Hi!
Can you help me with my reflective journal writing about team working?
I know its hard to write reflective journal as it is reflection of my own experience but I can briefly describe about my experience and what you can write about- all you need to do is write them in fancy words. The journal comprises three parts and each parts need to be 450-500 words:
(i) An overview of what you understand reflection in a professional setting to mean / involve. How and why reflection is a useful skill and tools to use in your professional life.
(ii) A report and evaluation of the team work component of the project. This should include what you learnt about working in teams, what you learnt from other disciplines in teams and how that impacted on your professional development.
(iii) An Overall Reflection on how your professional identity has developed throughout the project.
I will share my experience of team working for the second section- This group was the first group that every single member was passionated and actually participated and no one was in last minute. This was my first positive experience of working in group- My old group members were horrible (last minute, lazy, not doing work, free riding etc). Although there were few times that two-three members had to miss the group meetings as they had some personal issues- hospital or holidays. But those members still managed to finish their work even when they were out of country. For the critical incident, my group were really confused which South African country to chose as none of us really knew about South African countries. So we wasted a week to just research to chose the country.
Importance of reflective practice
Reflection is a training process that encourages the learner to develop independent knowledge as well as improve their analytical capabilities. It aims to express the interaction of services and fill the gap between model and exercise. It is also an opportunity where an individual may consider ramifications of how they handled a particular situation and to better understand its impact on a larger scale. Professionals have an opportunity for personal growth where they can improve the skills required for processing the information observed (Ghaferi & Dimick, 2016). As a result, one can learn from experience and can teach others in the process. Therefore reflection can be regarded as a series of steps an individual takes to question and explore an experience so that they learn.
In the same way, reflection promotes critical thinking by closing the gap between theory and practice. Notably, professionals understand they can better learn from experiences than formal teaching. This can be observed to be the most critical role it plays in professional improvement and development. In careers such as public health and medical fields, it assists human resources to develop their skills by assessing the state of errors that have occurred previously to find a solution to the problem if it happens in the future (Judge, 2017).
The cycle of learning includes elements such as experience, observation, and reflection, the formation of theories as well as testing arguments in new situations. The circular model notes that the learning cycle begins by an individual carrying out a job, reflecting on the experience they gained. Therefore, to apply the experience one’s ability to identify principles and connections to actions over different situations is imperative. As the process unfolds, adult learners can rate themselves against set standards in the continuous process of professional development (Ghaferi & Dimick, 2016).
Possible objects for reflection vary from the profession, and hence it can be understood as gaining an understanding of specific issues during practice by observing and contextualizing them critically and forming an analysis to generate new insights to solving a problem. As a result, this may mean that the person reflects on the feeling which made them take the particular course of action. This process of reasoned thought enables one to assess themselves as well as their professional element of change which especially influences decision making. For example, during emergencies, communication is the central element to manage the situation. The alternative would lead to massive casualties; therefore, practitioners should develop competence in their reflection capabilities that they’ve learned during practice (Hallur, Pillai & Joshi, 2017).
Notably, in the British Academy of Audiology reflection is a fundamental component of continuing professionals whereby practical guidelines are availed to promote the practice. This is because it has been proved beneficial to trainees as it is noted that most technical and clinical courses require hands-on experience, failing and learning from failure. In the same way, reflective skill development can be enhanced through feedback and use of a framework to guide the thoughtful process. Additionally, for students, a structured assessment tool can be provided so that they can efficiently write a report that notes their experience.
Evaluation of the teamwork component of the project
In the modern society, working as a team has had an incredible effect on the output of employees across all industries. In every aspect, diverse skills are essential in reaching success. With this regard, the support gained from my colleagues made me realize the importance of working as a team. This is because I learned profound experience in developing hidden talents, communication skills, and excellent habits as well as identifying my strengths and weaknesses.
With reflection to my previous team members who were mostly lazy, this group motivated my practice. I learned that teamwork plays a vital role in fulfilling goals quickly. This is if all members agree to participate without holding their capabilities which if combined function correctly to achieve a common goal. During the execution of a project conflicts and arguments may be observed as people may have different opinions. Therefore, a team leader should be present to harmonize all members of a team. The foundation of useful output in teamwork relies on the ability to exploit each member’s unique skills and motivating them to play up their strengths to pull their weakness. This results in a balance that enhances maximum output. It is through this therefore that I recognized methods I could use to circumvent my lesser strong points so that as to contribute positively to my objectives.
