This book has answered many of my questions about Team Academy. I have understood what we do in a larger context.
It reassured me, that everything, that is happening to me, our team or even our community is part of a complex system. I have found many similarities and realized, how important it is to remember, that our Team Academy has existed just 4 years. The evolution of Team Academy takes time, and we are doing just great!
This book has to offer so much theoretical information about TA, which makes it impossible for me to fit in one essay. I will mention here the stuff that resonated the most with me and that I applied somehow into practice.
The first thing is connected to Guiding ideas and the concept of a goal “trip around the world.”
In our TA teams struggle with finding a goal, that would motivate the whole team.
Apparently, this happened in Finland too. The teams started realizing that a trip works more as a reward than a goal. The goals they set had a much more abstract form. Maybe we should take a different approach. It is also not just about setting a goal, but also about agreeing on team values and defining a mission and vision.
Based on these findings I organized a Vision board workshop for everyone and want to put a big effort on finding a goal that will motivate us.
It also made me curious to look for our community values. I found them hanging on the wall. It was not the first time I have seen them, but the first time I have read them with the intention of understanding. I asked one second year student if they know what they are and they didn’t. I brought them to my team on the next training session and we talked about taking them as ours. I feel like the guiding ideas in our community are not being taken seriously yet. I also wonder what our mission and goal is. I don’t think we have defined one yet as a community or at least I don’t know about it.
I came to an understanding of the role of a coach.
We had some misunderstanding in our team which made me doubt the role itself and its benefits for the team. I also had no knowledge what a coach is and all my judgement were based on subjective opinions. This book states very clearly what is coach for and where the boundaries are and what qualities she they possess.
These findings helped me to change some of my “wrong” mentals models for better but also put into spotlight stuff, that our coach is missing.
To my surprise a coach-team relationship does go through phases. First the coach is more as a teacher, than becomes a co-worker until the team is ready and he can form to an observer. We have fought against this process. Now it is hard to say, where our team is. I think. We polarize somewhere between all pf them.
Brain industrial model
Through this book i got introduced to the brain-industrial model. At first i didn’t understand it so i couldn’t read it. But as the structure was explained to me I realized it’s like a guide to every single learning process we should go through. It shows us what needs to be part of the learning. It made my life much easier when i tried to understand the rocket model, where processes are described through these diagrams. It will not make sense to you unless you understand the meaning behind it.
I also put together a long reading list, based on recommendations from coaches and authors of this book.
I believe that every single TA student should read this book. I simply do not understand how someone can study our program without knowing all the reasons behind it. Because once you understand the idea you realize it makes so much sense and you no longer doubt what is happening. It gets easier to “trust the process.” So my advice to anyone who is struggling with motivation and doubts our learning concept – READ THIS BOOK.
