Teamwork, Innovation, and Personal Development: A Reflective Journal

This reflective journal explores the theories of teamwork, innovation, and personal development. It discusses Belbin's Theory, Tuckman's team building theory, John Adair Action centred leadership, Maslow's hierarchy theory, and more. The journal also covers the importance of innovation and creativity in achieving goals and objectives. It includes discussions on diffusion of innovation, sources of innovation, and creative thinking techniques. Additionally, it presents a personal development plan for enhancing soft skills. The content is based on the experience of a salesperson turned team leader.

Personal Reflective Journal

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Teamwork ..................................................................................................................................3
Belbin's Theory: .........................................................................................................................4
Tuckman's team building theory.................................................................................................5
John Adair Action centred leadership.........................................................................................5
Maslow's hierarchy theory of team building...............................................................................6
Theory X and Theory Y..............................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
Innovation and Creativity............................................................................................................6
Diffusion of innovation...............................................................................................................6
7 sources of innovation ..............................................................................................................7
Creative thinking techniques.......................................................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
Personal development plan.......................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Team building, innovation and development of soft skills in a person are important
aspects while continuing with work. Team refers to a number of people in an organisation
coming together to work towards a particular goal or objective. In the following report
discussions are made on all the important theories used by an individual while acting as a team
member as well as while acting leader of a team (Roldán-Merino and et. al., 2019). Innovation
and creativity is necessary to fulfil all the roles and responsibilities of a team leader which are
discussed along with various theories. Innovation refers to bringing in new ideas in business
which might include some fulfilment of some unidentified needs of consumers. Innovation are
brought in forms of new products or services, improvement of already existing product or
services or even new methods for generation of those products and services can be included in
innovation. There are a number of type of innovation such as diffusion of innovation, disruptive
innovation, sources of innovation etc. which have been effectively discussed in this following
report. All these theories are presented in a form of reflection of a sales person who turned into a
team leader after 5 years of experience in his field. The last part of report consists of a plan to
develop various soft skills in an individual. Personal development plan is developed by any
individual to assure the targets they will be working for in coming time. Time is considered to be
an important aspect of personal development plan. Along with deciding the skills to be
developed ways in which they can be developed, benefits from skills to individual and the time
required to develop those skills are necessary to be mentioned in this plan.
TASK 1
Teamwork
Teamwork refers to collective efforts which are taken by a group of people in order to
achieve a common objective or a task in an efficient manner. This concept applies on a team
which includes various individuals who are interdependent and working towards a similar
objective (Dinh and et. al., 2020).
I have worked as a salesman for 5 years after which I was promoted to lead a team. I has
experiences of various theories related to a team from both the sides which include being a part
of team as well as managing a team as a team leader. There were a number of theories which
were applicable while my journey as team leader and salesman which are mentioned below:

Belbin's Theory:
Belbin's theory of team roles assumes that there are particular tendency and behaviour of
certain people. A common cluster of behaviour is developed and divided into various parts in this
theory which was used by the team leader who managed our team while I was working as a
salesman for 5 years. Below mentioned are various roles which are included in the following
theory: Resource investigator is an individual in the organisation who is extrovert and brings in
various opportunities for the team through developing contacts. Team worker is one who can easily work with versatility and easily adapt to all the
members in a team. They are diplomatic and co-operative. Co-ordinator is that person in the team who focuses on the objectives towards which the
team is working. They are confident and mature but can however be manipulative a
number of times. Plant is a resourceful person who is creative and have a creative mind. Monitor Evaluator is a person who who is impartial in making judgements and has a
strategic eye for decisions (Tuomela and Bonnevier-Tuomela, 2020). Specialist is the person who has in depth knowledge of the areas in which team is
working. They are usually overloaded with information. Shapers are the dynamic people in a team who are thriving through pressure in order to
overcome barriers in path of team. Implementer are people in team developing strategies and controlling the effects of
those strategies on the team.
 Complete finisher are those people in a team who works on errors of others in order to
keep a check on quality of work delivered by team.
I have been appointed the roles of a shaper, implementer, co-ordinator and team worker
based on my qualities and skills. This theory have effectively helped me to understand the roles I
play in various teams and successfully comply by my role.
Tuckman's team building theory
This theory was developed in 1965 by Bruce Tuckman which consists of five stages
through which a team has to go through including forming, storming, norming, performing and
adjourning which are described below:

