Elevator pitch

This is more difficult than I thought it would be... perhaps I'm making too big a deal of it... but part of me thinks of an elevator pitch as an audition. It is more than just describing yourself and or what you are doing... it is about selling yourself and inspiring the person you are talking to into wanting to be a part of what you are doing.

So - what is it that I am doing that I hope will inspire others? (and what am I doing that I hope will inspire me).

I started out looking at my work with the team, my communication style, my project management style, and how I might improve all those things. I thought the goal was improving project management. I thought I already communicated fairly well, collaborated well, etc. I learned fairly quickly that I still have a lot to learn.

Through my initial readings, I began to understand that a functional team requires more than just people working on projects together. Trust is required... more than required... it is essential. And there must be more than one kind of trust... professional trust (that your colleagues can and will do the job... will pull their own weight) is important but so is affective (emotional) trust. The more I thought about the significance of trust, the more I started to look at my work environment differently. I came to realize that in many ways I had not been letting my colleagues "in" in a way that would build affective trust. In fact - I began to notice a distinct lack of that kind of trust in our general environment. We all trust that the other team members will do the job... in fact we trust that each of us will do a very good job (even the best job we can)... but the overall culture of the company and therefore of the department and even of the team is not one of trust. Each person on the team is convinced that there are several people (especially managers and 'outsiders') who have no clue what we actually do much less how we do it or what we need to do it well. None of us feel very secure in our position (the company could decide at any time that they want to outsource our work, or that they think that we can do the same work with fewer people). We are not confident that our manger will fight for any of us (in fact, some of us are fairly sure that he wont). An adversarial attitude has developed among some team members.

It is ironic - because our core team has a lot of fun together and to those not on the team it looks like we adore each other and love our jobs. In fact, in many ways that is true. Each of us enjoys doing the "work" that we do. Each of us likes our other team members (with one or two notable exceptions... and they still work together). Yet, at the same time, there is this undercurrent of general dissatisfaction and resentment about a number of things that most feel are beyond our control.

So - that is the "problem"... and not the one I thought it was when I started this journey.

As I came to have a better understanding of the underlying problem, I began to look more closely at how I functioned within the group. Was I having any effect on the group? Was I supporting, encouraging, or even promoting the general dissatisfaction? If not promoting or encouraging it, was I enabling it? Was I working to dispel it? I realized that some of my actions were enabling it. I was buying into a cycle of frustration. So, I took a step back and worked on really listening to what my colleagues were saying (and not saying). I watched what they were doing (and not doing). After a great deal of listening and reflecting, I began to see at least one way I could help ease certain frustrations and also work on my own professional growth. (This was my work with the colleague who made the presentation for the online symposium)

As I worked on this project I also continued to listen, watch, and reflect on how I was interacting within the team. Was I following (another way of enabling the current frustration and ennui)? Was I working in a way that would light a path away from that? I started looking at how I was responding to criticism... not general criticism... but formal critique. I realized that I was "following" or "disregarding." I began to look at the critique process in a new way - as a way of focusing (shining a light) on what wasn't clear about what I had written/designed/developed/etc. I also began to look at it as a way to foster a dialogue with my colleagues. Rather than just accept or reject the comments made during a critique, I began to use them as an opportunity to have an exchange of ideas with my colleagues. This one small, but profound change in my own approach caused a huge change in my overall attitude and my own personal satisfaction at work. I started looking forward to the critique process. That, in turn, has caused me to begin looking for other ways to encourage exchanges of ideas. The nature of my participation in group meetings (team meetings, project meetings, etc) as well as my participation in one-on-one meetings (w/ my manager in particularly) has begun to change. Still in small steps - but I'm finding a role as a mediator (translator) - I'm learning to become more aware of miscommunication and disconnects as they are happening rather than after the fact. I'm starting to explore ways of helping both sides (or all sides) understand the point of view of the other. Once or twice lately, I think it has worked.

So - given all of this... what is my elevator speech?

Hi! My name is _______. I'm an instructional designer/developer and a graduate student in educational technology. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Have you ever wondered what's at the root of a really successful team? Well, I have, so I set out to find out. I decided that the best way to find out was to start with myself. I asked myself, how can I be a better team member? How can I improve my collaboration skills? How can I work to improve the relationships on and the work of my team?

I looked at current research on teams, teamwork, and collaborative environments. I found that through-line, the common thread is trust. For a team to function, grow, and be successful, there must be trust. Both Cognitive trust (a trust that your teammates can and will do their part) and Affective trust (the trust built and nurtured by emotional bonds).

For my first cycle of research I took a step back and actively listened to and watched my team. I reflected on whether my contributions enabled the current somewhat dysfunctional status quo or lit the way toward a more functional and satisfying type of collaboration. I looked for ways that I could support both the professional and affective needs of my team mates and also enrich my own growth and development. An opportunity to facilitate a team member in his own professional development and be cause I was paying such careful attention, I recognized the opportunity and embraced it. I worked with this team member to help him propose, write, and develop a presentation for an online eLearning symposium. Our work together on this one project effected our other work together and within the team as a whole in a very positive way. I believe that I was also instrumental in my colleague recognizing his own talent and value in a new area, professionally. Our work on this project reinforced our cognitive trust in each other and also increased our affective trust in each other.

For my second cycle, I am re-inventing my approach to the critique process. I've challenged my self to cease viewing critique and critical comments as something to either accept or reject and begin looking at it as an opportunity to begin a dialog with my colleagues.

Thank you for your time and the opportunity to share with you a little bit about what I'm doing. Please feel free to ask any questions or offer any advice.