Reflection

What Did I Learn By Completing My Individual Proposal?

By completing the individual proposal assignment, I gained a sense of teamwork. My
first instinct when hearing about this assignment was to question why it was called a proposal
rather than a report of our group project. I thought I would simply be telling my side of the story
of the development of a project we had worked on as a group. As I delved deeper into the
specifics of the assignment, I realized that it wasnt just a summary of what wed done. I wasnt
allowed to mention team members by name. This implied that it wasnt about the specific acts of
individuals Id been assigned to work with. We had struggled with the lack of follow-through
with one person on our team, but I wouldnt be writing about that; Id be writing about what our
team strengths and team weaknesses had been. Then, I would develop a proposal for how to
improve team meetings in the future. This required looking beyond my own experience and to
consider our effectiveness as a team.
This sense of teamwork gave me a stronger sense of team loyalty. As I thought back on
the experiences we had shared, I realized how often members of my group had volunteered to
go the extra mile, to ensure the success of the entire group. As a general rule, we had
communicated well and each of us fed off of the positive energy that permeated our circle. Being
able to boast about my groups team unity in my individual proposal was very satisfying. On
the other hand, when I discussed what we could have improved upon, my sense of being part of a
team led me to take partial credit for any weakness that existed within our group. I realized that I
wasnt just an innocent by-stander. I could have gone beyond the status-quo to reach out to a
member of our group that was struggling. He may have failed us, but we had also failed him. I
was glad that I wasnt permitted to bash him personally in my proposal, because that would
have shown bad form. It wouldnt have been true to the sense of loyalty our team had developed.
And that loyalty had begun to mean something to me.
I am glad that I was able to write this individual proposal about improving meeting
effectiveness, so that I could reflect on the sense of teamwork and team loyalty Id gained, and
then be able to apply what Ive learned in future meeting experiences.