teams in modern organizations - 2013 leadership team

What?

This past weekend was the Class of 2012’s Ring Weekend. This weekend consisted of a Ring Banquet and Ring Dance, both huge parts of the Ring Tradition that Virginia Tech prides itself in. The 2012 Leadership Team spent countless hours dedicated to creating their unique class ring and planning their own Ring Banquet and Ring Dance, and now it was their turn to enjoy the Ring Tradition at Virginia Tech. 

As members of the 2013 Leadership Team, it was our role to assist 2012 in whatever they needed as far as decorating, construction, set-up, and clean-up during the week leading up to Ring Weekend. Our Leadership Team was also responsible for running the events during the weekend so that the 2012 Leadership Team could simply enjoy the weekend they had worked so hard for.

So What?

I know I speak for the rest of the 2013 Leadership Team when I say that our team is one of the strongest Leadership Teams Virginia Tech has ever seen, and I think we really proved that to ourselves and to the 2012 Leadership Team this weekend. What makes our team dynamic so strong is our diversity. There are both positive and negative effects to diversity in a group. However, this week and weekend has definitely displayed that our diversity is a positive asset to our team.

After Ring Banquet on Friday and Ring Dance on Saturday, our team met up to disassemble, clean-up, and regroup on Sunday morning. To start off the morning, our leader, Kelley English (2013 Ring Dance Chair), had us go around in a circle to discuss things that stood out to us, things we liked, and things we wanted to change for our Ring Dance next year. It was during this meeting time that I noticed our team’s diversity playing a major role in the group dynamic.

According to Levi, some positive effects of diversity include improving group process skills and establishing a safe environment. Our team improved group process skills by creating a safe environment where all team members were able to give their opinions and ideas regarding Ring Week and Weekend. This approach equalized power in the team for communication to break boundaries. Our team leader encouraged everyone’s participation, showing appreciation and minimizing impacts of status differences or favoritism toward team members.

Now What?

After this week-long marathon, our Leadership Team is ready to start preparations for the Class of 2013’s Ring Banquet and Ring Dance. Our team’s use of a safe environment to improve group process skills on Sunday morning displayed how strong of a team we are. Due to our team’s immense diversity, we have lots of new ideas on how to make Ring Weekend 2013 the best it has ever been. I can’t wait to see what our diverse Leadership Team can do in the coming year!