I have never had more fun in a group then I did last Thursday. I thought back to all the times I had worked with others to accomplish a task, and none of them were as exciting. This perplexes me because after learning about group communication, I think it should be a dynamic experience. Working with people that come from different backgrounds and areas of expertise is probably the number one way people can broaden their horizons. Plus I figure, why would I do something alone when I can do it some much better in a group of people?
So what was my team asked to accomplish you might ask? We were given fifteen minutes to construct a contraption that would be able to keep an egg safe from breaking. This egg would be dropped off four flights of stairs. We were put in a group of four or five people. I absolutely loved my group! It helps when everyone in your team is kind and not afraid to utilize humor at 9:30 am. We were given a small amount of supplies- all of which we had to fight for. Unfortunately, I did not do so well grab the supplies and only ended up with construction paper, a box, and rubber bands. Immediately I felt like I let my team down, but instead, all the girls were encouraging and told me I did a good job. Right off the bat, Mallory informs us that she has done this before and the most successful way to keep the egg safe is to lessen its impact when it hits the ground. From there, we decide to fully trust here and create an “air balloon” looking contraption. You could say that this was group think, and it was, but in our case it worked. We figured that if she had seen it done before, we could trust her. Since everyone grabbed the bags, I had the idea that we could break down the fibers of the paper to make them softer- more like fabric for a parachute. Because of our time restraint, our members immediately began rubbing the paper against the desk to do this. Two other girls start to tape the papers together as we are running out of time. Our group is highly stressed, but we are assuring each other that the task will get accomplished. Many times a girl in the group said something that made us all laugh which made the environment so easy and comfortable! No ideas were being judged and I noticed that our class was having a blast. This made me really happy considering we tend to be a quieter bunch. We continued to work efficiently with shaking hands as our teacher counted down the moments. I was stressed, but in a way that made me productive. I think stress in a group is a great way to get the adrenaline going! We ended up finishing our odd contraption with a bit of doubt. Still though, we were really curious to see whether or not it would keep the egg safe. It ended up being successful. I was so excited after this. I felt like I made a difference in my team when I thought of that idea. It is so cool when you realize that you have something to “bring to the table”. Everyone in my group made the process so positive, and it made me examine communication in a different manner.
After dropping the eggs, we sat down as a class and discussed our experience. Three out of the four groups were victorious! That must mean that we work well together. We all analyzed the different ways that we accomplished our task. Every group was different. What was surprising about the discussion was that no one really noticed that they had a leader. Every group had a person that came up with the first idea, and the members decided to go from there. Many of the clusters experienced groupthink. What was amazing was that we never noticed it while it was happening. Next time I am in a group, hopefully I will consider more options and create a plan B. If our contraption wouldn’t have worked I don’t know what we would have done! In the end, the experience was a great one. Even something as tiny as that shapes the way we perform in a team. I hope to do something like that again in the near future!
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