 Forming stage is the first stage at which people come together and start to learn about
each other. It was my duty at this stage to make sure that people are introduced to each
other in team. Storming stage is that point at which team members are becoming aware about each
others characteristics and now disagreement on various topics begins. I had an important
part at this stage in which I made people to understand the importance of conflicts and
ways to turn it into a benefit for the team (Berry and et. al., 2020). Norming stage is when I had to take steps in order to bring people together communicate
their strengths and end if any conflicts between them. Performing stage this is when I have positively generated good relationships amongst
team members and now they are together working towards the goal.
 Adjourning stage is the last stage in which the team is dismantled after the fulfilment of
task. This is also called as mourning stage.
In this way I applied all these stages on team that I led identifying stages and working
accordingly to manage all the team members.
John Adair Action centred leadership
This model of leadership was introduced by John Adair in 1960. This model explains
three elements important for a leader to manage. I used this form of leadership to get the work
done by my team members. Three components of the theory are: Achievement of task for which I had to determine the task. Identify all the resources
present. Delegate work, and monitor the progress (Dong, Zheng and Kahn, 2020). Being
a leader it was my duty to make sure that all the employees are clearly communicated
about the tasks and they are working towards it positively. Management of group was conducted by me through establishing standard for
communication, generation of soft skills, providing training, receiving feedbacks and so
on. This will ultimately enable the group to achieve all the required goals and objectives
in stipulated time period.
 Managing individuals was last element in order to do so I managed all the personal
issues delicately, gave recognition, rewards and also performance measurements results
to individual on a continuous basis. It is necessary to make sure that individuals are

satisfied which will result in improved productivity and overall performance of
employees and team.
Maslow's hierarchy theory of team building
This theory was adopted by me because this depicts the actual need which are to be required by
every individual and through which they get motivated to do work. This also help me in team
building with effective measures. It includes several components which are mentioned below-
Physiological needs- This is need in which employees who think for their survivals and
wish for clothes, foods, water, shelter etc. These basic needs were given to them as it was the
company's policy to make employees feel comfortable.
Security and safety needs- These are the needs which are being considered as primary
needs to employees such as health and benefits, salary, bonuses etc. I use provided these needs t
my team members so that they work in effective manner.
Social needs- These are also required by employees to get motivated such as
relationships, friendships, social groups etc. The work environment was open and friendly and
this gives variosu opportunities to team members.
Esteem needs- In this, subordinates wish for self respect, appreciation, etc. are viewed as
important needs by them. I appreciated every member on the basis of their work. Each and every
team members respect each others role and duties.
Self actualisation needs- These are the needs which includes growth, development of
career etc. So, appraisals and promotions was given to individual on the basis of their
performance. This increases their inner morale and also enhance their potential to work. E
(Drekonja and et. al., 2019)
Theory X and Theory Y
Motivation as well team building theory both are essential to be adopted so that it is
possible to achieve goals and objectives in proper manner. Both these theories have different
impact and perspective on individual or employees behaviour. These are explained further-
Theory X
This theory states that subordinates or team within in the firm are de-motivated in nature
and do not like to work willingly. Also, people in this category required external source of
motivation to work. In my experience of sales, it has been always a challenging task to form and
develop a team. So, when I was a sales manager I applied this theory because in my team many

members were there who were to be guided and encouraged to achieve their targets. The X type
employees are needed to controlled, managed and forced to do the work on time. By applying
this theory, I was able to push my team A for accomplishing of their target. It was time
consuming process and which was needed to be carried out in with proper considerations.
Theory Y
This specifies that, personnel are willingly to do work with positive mind. They are self
motivated, enthusiastic and innovative towards their roles as well as work. As I divided my
team in two parts, my team B was to considered as under this category. They independently take
their own decisions and no guidance was required to them. (Warde, Giannitrapani and Pearson,
2020)
TASK 2
Innovation and Creativity
Innovation refers to any new idea or creative thought which can be either be a product or
a method. They are usually related to fulfilment of various of any new needs or unrecognised
needs of customers (Sharif, 2019).
Creativity on the other hand refers to using imagination or some ideas in order to create
something new. Innovation and creativity are interlinked (Lee and et. al., 2020). Creativity is
essential in order to bring innovation in an organisation.
Acting as a leader for 10 employees in my team, I had to make sure that they are
motivated and encouraged enough to bring in new innovations and creativity in their marketing
job. It was necessary due to increasing competition in market and changing demand of
consumers. There were a number of different theories which I applied in order to get the required
results from employees. Some of them are explained below:
Diffusion of innovation
Diffusion of innovation is a theory which explains how ideas in an organisation is spread
throughout different groups. This theory was discovered by E.M. Rogers in 1962. it consists of
passage of various ideas along with different stages of adoption by actors. There are five kind of
people according to this theory which are mentioned below:

