Leadership and Reflection in Group Processes

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Introduction
In this essay, my aim is to explain and analyze the various theories of leadership and
reflection but mainly, the group processes by linking my role in the team project. I will try to
provide all the information regarding the group process that I was involved in and share my
experiences as well. I will provide certain leadership theories and group processes that could be
followed in the future projects. In addition, I will use the Gibbs’ reflective cycle to analyze my
role in the team and the extent to which I was able to carry out the responsibilities given to me.
Throughout the group project, I have had to play multiple roles within the team as per the
requirement and the situation.
Working in the project has helped me understand the team dynamics in a much better
light. In addition, the team project has also assisted me in understanding my own capabilities and
weaknesses. With the help of this newly gained knowledge, I will be able to improve myself as
an individual and as a team player as well. I will also include the personal learning outcomes that
have come out from the group project to shed light on the newly gained insights into my personal
development. I will provide a personal development plan (PDP) that would address my
weaknesses. In this essay, I will include my own strengths and weaknesses that I have explored
during the team project. The analysis will also include the impact that I was able to exert on my
team while carrying out my role as a team player. Our project on “Nurturing Practice
Development in Nursing and Midwifery” was received well and I could proudly say that I had
important contributions to make in its success. I will include my contribution and its influence on
the outcome of the project.
Discussion

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The Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle was developed in 1988 by Professor Graham Gibbs in his
book Learning by doing” (Potter 2015). The cycle has five stages starting with description of the
event, the feelings during the event, evaluation of the feelings and thoughts, conclusions drawn
from the evaluation and further action that is deemed necessary. Using the Gibbs’ cycle would
help me in describing the group project process more easily.
Tuckman (1977) further provided a framework for the group process that had four stages.
These included forming, storming, norming and performing.
In the forming stage, the team begins to come together with members being introduced to
each other. The members then share information about their interests and backgrounds. At this
stage, the common goal, the process for organizing the team, rules of the group and member’s
responsibilities are decided. It is in this stage that I have been given the role to look after the
Medication safety project in my organization (Tuckman and Jensen 1977).
The storming stage is where the team comes together to work as a team and discusses
ways to achieve the common goal. This stage is also, where there is increased chance for conflict
because the members begin to compete for acceptance and reputation. During our group project,
a conflict arose when my team leader rejected my proposal of preparing a Gantt chart for the
project. She argued that for a small project like ours, Gantt chart would not be necessary.
Conflicts are bound to arise within the team because there will be some clash of ideas, ideologies
and egos. It is important for the team leader to manage the conflict in a proper way (Bradley et
al. 2013).
In the norming stage, the individual goals make way for the collective goal of the team
and each member starts to give her and his best to achieve the goal. The most important

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characteristic of this stage is that the members demonstrate respect for each other and appreciate
the ideas they share.
Performing is the fourth stage where the team works with full motivation and focuses
entirely on achieving the goal with perfection. Motivation is at its peak amongst the team
members to give their all and achieve their goal.
The last stage is adjourning when the group project ends and the team dissolves. The
members celebrate success of the project and reflect on the future project. This last stage was
included later by Tuckman to complete the group development stage (Betts and Healy 2015).
Group process
To ensure the success of any group project, it is crucial that the group process is effective
and systematic. Group process refers to the way the members of a team or organization
collaborate and work together to fulfill the assigned tasks. The process includes initiation,
communication, decision-making, allocation of tasks, setting the routine and the rules, setting
and maintaining the deadline.
In this project, the team had to prepare the seminar program, the abstracts, group reports,
seminar certificate and evaluation form. In order to fulfill all these tasks, the team had to hold a
meeting first and decide the team leader and other responsibilities. Our team consisted of five
members that included along with me, Salina Blake (SB), Li-An Collie (LC), Vincy John (VJ),
and Laura Watson (LW). Salina Blake (SB) was chosen as the team leader. All the members
were introduced to each other through the conversation MyLo discussion board thus completing
the forming stage.

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The group discussion board was the first communication that took place between the
team members on 26 November 2018. Then, a group email was created to help the members
share and ask for information. Our first meeting held through the group email on 9 December
2018 was to discuss the initial meeting for project discussion and meeting schedule. Second
meeting took place on 12 December where work allocation and project seminar discussion took
place through web conference. In addition, members were assigned for the proposed abstracts.
In the third meeting held on 16 December, also through Skype Web Conference, LC and VJ were
given the role to communicate and discuss the program and flyer for the seminar. SB had the role
to complete and submit the abstracts by 21 December. LC had the additional role to discuss the
colors and the group affirmed the choice. The next two meetings held subsequently on 22
December and 9 January respectively. I must state that the roles that were assigned to each
member at the start of the project were quite difficult to fulfill. Nonetheless, as a team, our goal
was clear – to produce the perfect piece of work.
It is thus clear that we as a team used different forms of media to communicate with each
other. We used the MyLo discussion board, email and Skype Web Conferencing as the
communication tools through which we communicated regarding the project.
As time progressed, we gelled together as a team and each member knew her and his role
clearly. I felt that the team leader SB was quite active and knew her responsibility well. This was
the storming stage in of our team.
As a team also, we knew what the common goal was and everyone began to focus on that
goal. Individual goals were kept in the secondary list while the common team goal is given most
prominence.

