Directions For Essay 3: Write A Post-Session Summary

Directions Essay 3write A Post Session Summary Based on The Completed

Write a post-session summary based on the completed experience. Include the following: 1. Explain the two learning disciplines that you examined for this assessment: team learning and systems thinking. 2. Team exercise plan: . Outline the schedule for your team development session. Include the job titles or roles of the team members participating in the session. List the scheduled meeting date and time. . Describe the problem or issue you chose as the intended purpose for your team development session. . Identify the learning discipline that you chose to focus on for your team exercise. Explain the process used to select that learning discipline, the rationale for its selection, and the team development exercise that you used with your team. · Post-session summary: . Describe your team development experience in a narrative format. . Explain the successful and unsuccessful aspects of the team development exercise. . Explain the lessons learned for team facilitation, including both planned and unplanned journeys that resulted. . Explain the lessons learned for your chosen discipline, and its potential for helping a group examine itself, choose new direction, and commit to that direction.

Paper For Above instruction

The process of team development and organizational learning are integral components of enhancing group effectiveness and fostering continuous improvement within teams. For this assessment, I explored two key learning disciplines: team learning and systems thinking. These disciplines serve as foundational frameworks that facilitate collective intelligence, shared understanding, and systemic insight, which are crucial for addressing complex organizational challenges.

Understanding the Learning Disciplines: Team Learning and Systems Thinking

Team learning is a discipline focused on the collective acquisition of knowledge and the development of shared mental models within a team. It emphasizes open dialogue, shared inquiry, and the ability to challenge assumptions collaboratively. This discipline promotes the growth of team members' skills in critical thinking and reflective practice, fostering an environment where collective wisdom can flourish (Senge, 1990). Systems thinking, on the other hand, is a holistic approach that examines the interconnectedness of components within a system. It encourages recognizing patterns, understanding feedback loops, and seeing the organization as a dynamic and complex whole rather than isolated parts (Meadows, 2008). Both disciplines are essential for diagnosing systemic issues and driving sustainable change.

Team Exercise Plan: Schedule and Structure

The team development session was scheduled for Thursday, March 15, 2024, at 10:00 AM. The team comprised a project manager, a marketing coordinator, a product development specialist, and a customer service supervisor. Each participant's role was critical in addressing the selected organizational challenge.

The main focus of this session was to tackle the issue of declining customer satisfaction ratings over the past quarter. The goal was to identify systemic factors contributing to customer dissatisfaction and develop actionable strategies to improve service quality.

The learning discipline chosen for this exercise was systems thinking. This decision was based on the recognition that the problem stemmed from complex interactions among multiple departments and processes, necessitating a holistic understanding rather than isolated solutions.

The process to select systems thinking involved assessing the nature of the problem, consulting with team members about their perspectives, and reviewing organizational data. The rationale was to shift from reactive fixes to systemic interventions. The team exercise employed a causal loop diagramming activity, where team members mapped out the feedback loops influencing customer satisfaction, identified leverage points, and discussed potential systemic changes.

Post-Session Reflection and Lessons Learned

My team development experience was engaging and insightful. During the session, team members participated actively, sharing their perspectives and collaboratively constructing the causal loop diagrams. The exercise with visual tools helped clarify the interdependencies among various factors affecting customer satisfaction.

One successful aspect was the high level of engagement and the willingness of team members to challenge assumptions constructively. The visual mapping facilitated a shared understanding, and the identification of leverage points provided actionable insights. However, some challenges arose from initial resistance to considering systemic causes rather than immediate symptoms. Additionally, time constraints limited the depth of analysis for some systemic loops, highlighting the need for more focused discussions in future exercises.

From a facilitation perspective, another lesson was the importance of establishing psychological safety to encourage open dialogue. Facilitators need to balance guiding the process and allowing organic discussion, especially when unanticipated issues emerge (Edmondson, 1999). There were unplanned journeys, such as discovering underlying communication gaps that were not initially considered, which proved to be valuable insights for the team.

The experience reinforced the significance of adopting a systems thinking approach in team development. It demonstrated how viewing problems from a systemic perspective enables groups to develop more sustainable solutions and fosters a culture of continuous learning. The exercise emphasized that understanding feedback loops and patterns can influence strategic decision-making and help the team commit to systemic changes that benefit the entire organization.

Conclusion

Overall, engaging in this team development exercise using systems thinking provided practical insights into addressing complex issues. The discipline fosters collective understanding, systemic analysis, and a commitment to ongoing improvement. The lessons learned will inform future facilitation efforts, emphasizing the need for patience, psychological safety, and adaptable strategies. Incorporating these disciplines into regular practice can significantly enhance team performance and organizational learning.

References

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• Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. Chelsea Green Publishing.
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• Kim, D. H. (1993). The link between individual and organizational learning. Sloan Management Review, 35(2), 37-44.
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