Every member of a team has a different role from others. Consequently, the team role theory identifies nine different kinds grouped to varying degrees in which individuals act from their strengths. In this manner, one ensures that every member can manage their weakness. During team work, I also learned that implementation and working throughout without backslides is not easy. However, employing the teambuilding theory of four stages of group development helped me better understand ways to manage various challenges and adequately predict future problems. In his argument he notes that there are four phrases for a team to evolve namely: forming, storming, norming and performing. Therefore, application of the theory helped in a more significant output.
Through meetings, the team leader was able to demonstrate the tasks designated the guidelines and regulations to be followed to complete the task. Again, I learned division of work as an essential aspect and as perhaps the underlying concept of this approach; in it, Henri Fayol noted that an individual could not perform all types of duties. Therefore, specialization of a specific task improves a person’s ability, accuracy and sureness thereby improving their production. A specialist should be assigned to their areas of professional practice to promote efficiency as it limits the scope of responsibility of every person.
Likewise, teamwork eliminates communication barriers between professionals. This can result from the environment and can include inadequate support, high workload, poor language proficiency, and anxiety. By having a conscious awareness of the potential hindrances, a team leader can develop a common language so that everyone can understand one another during practice. Additionally, it improves the effectiveness of the focus on the work.
Priming is the act of planning activities prior engagement. Before every event, I was engaged by my team leader in a twenty-minute discussion. Specifically, I was asked to prepare notes to on the objectives of the task given to the team. Additionally, I would write down my fears and queries that I might have. Again after every activity, I would prepare a report where my team leader would ask questions to gain insight of how the process had been. This improved my mental capability to face my fears accordingly. This cements the idea that learning is more effective and permanent if it is self-directed.
An overall reflection on how the professional identity has been improved
My professional integrity has been greatly enhanced by the practice. Other than knowing my strengths and weaknesses, ability to communicate effectively has been as a result of this practicum. (Judge, 2017) Highlights communication as a fundamental code by stating that team members should comprehend the ethnic language spoken by the people in a particular setting to contribute effectively. Proper discussion leads to better decisions and efficiency in the delivery of services. However, maintaining adequate composure and excellent communication skills in a busy environment requires advanced interpersonal skills and self-awareness. Such must be inculcated by practical experience in workplace contexts.
In the same way, I learned that communication breakdowns between team members could have significant consequences for the project. First, they are attributed to comprehension difficulties and non-native speakers of a particular language. As a result, an individual may end up in feelings of fear and frustration consequently losing control of the situation. A similar situation where the team member seemed indecisive as they were not able to interpret what they were told gave way to anxiety (Ghaferi & Dimick, 2016). With little access to an interpreter in such a scenario, I learned that one must rely on their knowledge and act promptly to control the situation, as such, this improved my professional identity.
People have different rates of understanding a particular topic, this makes it hard for them to grasp the information an individual wants to pass across. As a result, well informed and adaptive team leaders should devise a method to promote their learning. An appropriate approach would be to find a level ground by improving visibility for example by a demonstration. This approach is mostly observed in a case where those involved do not, for example, use English or any other as a first language.
Conclusion
Teamwork is the surest way to improve production in any organization. As Henri Fayol noted that no individual could do everything, specialization is therefore paramount so that one can engage their strength to the maximum. In the same way, effective communication is an essential skill that all team members should possess. A significant barrier can be inadequate language proficiency. Therefore, to improve self-confidence and individual output one must learn the environment to which they are in and immerse themselves in developing a rapport with and their partners (Judge, 2017).
References
Ghaferi, A. A., & Dimick, J. B. (2016). Importance of teamwork, communication and culture on failure‐to‐rescue in the elderly. British Journal of Surgery, 103(2).
Erhardt, N., Martin-Rios, C., & Harkins, J. (2014). Knowledge flow from the top: the importance of teamwork structure 14(4), 375-396.
Judge, K. (2017). Teamwork Can Change Everything. Journal of Infusion Nursing, 40(2), 90.
Warrick, D. D. (2016). What leaders can learn about teamwork and developing high performance teams from organization development practitioners. Performance Improvement, 55(3), 13-21.
Hallur, R., Pillai, P. S., & Joshi, G. (2017). Picture Pieces Activity: An effective Team Building Strategy. Journal of Engineering Education Transformations, 30(4), 99-104.
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