 Innovators are those who are ready to take risks and are developing a number of
different ideas of creativity. I always encouraged my team to be the innovators.
Innovators are one who will get the maximum benefits from innovation. Early adopters are those in the team who are ready to adopt the new technologies which
are helping them bring utility for the society. It is an effective way towards which I
encourage my team members. Even if they do not come up with new ideas they can
certainly adapt some of the ideas from others. Early majority in this theory are those who are paving various ways to use innovation in
the society directly. It is necessary that the employees are understanding various
requirements and effects that the innovation might have on their potential customers.
Due to which they need to adopt all the different kind of innovations which are
applicable on their work. It is the mind set of employees and sales person whether to
adapt a new style of innovation or not (Shafique, Ahmad and Kalyar, 2019). I allow
them to take their decisions and intervene only when their performance is declining in
any manner. Late majority refers to the mass population who are not eager to take any risk. They are
the kind of people who wait for others to take the risk and try out any new innovation
which have come into account. These kind of behaviour was not encouraged by me
being a leader. It was unacceptable because we could not take the risk to lag behind in
the terms of innovation.
 Laggards are the last category which consists of risk-averse people. They are the one's
who are lagging behind and better of with traditional methods. They do not take
innovation into work willingly but only when they do not have any other option. I
highly discouraged this behaviour in my team. This was unacceptable as this behaviour
will narrow down the innovativeness and creativeness of people in team.
I made sure that my team is filled with innovators and early adopters. This helps in
benefiting the revenues, performance as well as productivity of employees.
7 sources of innovation
The theory of 7 sources for innovation was developed by Peter F. Drucker. He came up
with 7 different ways which can give birth to innovation. Below mentioned are these seven

sources and how I used it with my team in order to promote innovativeness and creativity in all
those employees working under me: The unexpected is first way through which innovations can take place. There can be
brought down a long list of such innovation which is unexpected. I train my employees to
be alert enough in order to make sure that even if they innovate something unexpectedly
they may recognise it. In my field of marketing it generally consists of different ways to
pursue certain customers. Incongruities are another reason due to which innovation are born. It refers to various
ways through which employees can innovate new ways to influence customers due to
need of consumers or incongruity in supply. In my field it is necessary to deal with the
customers and along with this it also becomes necessary to understand various needs of
theirs. Market structure is another reason which leads to generation of innovation. It is
necessary that I train employees to conduct market research properly. This market
research will enable them to effectively fulfil the required needs and demands of
customers (Parjanen and Hyypiä, 2019). The employees are encouraged to perfectly
conduct research keeping in mind the structure of market which might enable them to
bring in effective innovations. Necessity is also known as the basic need for innovation. It is the innovation which is
only born out of need. The employees are responsible to mention all the basic needs of
customers so that they can effectively fulfil all the necessities of potential customers.
 Demographics plays an important role in generation of new innovations. The lifestyle,
age , sex are basic criteria which results in various innovations. It is necessary that my
employees are learning segmentation and segmenting customers according to their
demographics. This will help in bringing required innovation for the customers as per
their demographics. Changing perception of people regarding various things is another reason due to which
innovations takes place. It is often seen that there are a number of such people who
change with the changing times along with which their requirements and needs also vary.
For such kind of people innovation is required and employees in my team keep a tap on
all the potential customers and their changing perceptions.

 New knowledge is the last way through which innovation takes place. There is no need
for innovation the customers are happy and satisfied yet some new knowledge is applied
to bring in something new in the market.
In the following ways all the employees in my time are motivated towards all the
different sources of innovation and I encourage them to bring in innovation in whichever way
possible.
Creative thinking techniques
There are a number of different techniques of creative thinking which was introduced by
Derrick Brown and are still followed by me in order to move the employees towards innovation.
Various types of creative thinking techniques includes:
Brainstorming: This is a process in which team is organised, a chairperson is appointed,
problems are stated and all the employees are asked to suggest solutions to those problems. We
are continuously conducting brainstorming sessions in the organisation in order to make sure that
employees are always under the pressure to come up with something new and innovative.
A bridge- Process flow analogy: This is another way to bring in solutions for certain
problems. It is a concept in between traffic and flow of process. It is used in the organisation.
The solutions are divided into classes which include speed up the flow, reduce the flow and
divert the flow (Rowley and Oh, eds., 2020). All these classes helps in applying generic solutions
to problems and a number of times may result in innovations.
The six thinking hats: This is when a group together comes forward in order to think on
pros and cons of all the ideas which have been thought of earlier. There are six hats used which
signifies different opinion s of people.
 White hat - Neutral
 Red hat - fire, warmth
Feelings, emotion, intuition, hunches
 Black hat - caution
Legality, judgement, morality
 Yellow hat - sunshine
Positive, optimism, benefits
 Green hat - growth
New ideas, new slants, options, opportunities

