The Learning Journey Continues and a little bit about the Paradoxes of Engaging

All the experiences of learning! Aahhh! We really had a fun class yesterday! In addition we have had an extremely fun two weeks before that. Now I’m talking about our time with our presentations and our first big goal to achieve. Last time I wrote about belonging, the first paradox of group life. During these two weeks something happened! In this team, Globetrotters, I really felt that we, as a team, were developing and we were moving towards engaging. The paradoxes of engaging consists of disclosure, trust, intimacy and regression (Smith & Berg, 1997, pp. 110-111). They refers that trust between the team members builds a safe environment where the team can develop, can communicate freely knowing that listening occurs, are able to make mistakes safely, are able to learn from them and succeed in an atmosphere where there is no contradiction between your own values and your teams values. And that is how I have felt during this time that we have had together when we have prepared our (awesome) presentation. I have to admit that I felt a little bit nervous yesterday before my “own part”. I trusted to my teammates so much that I could confess that I’m feeling unsure and nervous about my oral presentation and I might need some help. But as I said to my teammates after the presentation that I knew that if something goes wrong (I mean I start to get confused with my words for example) I have my teammates at my side who I can trust to help me out. 

As we could see in the movies "12 Angry men", "Apollo 13", and “Remember the Titans” how individuals from different backgrounds can achieve consensus, move from forming, storming, and norming to performing and achieve something important together. I could consider engaging as mutually approved understanding, as a journey how to be a successful team; how to get the pieces to fit together in an effective way and build an environment where members want to continue their journey within the group. I really feel that I want to engage to this group and continue my learning journey within the group.