Friday's roundup

This is what I've been doing this week. It's been refreshing to get away from my daily grind in chilly Tokyo and think about bigger picture things. 

The course has stimulated my thinking and now I have to go away and see how I can apply this to my not-so-traditional team. 

Today we've been given the task of doing three assignments of our own choosing in the next six months. A really good strategy for getting participants to interact with and reflect on what they've learned during the workshop. Creating your own assignments is interesting!

I'm thinking especially about:

• the special elements in my team: 
• a geographically dispersed team: three countries 
• multicultural team: three nationalities
• almost all communication by email
• many members have never met each other (I've met everyone barring one)
• very task oriented
• all team members barring me have significant other roles
• our team frequently changes
• how to help our team function better, eg. by getting to know one another
• conflict styles, understanding those better.
• different team models. The one we were presented with doesn't fit my team situation really well. I wonder if there is a better model.
• motivational types: this is something a friend mentioned to me over lunch a couple of weeks ago that is related to what we've been learning about this week. I'm thinking it's inevitable that I've got members who are motivated by different things. I want to investigate a little.

But tonight it is flying back to Tokyo. 

I'm leaving my accommodation at 6.45pm in a taxi (that is 8.45 Tokyo time, and 9.45 Queensland time). My flight leaves at 10.30, which is after midnight in Japan and Australia. We get in at 6.15am and then I need to catch a few trains back home (which will take a couple of hours). I may stop at a coffee shop on the way out of the airport to catch my breath and some caffeine before I plunge into the Tokyo train system again!