Amy Gade, Charles Lindberg, and Matthew Smoot

LDRS 807: Leadership in Teams and Collaborative Environments

Team Competency Project- Initial Report
1. Select the type(s) of technology to be used to coordinate the project and team communication.
The team should provide a rationale as to why the type(s) of technology were selected for this
project.
Our group has collectively agreed to utilize the technological resources offered through
FHSUs Blackboard site as our primary means of communication. Specifically, the My Groups
link, which contains the team specific Discussion Board along with other correspondence
features, will provide us with a virtual hub to ensure consistent coordination efforts throughout
the semester. We may also use email to send and receive messages or file attachments throughout
the duration of the course. Some group members acknowledged they more readily check
personal email accounts than that of their FHSU account, so we chose not to risk communication
delays or breakdown by being exclusively reliant on email. In addition, our group members have
exchanged personal cell phone numbers, providing us with the capacity to call, text or even
possibly video chat in the future, if necessary.
The rationale for having a number of technological mediums at our disposal is for the
purposes of access, efficiency, and connectedness. Thus, while we all concurred the team
Blackboard site would serve as our home base, additional modes will provide us with the
opportunity to maintain contact in the event of any unforeseen system glitches during the
semester. Moreover, the ability to interact with each other in a number of ways will prove useful
at times per our varying locations and respectfully busy schedules outside of graduate school.
Lastly, the ability to reach out to one another in real time will add an element of rapport to the
team. This will further assist the group process by keeping us close to the tasks at hand, while
strengthening communication for shared success.

2. Identify and describe team norms and expectations (e.g., how frequently will the team meet;
how often team members will communicate with one another).
Established expectations or team norms will consist of ground rules for individual
behavior, team cooperation, how the team will move forward, and how it will operate. These
norms were set in place to strengthen the groups positive practices and to serve as a reference if
undesirable behavior arises. In addition, these norms will serve as the groups code of conduct,
so that each group member will be able to anticipate how others will behave as well as what
behavior they will be expected to display. This code of conduct will aid the group in developing
team performance, cohesiveness, and coordination within our team.
Initial team norms for our group will consist of the following: 1) Be respectful of all
team members, 2) Be inclusive of all team members in all group communication, 3) Use of the
Conflict Team Competency Project Team Group Blackboard tools (which include group
discussion board, group file exchange and group email), as well as the Collaborate Workspace
that is embedded within the class will be our primary form of communication. Use of
FHSU/personal email accounts or cell phone contact will serve as a secondary communication
form, 4) Be constructive critics and be receptive to constructive criticism, 5) Be willing to listen
to others thoughts, ideas, and challenges, 6) Be willing to remain open-minded, 7) Be supportive
of each other, 8) Problems that arise will be examined by mutual discussions and resolution, 9)
Each member of the team is responsible and accountable to the team, 10) Team members will
come prepared to set appointments, 11) A time line for completion of phases/stages/components
of the project is as follows: Initial Report: Thursday, June 12th (5 p.m. CST), Chapter Prospectus:
Thursday, June 19th (5 p.m. CST) , Progress Report: Thursday, June 26th (5 p.m. CST), and Final
Team Competency Project Report: Tuesday, July 22nd (5 p.m. CST). Tentative dates for further
work has been presented to the group but not finalized.

On occasion, it has been noted that a new norm may emerge that was not previously
addressed. If such occurs, the group will revisit the initial list of norms and revise it to include
the new team norm upon discussion of all group members. Attached is Appendix A that has the
norms and timelines listed for easy reading.
3. Identify a timeline for completion of phases, stages or components of the project.
Each team member will contribute initial ideas for assignments topics at least one week
prior to the assignments deadline via the Group Discussion Board. A project manager will be
identified for each assignment. It will be the responsibility of the project manager to assign the
creation of formal responses for each respective topic based on individual understanding and
writing strengths. Respective formal responses will be submitted by each team member to the
Group File Exchange at least 4 days before the assignments deadline. Responses will be
formatted into a final working document by that assignments "project manager" and shared with
the team for final approval at least 36 hours before the due date. Once final approval is issued by
all team members, the project manager will be responsible for submitting the final version for
grading and will notify all members when submission has been completed.
Once one assignments deadline is met, immediate attention will be given to the next
approaching assignment to ensure each member has an appropriate amount of time to consider
assignment topics and prepare individual thoughts and ideas. We feel this active approach to
team work and deadlines will allow for effective team collaboration and best use of team
members strengths.
4. Describe how documentation, written work or other materials will be stored/archived.
For each assignment or task, our group has agreed to share initial thoughts on the Group
Discussion Board through Blackboard Collaborate. Once team members have had the

opportunity to review input and share ideas, we will then determine a course of action along with
assigned responsibilities. At this time, our group has consented to employing a project
manager system, where one person will act in the capacity of official archivist for final
submissions. In order to effectively achieve this for streamlined purposes, each team member
will provide word document files to this person via the File Exchange on Blackboard
Collaborate. Once all team members have made final changes or approved the finalized version,
the project manager will send the final document for grading. This agreed upon file exchanging
method will help prevent possible formatting issues that could occur for the archivist if
assignment data is sent and retrieved directly through emails or Blackboard message boards.

Appendix A
Team Norms:
1) Be respectful of all team members
2) Be inclusive of all team members in all group communication

3) Use of the Conflict Team Competency Project Team Group Blackboard tools (which include
group discussion board, group file exchange and group email) as well as the Collaborate
Workspace that is embedded within the class will be our primary form of communication. Use of
FHSU/personal email accounts or cell phone contact will serve as secondary form of
communication.
4) Be constructive critics and be receptive to constructive criticism
5) Be willing to listen to others thoughts, ideas, and challenges
6) Be willing to remain open-minded
7) Be supportive of each other
8) Problems that arise will be examined by mutual discussions and resolution
9) Each member of the team is responsible and accountable to the team
10) Team members will come prepared to set appointments
11) Group project manager position will rotate with each step
Timeline:
Initial Report: Due Thursday, June 12th (5 p.m. Central Time)
Friday, June 6th ideas submitted
Saturday, June 7th, ideas agreed upon, work divided amongst group members
Sunday, June 8, individual work portions submitted for review to group members
Tuesday, June 10, revisions due/final work submitted to Amy (current group project manager)
Wednesday, June 11, Amy will put paper together and submit to instructor in Assignments
Chapter Prospectus: Due Thursday, June 19th (5 p.m. Central Time)
Thursday, June 12, division of work will be finalized
Saturday, June 14, work will be submitted to group members for review
Monday, June 16, all revised work will be submitted to Matt (current group project manager)
Tuesday, June 17, Matt will put paper together
Wednesday, June 18, paper will be submitted to instructor in Assignments
Progress Report: Due Thursday, June 26th (5 p.m. Central Time)
This has not been determined yet
Final Team Competency Project Report: Due Tuesday, July 22nd (5 p.m. Central Time)
This has not been determined yet