For the Sake of the Team

     

By: Christine Spitler

“But that’s just not fair; they expect me to do everything just because I’m a girl and no one else is stepping up…”

Before she even finished her thought, I knew where my sister was going. I knew she was frustrated about a group project for a college class. I knew she was frustrated with the shirked responsibility and complete lack of support her assigned group mates offered. I knew this because I’ve been in her exact spot.

Although it’s been a few years since I graduated from college, I vividly remember my university experience like it was yesterday. As a marketing student in a prestigious business school, I experienced my fair share of group projects. In just about every business course I took I had at least one project with a team assigned to me. And while each course and each project was different, the fateful group dynamic was new each time. We’d meet and while exchanging names and contact information, I’d look for any hint at the aptitude and attitude of the strangers sitting across the table. I’d listen for clues to gauge these individuals’ level of excitement and eagerness to succeed. I’d wait to see how quickly people offered ideas or turned down proposals.

The caliber of my school and the honors level classes I took often afforded me promising team mates. It usually meant I could trust these classmates to work with me toward a common goal—and not just the goal of completion. But that was definitely not always the case.
More often than not, I took a leadership role. Sometimes it was a voluntary offer, sometimes it was a nomination, and still others resulted from silence and building collective apathy.
I’ve always felt comfortable being a leader and when called to do so, I will gladly step up. But don’t get confused—just because I enjoy doing it does not mean it comes easy. When I raise my hand or voice to accept the looming responsibility of leading the group it is not without knowledge of what I’m signing up for.

I know that I will be responsible for organizing meetings. I will take primary responsibility for communication with the collective group. I know that I won’t be allowed to take a backseat role while staying involved. I know I will have to get creative with ideas. I know that I will have to be discerning when weighing out offered ideas. I know I will have to always come prepared—with my work and an eager attitude that will hopefully be contagious. I know that I will have to make calls and hold people accountable—even when they don’t want to be. I know that I will be responsible for delegating and delivering. I know there may come a point in time when I am left to decide between picking up slack (deliberately accumulated or not) by “taking one for the team” or by allowing inadequacy to deliver just results in what I deem “taking one as part of the team”. It’s a fine line and calls for equal parts discernment and diligence.

It’s easy to write off group projects—to hate them—to gripe about them or say they are stupid. I’d agree that group projects are challenging, but I love a good challenge. I know that the difference between a good group assignment and a bad one is the difference between group work and teamwork.

I know that my role as a leader is to facilitate not to carry the rest of the group. It’s not always met with a captive and grateful following, but it’s the risk and challenge I’m willing to face.
So while my sister felt unfairly targeted and unsupported, I assured her she was not alone. Anyone who has ever been in a position of leadership can empathize. It’s seldom easy, infrequently fair, and rarely receiving of recognition. It’s a tough job but it can be incredibly rewarding—both intrinsically and hopefully, through a well-earned outcome.

So until that culminating moment—the final presentation, the last paper, the submitted project—I offer one piece of advice. Instead of looking at who hasn’t helped, who hasn’t shown up, and who hasn’t pulled their share…look for those that have. Identify the individuals who did exceptional work, who fought for their team as much for their grade. Identify their efforts and then acknowledge them. Tell that teammate you appreciate their active involvement as much as their passive tasks. Champion the good instead of protesting the bad.

Because rewarding good work and encouraging desired teamwork will cultivate more results than condemning inadequacy ever could.

I wanted to tell my sister that it will get better and that most group projects aren’t like the one she’s facing, but that wouldn’t be true. That would be a promise I can’t hold others accountable to keep. Instead I told her it’s tough. I told her she’s right—it’s not fair. But sometimes the most rewarding and character-defining moments come out of it.

And lastly, before we hung up, I told her of two of my most rewarding group project moments in my college tenure. They weren’t the final presentations or the posted grade I’d received as a result. They came in the form of 2 emails I received within the final 2 weeks of my Junior year.
The first was an email from a team mate who wanted to thank me for a great semester—for a great project and for my hard work. He expressed his appreciation for the caliber of my work and his excitement to work with me again in a class we were both enrolled to take the next year. I was one of 12 people in this group and it meant a lot to receive those words validating my efforts in a very deliberate way.

The second was an email from a teammate in a completely different course. This email was sent directly to that course’s professor with my inbox receiving a blind copy. The email contained one of the most meaningful peer evaluations I have ever received to this day. Unlike many courses I took in college, this professor elected not to do end-of-semester peer evaluations. He didn’t believe they solicited accurate or honest evaluations from students who were ready to check out from the school year. Instead he requested students email him directly with peer reviews if and only if they were of notable exception, good or bad. In this email, contained the most articulate evaluation of my work ethic and leadership skills. In just a few paragraphs this teammate explained to the teacher how much he felt I held the group together, challenged complacency, and led with excellence. I was stunned. This was a student I rarely spoke with. He and I were not friends. We had never met before this course and to my knowledge, never discussed anything outside of the professional confines of this project. The fact that he went to bat for me in the most professional and articulate way in front of the toughest teacher in my college career left me speechless.

I keep these memories dear to my heart—not to give myself a pat on the back or to share my greatness in times of consolation, but to acknowledge the power in a few chosen words. In those emails contained the richest encouragement—rooted not in empty compliments—but in the defining of my character. Even when you think no one is watching, and no one cares…people are and some people do.

If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t ask for fewer group projects, I wouldn’t even ask for the promise of a great team. I would speak up and remind people that what they do is shaping who they are and that is going to shape them far more than a resulting letter grade ever will.

Although our conversation ended, I continued thinking about the application of this in my life today, long after my sister and I hung up. I thought about how my job today as a marketing specialist is real proof that learning to work in teams is a lifelong skill worth honing in the impermanence of college group projects. The unpredictability of new groups for each class project can be a very frustrating challenge, but it can also be a great opportunity to exercise skills that will be needed in most—if not all—careers, over and over again. And one day, if you’re fortunate, I hope you’ll find yourself surrounded by more permanent, professional teammates that are as equally driven, diligent, and disciplined to the project at hand as the person you fought to become.

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 About the author:
  Christine is a twenty-five-year young working professional in marketing for an influencer Commerce company and a 2014 graduate of Miami Univeristy (OH). Although currently living outside Nashville, she calls Chicago (+Walt Disney World) home. Most nights you can find her crafting a new DIY project or making progress on her quest to cook through Chrissy Teigen's cookbook, Cravings. You can find more of her writing on her personal blog: My Roaring Twenties, and more of her life through Instagram @christiespitler.

       Christine and I met in May 2014. We worked as part of the Disney College Program in Florida!~Nicholas