In my Library Science 103 course, we reviewed a colloquia (single lecture to an audience that does not possess detailed knowledge of the subject) by Dr. Ken Haycock called “Working in Teams.” This talk covered the important 4 stages of Teamwork, in order, “Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.” We also watched a slide presentation by Professor Enid Irwin on Student Teams, in the context of our education as SLIS Graduate students!

In Dr. Haycock’s colloquia, forming begins as a group is put together, a leader is chosen and ground rules are developed on how the team should work. The storming, or dissatisfaction stage, is where challenges develop and the team leader helps steer the group in the right direction. The norming stage is where members reconcile and begin to coorperate rather than compete. Finally, in the performing stage the team understands individual roles, ground rules, behaviors and produce great results.

I realized in this colloquia that what I knew about teams wouldn’t cut it in Library school! I felt a little chagrined as much of the bad habits we previously displayed in teams, while not intentioned to be bad, were sometimes not productive. Most of us never make it past the storming stage, it seems! What I gained out of the colloquia was the conscious learning aspect, or knowing what you are doing as you are doing it. In a way, we have to audit ourselves while working on teams to push ourselves to the “Performing” stage.

Enid Irwin’s slide presentation was fun and informative! She went over the do’s and don’ts of student teams, pitfalls and how to work effectively with others. She defines what teamwork is and what it’s not, then provides real-world examples. She shows us disastrous behavior, all within a paradigm we can understand: that of the student! What I took of this was the reassurance that we are not alone in fear of the monster “teamwork.” Or was the disastrous behavior the monster here? Either way, I know I’m not the only one who may have fears about it, and her presentation put it in an accessible fashion.