Essay: Teamwork, Self-Management, and Lifelong Learning Reflection

This reflective essay explores the importance of teamwork, self-management, and lifelong learning. It emphasizes that teamwork is essential for success, fostering collaboration and creativity. Effective leaders encourage their teams, maintain transparency, and share a common vision. The essay also delves into self-management, highlighting its role in personal and professional development, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and critical self-analysis. Furthermore, it discusses lifelong learning as a continuous process of acquiring knowledge and skills, encompassing both formal and informal training, and underscores the value of respect, strong relationships, and a balanced life for sustained motivation and success. Desklib provides access to similar essays and study resources.

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Reflective Essay
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

1REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Learning Outcome 6: Lead or participate collaboratively in teams:
Team work is one of the most essential criteria for success in the present day scenario. In
case of team activities people are able to put forward their best capabilities and bring out
outcomes which are desirable. It is not humanly possible for someone to possess all the required
capabilities and talents for success, it is at that time the importance of team work is properly
understood. Proper collaboration is possible when two or more individuals or a group of people
work towards the achievement of a common goal by means of sharing their values ideals and
skill set. It is possible in case of traditional as well as in virtual teams. The advancements and the
growth of technology has made the concepts of team work change with the passage of time but
the main idea of working together has remained the same (Patel, Pettitt and Wilson 2012).
One of most important factors which contribute towards the success of a specific business
is whether the employees have been able to perform together as a team or not. Increase in the
amount of competition has led to the increase in the need for creativity and creative thinking at
the place of work. Working in teams help the employees to be quicker and more effective in their
respective areas of work compared to people who work single-handedly. Collaboration makes
employees accountable for their work and this helps in the overall increase in the levels of
motivation at all times (Cheruvelil et al. 2014).
Leading teams is equally important. An effective leader has to encourage his or her team
to perform effectively and enjoy the specific time frames in order to make sure that the team
celebrates the positives and learns from the negatives. Others need to be allowed to act to the
best of their potential which will help a team grow in the long run and succeed. A leader is
considered to be someone who emulates the path for his or her followers to earn from. Therefore

2REFLECTIVE ESSAY
an ideal leader needs to model the way and show others the way difficult things are done to help
them follow his or her footsteps. A great leader should keep a certain level of transparency
within the team and never hide important information from the followers. There should always
be a shared aim and vision among the members (Bennett and Gadlin 2012).
Be it sports, social activities or business development projects every person either
knowingly or unknowingly becomes part of a team or a group. This is what helps teams to
operate in a proper manner and thereby lead to the success desired. There are different stages of
effective teamwork which have been divided into four major stages. The first stage is that of
forming relationships in connection to orientation, socialising and development of relationships.
The second stage is that of confrontation and conflict accompanied by the struggle for power, the
third stage is norming and having a cohesive approach and the final stage of group development
is where teams can perform as a cohesive unit (Dyer and Dyer 2013).

3REFLECTIVE ESSAY
References:
Bennett, L.M. and Gadlin, H., 2012. Collaboration and team science: from theory to
practice. Journal of Investigative Medicine, 60(5), pp.768-775.
Cheruvelil, K.S., Soranno, P.A., Weathers, K.C., Hanson, P.C., Goring, S.J., Filstrup, C.T. and
Read, E.K., 2014. Creating and maintaining high‐performing collaborative research teams: the
importance of diversity and interpersonal skills. Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment, 12(1), pp.31-38.
Darling, J. and Heller, V., 2012. Effective organizational consulting across cultural boundaries:
A case focusing on leadership styles and team-building. Organization Development
Journal, 30(4), p.54.
Dyer, W.G. and Dyer, J.H., 2013. Team building: Proven strategies for improving team
performance. John Wiley & Sons.
Patel, H., Pettitt, M. and Wilson, J.R., 2012. Factors of collaborative working: A framework for a
collaboration model. Applied ergonomics, 43(1), pp.1-26.

4REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Learning Outcome 7: Critical Self-review, Self-management and Life-long learning
The capability of managing oneself in a proper and effective manger is the concept of self
management and it is crucial for the proper development of any individual. Self management
helps in the attainment of success both n the personal as well as professional life of a person.
People who are capable of managing themselves in a better way are suitable for the maintenance
of better bonds and better relationships in their respective personal spheres. Self management
also plays a critical role in the health care as patients are told to be responsible for their own
selves.
Self management has the capability of underpinning a high degree of self-realisation and
self determination for the purpose of a job. there is the requirement of the ability to manage a
person with respect to others and also in the wider sense. The best self management ability is the
maintenance of good manners and also showing the capability of working with others. In work
life as well there is the need for management of situations with others and also the idea of
adjustment (Lent and Brown 2013). Unless these requirements are fulfilled it is not possible for
anyone to attain success in nay sphere of their lives. Self-awareness and critical self analysis also
comprises of knowing when there is stress or risk of health or when to adjust and when to break.
There often arise situations where a person needs to ask oneself about his or her own
weaknesses. Therefore being honest under such circumstances is also very crucial (Solove 2012).
Life long learning is nothing but the continuous building of knowledge and skills
throughout the life of a specific individual. The first and foremost characteristic of lifelong
learning is that it encompasses both the formal and informal types of training. Formal training is
basically the normal pattern of training where the hierarchically structured school system is

5REFLECTIVE ESSAY
created for technical and professional training and informal training is a lifelong procedure
where individuals acquire attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience (Findsen
and Formosa 2012).
Wirth time as a person progresses in life there are many valuable lessons which have a
capability of having a profound impact on the type of the person whom a person matures to.
Respect is ac crucial value to be cultivated in any individual which helps him or her a lot in life.
Valuing the different relationships of life and giving much more than a person receives need to
be a part of lifelong capabilities. There is a certain sense of peace in the capability of a person to
ensure that the goals of life are met without causing hurt or harm to any specific person (Aspin et
al. 2012).
There needs to be a firm foundation in a person’s life and belief in the principles and
characteristics of success. Only by the maintenance of a healthy balance in all aspects of a
person’s life can he or she remain relaxed, stress free and motivated.

6REFLECTIVE ESSAY
References:
Solove, D.J., 2012. Introduction: Privacy self-management and the consent dilemma. Harv. L.
Rev., 126, p.1880.
Lent, R.W. and Brown, S.D., 2013. Social cognitive model of career self-management: Toward a
unifying view of adaptive career behavior across the life span. Journal of counseling
psychology, 60(4), p.557.
Aspin, D.N., Chapman, J., Hatton, M. and Sawano, Y. eds., 2012. International handbook of
lifelong learning (Vol. 6). Springer Science & Business Media.
Findsen, B. and Formosa, M., 2012. Lifelong learning in later life (Vol. 7). Springer Science &
Business Media.