Young Team Builders
It's Never Too Early To Start Changing The World
Photo by Alberto Gasco This post is submitted by the team builder Kaia, a high school junior.
We would love to explore some thoughts (answers) for these questions - jump into the Comments and let us know what you think. (Leave answers by number - Thanks.) My Lessons So Far About Building Community Every person is unique. These differences set us apart from one another. But through my experience as a young team builder, even with the most diverse group of people, we can create a community. On the first day of class, not many know each other. Their walls are built up to protect them from the unknown. Whether subconscious or not, everyone wears a mask over their personality and places assumptions/judgements on others. Though this is done to protect ourselves, it creates divides amongst the community. But in team-oriented programs, these divides are addressed and overcome. Over time, through trust and problem solving activities, their walls start to come down. In this safe community, they can be vulnerable with one another. It's a beautiful moment when someone expresses their authentic self. It happens at different times for every student. Some are more comfortable than others showing their inner colors. When they do, even though we express ourselves differently, we get to see how strikingly similar we all are to one another. However, there is something uniquely special about this: the community embraces them for who they are. The people who we categorized as 'too uptight,' 'too opinionated,' 'too annoying,' 'too talkative,' 'too quiet' start to become someone who we can relate to. We can start to empathize with them, and then the most unlikely friendships and connections form. Being a team leader has taught me many things. But the most profound was that a tight community can form no matter how different the individuals seem to be. Love to hear from you - leave us a Comment.
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AuthorsYoung team Builders are high school and college age students working in team building settings around the world, contributing to this space, sharing what they're creating, programming, teaching and learning. See FUNdoing for team building activities and other resources for team builders.
Find theoretical posts on team building topics, as well as the 'Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Buidling' and the 'OnTeam Building' podcasts.
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August 2021
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