Teamwork thoughts from ACCESS 2009

I just had the best team experience of my life in ACCESS 2009 facilitator team. We were 15 people from 7 nationalities, not just supporting and helping each other but 100% committed to making the conference great. And plus that, we had a perfectly diverse skill and habit compilation so that there was always somebody to provide ideas, somebody to make them better, somebody to keep the time, somebody to encourage, somebody to make us laugh, somebody to give hugs etc. We had also a very honest and respectful way of communicating and giving feedback.

Although some of us just met each other first time two days before the conference, the team got so well built that during the weekend a lot of things just worked out. Even though there were a lot of sudden changes, the new solution usually just was there right away.

The best thing was to learn that it's not so difficult to build a team. All it takes is to select the right people (commitment and diverse skills sets being the most important factors), allocate responsibilities (based on what people want to do and what needs to be done), set team principles (based on expectations towards the team), work together and stop sometimes to do some team-building exercise and give each other feedback. Meaning: not talking that these six things should be done but doing them. It's not that hard and doesn't take that much time.

Actually, I have a feeling that the whole term with the 10-member national team (MC+NST+NTT) of AIESEC in Finland might turn out even better than this. The setting is the same: 100% committed, uniquely talented individuals and a (mostly) effective way to work. The extra factor is that it's going on for a whole year, which means that there's time to get further in the team process. Now I'm already loving it and from now on I also want them to hear from me more about it.


Picture by Ivana Janikova (that's why she's missing from the picture, too..)