Greetings all, this is my first post and my first blog ever! I guess a synopsis of today's activities related to the OLPC project is in order... At noon was Michael and I last group meeting with the OLPC team and the GSLIS team.
At the meeting we had a representative from the Leadership Center come in to discuss ways of dealing with different leadership styles. (Task v. Relationship: We took a test three weeks ago to see where we fit. Task oriented people are more concerned with the result rather than the process, they are often less focused on maintaining interpersonal relationships. Relationship oriented people are believed to be more process oriented and builders of relationships they often make sure everyone has their voice heard before attempting to complete a task.
With that being said, I fell into the task oriented group (no surprise). During our meeting two weeks ago, I noticed many criticized the task oriented group because we were more concerned with completing a project (which we did and the relationship people did not) and in the process there was division of work and yelling on our parts. Later we were told that division of labor isn't good in a team setting. That got me thinking about the best way to complete tasks.
I gave it some though and I think task oriented people aren't so bad. The way I view it is we are able to think and perform simultaneously...at least that's they way I see it. I don't mind yelling and disagreement because in the end we are working towards completing the same goal. IN our meeting this week I commented saying, "Certain circumstances call for task oriented people and others call for more relationship oriented". When a project has time constraints or any constraints for that matter, its time for the task oriented people to lead. On the other hand when time constraints are not present or not apparent relationship oriented people should take a more active role.
So...a person with both traits and the ability to recognize when and how to be task oriented one day and relationship oriented another day really is what one could call a great leader. So kudos to those people.
As for the rest of the day, I am still working on the deployment guide for our project. We are faced with the task of balancing what teachers, students, parents, partners, and officials want. I just hope we do not forget who our primary focus should be on and I hope we ultimately serve the children more than anyone. We have 8 weeks and 4 sites to serve. Task v. Relationship which will help achieve our goal of providing a basis for learning though technology, only time will tell.
At the meeting we had a representative from the Leadership Center come in to discuss ways of dealing with different leadership styles. (Task v. Relationship: We took a test three weeks ago to see where we fit. Task oriented people are more concerned with the result rather than the process, they are often less focused on maintaining interpersonal relationships. Relationship oriented people are believed to be more process oriented and builders of relationships they often make sure everyone has their voice heard before attempting to complete a task.
With that being said, I fell into the task oriented group (no surprise). During our meeting two weeks ago, I noticed many criticized the task oriented group because we were more concerned with completing a project (which we did and the relationship people did not) and in the process there was division of work and yelling on our parts. Later we were told that division of labor isn't good in a team setting. That got me thinking about the best way to complete tasks.
I gave it some though and I think task oriented people aren't so bad. The way I view it is we are able to think and perform simultaneously...at least that's they way I see it. I don't mind yelling and disagreement because in the end we are working towards completing the same goal. IN our meeting this week I commented saying, "Certain circumstances call for task oriented people and others call for more relationship oriented". When a project has time constraints or any constraints for that matter, its time for the task oriented people to lead. On the other hand when time constraints are not present or not apparent relationship oriented people should take a more active role.
So...a person with both traits and the ability to recognize when and how to be task oriented one day and relationship oriented another day really is what one could call a great leader. So kudos to those people.
As for the rest of the day, I am still working on the deployment guide for our project. We are faced with the task of balancing what teachers, students, parents, partners, and officials want. I just hope we do not forget who our primary focus should be on and I hope we ultimately serve the children more than anyone. We have 8 weeks and 4 sites to serve. Task v. Relationship which will help achieve our goal of providing a basis for learning though technology, only time will tell.
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