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REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Along with forming the group and communicating, decision-making is another important
aspect in teamwork or the group processes. As Drouin and Bourgault (2013) note, decision-
making is the most vital part of teamwork because it shapes the way for further work and
evaluation. In addition, decision-making brings out the skills that each member possesses. For
our project, the decision-making process was not limited to the team leader only; all the team
members contributed including me. I being the gatekeeper had the responsibility to allow each
team member to share her or his views on the project and the way we were going to proceed. The
Skype Web Conferencing was utilized for group discussion where the team members had the
chance to input their views.
After the decisions were made, delegation of tasks to each member based on their skills
and capacities was required. Team leaders have the vital role in delegating the tasks to the
members as per their capabilities. Hoch and Kozlowski (2014), state that the team leader is
responsible for the effort that her or his team puts in any work. The team leader is the one who
knows the strengths and weaknesses of her or his team members (Fransen, Weinberger and
Kirschner 2013). In addition to that, the leader possesses the skill to utilize the skills and
channelize the weaknesses of each member in a way that strikes a balance and brings maximum
positive outcome. Wang, Waldman and Zhang (2014) however state that a team leader must have
a dominant presence that makes the team members obey her or him naturally.
Once the tasks are allotted to each member, it is important that a fix a time that is
convenient to all the members. Situations arose where some members were not able to attend the
team meetings. In that case, I advised everyone to send a prior email in the group mail, inform
the team about her or his absence, and give updates regarding the progress as well.

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Reflection on my role
Coming to my role in the group meetings and the overall group project, I played the role
of a Gatekeeper, as mentioned earlier which is, I was assigned the task of ensure free flow of
communication. Apart from that, I also had the task to facilitate other team members’
participation and suggest processes that encouraged sharing remarks. I was supposed to ask other
team members who stay quiet mostly in the team meetings about their opinions and ideas. Apart
from gate keeping, I was assigned to prepare abstracts on Promoting change and Facilitation,
and prepare the Certificate of attendance as well.
Throughout the project, I was able to keep my calm and help other team members come
forward and put in their valuable knowledge. The project was a valuable learning lesson for me
because it helped me grow as an individual. I learned the complex dynamics of working in a
team and handling people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In addition, the
group project helped me develop professionally as well because I was able to learn a lot about
the nursing profession by working in this project. As I worked along with my team, I learned that
teamwork, leadership, motivation and dedication are the prerequisites of the nursing profession
as well.
Leadership in the team is the most vital of all the aspects because it determines the
functioning of the team (Urick and Bowers 2014). Leadership is of different types as found in the
academic literature that includes transformational leadership, autocratic leadership, democratic
leadership, facilitative leadership and laissez-faire leadership amongst others. McCleskey (2014),
states that transformational leadership is amongst the best and most preferred types of leadership.
Nonetheless, it depends on the kind of team one is leading. In my case, I found transformational

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leadership to be the most suited as well because it brings out more than what is expected of the
team members. In addition, transformational leadership encourages change as per the situation.
When it was found during the project that many members were unable to attend all the meetings,
I along with SB made the decision to ask everyone to mail about their absence prior to the
meetings so that it does not hamper the proceedings of the group. In this way, we managed
change in the team without disrupting the overall proceedings.
In the group process especially in the decision-making process and preparing the
timetable as well, I had an important role to play because I was the gatekeeper. The decision-
making process involved listening to all the group members about the project. I had the task to
ask those members who were mostly silent listeners in team meetings about their views on the
decisions taken or to be taken. I had the role to make those speak up who usually agreed to
everything one member said. In this way, I was able to help each member have a say in the
meetings. In addition, including all the members in the decision making process ensured that
none of the members felt left out or less valued. Teamwork is mostly about valuing the presence
of all the members without being biased (Valentine, Nembhard and Edmondson 2015). I used the
Gantt chart for planning the time of all our team meetings and task submissions.
However, during the team meetings through Skype, I was unable to attend two of the
important meetings that were held on 9 December and 16 December. Due to my absence, I was
not able to contribute much to the team meetings and the project overall. Although initially I was
quite active in the MyLo discussion boards and the meetings held after the first, those absents
caused me to lag behind my other team members. I was not able to give my views on the
decisions that were made in those meetings. The reason for my absence was the difficulties I had
to face in balancing my professional and personal life. I was engrossed with duties that I had to

