for team members because they feel valued and are more likely to be engaged to work towards the purpose of the team goals. Conflict resolution is also better handled when respect is a strong strength within the team and when conflicts do arise they are resolved quickly. 

    Another recurring theme that was similar in the posts was the idea of engagement. Teams with members that engaged equally with one another had improved communication, better problem solving, enhanced creativity and increased productivity. Giving everyone a chance to speak was a highlight in the, "Insights From Google" video, which made sense, if every person gave their perspective on things it would give more ideas to the table and overall provide higher quality work and better output. 

    The last recurring theme that will be discussed is the beginning part of having a goal in mind. This can not just only be applied in teams but many topics as well. Before executing any plan or work it is essential to knowing what direction you are currently going, and the measurements needed to get to that destination. Setting a goal also clarifies the expectations and responsibilities while evaluating the effectiveness of the plan at hand, by doing this you can learn from past experiences and over the term improve your performance as time goes on.

    One thing I personally noticed when looking at the similarities of the articles, blogs and videos was that there was absolutely no ideas that claimed the others were false. Rather they came together and evaluated the topics even more. There wasn't necessarily any ideas that clashed with one another rather they complemented each other. Through the makings of these blog posts, I found them pretty enjoyable to make and were interesting throughout researching them. It was a really unique experience and in my opinion, I feel it should be kept throughout the length of this course.

Princeton University. (n.d.). Princeton University Umatter. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://umatter.princeton.edu/respect/tools/communication-styles

Haas, M., & Mortensen, M. (2016, June). The Secrets of Great Teamwork. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://hbr.org/2016/06/the-secrets-of-great-teamwork

Bryant, A. (n.d.). How to Build a Successful Team. The New York Times Business. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/guides/business/manage-a-successful-team

Coding Tech. (2018, October 12). Secrets Of Successful Teamwork: Insights From Google. YouTube. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHIikHJV9fI

Robinson, L., Segal, J., Smith, M. (2023, February 27). Effective Communication. HelpGuide.org. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships-communication/effective-communication.htm