 Blue hat – sky
Overview, control of the process, agenda, next step, action plans, conclusions
In this way decisions were taken in the organisation effectively. Which also led to
innovations a number of time.
Business process re-engineering: This is another designed tool used a number of time in
which a group of 20 questions judge what are the decisions to be made and how will they be
applied in the organisation (Liao and Tsai, 2019). It is often seen that these questions may bring
in various innovations for the organisation. This is another way of brainstorming which is taking
birth with the set of 20 available questions.
All these methods of creative thinking and brainstorming were used by me in order to
encourage the team and make sure that the employees are working hard in order to bring in new
innovation and development. These new innovations are further helping me to rise as a leader
and also enabling me and my team to cope with the needs of potential customer by bringing in
innovative ideas. These innovative ideas also provide a competitive edge in market so that we
can effectively face competition.
TASK 3
Personal development plan
Personal development plan refers to a process through which goals, aims and objectives
of an individual can be established. It enables an individual to set up goals for their career in
short, medium and long-run. There are certain set of skills specified in this plan with the help of
which steps required to be taken as well as resources required for fulfilment of the goals are
mentioned (Zahm, 2020). Along with these it also discusses about various ways through the help
of which measurement of success or failure of plan can be done.
Below mentioned are various set of skills and areas for improvement towards which I will be
working:
 Improvement of various skills including English communication, reading and listening
skills.
 I need to improve my technical skills in order to deal in market with ease.
 To set up a new career as an entrepreneur in a self-owned start-up business.
 To improve my marketing concepts and skills.

Improvement
areas
Steps required Support and
resources
required
Measurement of
success
Stipulated time
for achievement
English and
communication
I need to
communicate
more, attend
various webinars
and seminars,
practice speaking
listening and
present different
presentations in
front of public.
I can take help
from my mentors
and also attend a
number of
courses
personally or
online along with
reading books.
The improvement
can be measured
through high self
confidence, better
presentations,
good performance
on field.
12 months
Technical skills Various courses
and training from
organisation
could be used by
me in order to
understand
different
techniques and
related skills.
Internet, trainers
are various
resources which
might support and
help for this skill.
Various
examinations and
exercises could be
taken by me
which will help in
measuring the
performance and
improvement so
far.
12 months
New career as an
entrepreneur
I will need of
think out of box
and come up with
new and
innovative ideas
in order to set a
start-up business.
It is also required
There are a
number of
resources such as
finance, human
resource,
machineries and a
number of other
assets to set up an
The improvement
can be measured
after the business
generated in the
period of time
starts generating
profit. The profits
will act as the
4-5 years

to form a strategy
which can be
easily executed.
business. measurement of
success of plan
created so far.
Improvise
concepts of
marketing
I will start
reading about
concepts of
marketing from
various sources
available. I will
also start
implying those
concepts on
practical life.
Various reports,
journals, articles
and books about
marketing. Other
than this it
practical practice
of these concepts
will also be
required by me.
Improve in
marketing skills
which will lead to
increase in
revenues as well
as generation of
loyal customers
through those
skills will
measure the
success.
6 months
This personal development plan will help me to decide on various steps which are
required to be taken by me in order to achieve all the required skills. These skills will help me to
move forward in life personally as well as in my professional career. It is necessary that I am
taking all the required steps in this plan in order to make sure that the end results of the following
plan is positive (Vinci, De Jager and Leo, 2020). At the end of plan the stipulated time period is
also mentioned along with the ways in which the development can be measured. It is necessary
that I am measuring my improvement in these fields and skills from time to time in order to
effectively understand the effectiveness of this plan.
CONCLUSION
The above mention report concludes the journey of an individual who worked as a sales
person and then was promoted to be a team leader and manage an entire team on his own. With
the help of this report ways in which various theories can be applied in real life are understood.
Applying Belbin's theory in a team allows to distribute the roles and responsibilities to all the
team members effectively. On the other hand, Tuckman's team building theory enables a team
leader to understand various stages through which a team goes through from the time of its
formation up to the time it is dismantled. The report also concludes how various theories of

innovation can be effectively used by a leader in an organisation in order to bring in new
innovation and encourage the employees in organisation towards creativity. Personal
development is an important aspect when an individual is monitoring their own performance and
taking various steps to develop certain skills in themselves. The report concludes about all the
important aspects of personal development plan along with various ways through which an
individual can produce a personal development plan. It is necessary for an individual to judge
themselves and work on their flaws to develop personally as well as professionally which can be
concluded by this report.

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