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perform in my home because of which I had to miss crucial team meetings. Moreover, being a
gatekeeper, I had the most crucial role to ensure that the meetings go smoothly and all members
have a say. Due to my absence, other team members were burdened with additional tasks that
might have caused them trouble, as they had to put additional effort.
Discussion on personal learning
As the project reached its end, I was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses. The
biggest strength I have is that I am a team player. I know my responsibilities. I demonstrated
genuine commitments while completing the specific tasks even when I was unable to attend the
meetings. I am an active listener. A good listener is an asset to a team and has the potential to
become the leader because as Asemota (2015) observes, “Leadership perceptions are highly
correlated with listening”. One of my other strengths is that I am supportive of others. I am
always available for my team members to give them support I see them lagging in anything.
Amongst my technical and academic strengths, I have good knowledge of the computer and have
a good idea of designing templates and so on. This is why I was asked to design the certificate of
participation.
Along with the abovementioned strengths, some weaknesses also came up while I was
doing the project. The first and major weakness that I have is I do not have the ability to balance
my personal and professional life. The weakness of mine could be costly in the future in my
nursing profession because there I will not have the backup or support of others. Secondly, I am
not a very good orator or speaker as I have found while presenting our project in the seminar.
Most of the presentation was given the team leader and other members. I feel that due to my non-
English background also, I am a bit weak in giving speech. Although I support other team

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members, I myself lack motivation sometimes I feel because of my language difficulties in
particular. Anjomshoa and Sadighi (2015) provide example of classroom with students without
motivation and state that no productive learning could take place without motivation.
In order to become a professional in all aspects, I will have to address my weaknesses
properly and in time, and further strengthen my strengths. To do that, I have to prepare a
personal development plan with which I could do self-improvement. Personal development
planning indicates that the individual is more passionate about learning and improving (Eisele et
al. 2013).
At first, I will have to set the goals for my personal development and fix a time limit to
achieve these goals. In addition, I will have to prepare the action, which is, the things I have to
do to achieve my goals.
I have three objectives to achieve in order to address my weaknesses, take the first step
towards self-improvement, and fulfill my goals. Goal setting is the most effective when it is done
using the SMART (Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound) goal plan. With it, I
will know about the feasibility of my goals.
Goal: To engage in time management for one
month for personal and professional work and be
able to attend every meeting
Time of commencement : 24 January 2019
Specific The goal is specific because it relates to my
weakness
Measurable The goal is measurable because the outcome is
most likely to show within one month
Achievable The goal is achievable because it does not include

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any long duration task or anything that is difficult
to access or complete
Relevant The goal is relevant to my life and profession
because managing time for personal work would
help me grow professionally
Time based A one month timeframe has been set to achieve the
goal
Goal: To attend seminars by both English and non-
English speaker and learn the effective way to give
speech
Time of commencement : 25 January 2019
Specific The goal is specific because it addresses my
weakness with speech
Measurable The goal is measurable because I would be able to
improve my speaking ability
Achievable The goal is achievable because seminars are
regularly held
Relevant The goal is relevant because linguistic capability
along with speech is important in nursing
Time based It is time based as it has a one month timeframe
within which I will have to improve
Goal: To visit sessions on motivation and get
inspiration Time of commencement : 25 January 2019

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Specific The goal is specific because motivation is crucial in
teamwork and in nursing profession
Measurable The goal is measurable because the outcome will
help in my holistic improvement
Achievable The goal is achievable because sessions on
motivations are often conducted within the
university
Relevant The goal is relevant because motivation is crucial
to be able encourage and help others
Time based It also has a time limit of three weeks within which
it will be achieved
Conclusion
Overall, I must say that it was a great opportunity for me to learn about the teamwork, the
team dynamics, the workings of a group and individual roles that we perform. The project helped
me to bring out the strengths and limitations I have. Teamwork helps in personal learning as it
allows us to explore our skills and capabilities and at the same time, learn about others. I was
able to learn the cultures and traditions of my team members who come from varied
backgrounds. Our team was very friendly with each member making up for the other and the
conflicts were resolved with patience in a professional way.
Using the Gibbs’ reflective cycle I was able to reflect on the group project and my own
role as the team player, the gatekeeper. In addition, it helped me understand my personal

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strengths and weakness knowing which I was able to develop a PDP. I look forward to work in
further projects.

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