My first day at Northeastern University’s Global Office gave me a great insight into what the future 12 months has in store for me. Although I was apprehensive going into my new place of work my nerves were quickly calmed by the welcoming faces of my new team.
While going through the induction week everything felt like a blur and an overload of information that was hard for me to take in and understand why it was all crammed into a week. However, reflecting back at the end of the week I have gained a new understanding of why my team gave me all of this information at the time they did. The sooner I was familiarized to all of the terms, jargon and lingo the sooner I was comfortable to use them myself which in turn gave me a boost of confidence and a feeling of belonging in the workplace. As opposed to a longer drawn out process which could have taken many weeks for me to gain that sense of belonging.
When considering Tuckman’s team and group development model (See Figure 1) I was able to recognize and distinguish the stages I went through during my first week. The forming and norming stages for me happened on my first day in the office with a team breakfast. This gave me the opportunity to get to know my team members in a slightly less formal manner over breakfast, talking about our personal and work lives and asking get to know me sort of questions. Through this I was able to learn names, personalities and job roles which immediately made me feel more comfortable and at ease having familiar faces I could go to if I needed help with something. So far there has not been a storming stage which will hopefully continue. Therefore, I am currently going through the preforming stage where I am becoming more confident and independent with my team and everyday responsibilities.
This experience links to many of my personal learning contract goals such as building a network to aid me in my career and developing interpersonal skills to work as part of a team. These goals have been touched on by meeting and creating a connection to my team and being introduced to Northeastern’s goals as a business and not just our department or team.
This week has taught me a lot and has changed my perspective on how a staff induction takes place. It is a carefully thought out process that has many small steps to introduce a team member successfully. Through learning about Belbin’s team roles (See Figure 2) and Tuckman’s team and group development model at university it is an eye opening experience seeing the theories in practice and the great complexity they entail to introduce a new team member and build on the team that already exists.
References
Elsey, E. L. (2019, 7 23). Tuckman’s Team & Group Development Mode. Retrieved from The coatching tools company: https://www.thecoachingtoolscompany.com/get-your-team-performing-beautifully-with-this-powerful-group-development-model/
Management, E. P. (2019, 7 23). Belbin Team Roles. Retrieved from Expert programme management : https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2017/06/belbin-team-roles/Open publish panel
Abby Duncan 