A New Perspective on Team Work: Senior Seminar Reflections
By Emily Sebo–Teamwork has always been my strong suit. Being an athlete all of my life and a team captain for the University of St. Thomas Women’s basketball team these last four years, have shown me how much I enjoy being a part of a team. I work well with others and tend to thrive in team settings. That is why when Senior Seminar came around, I thought it would be easy to join a group and get work done– I’ve done it a million times.
I was wrong.
A Different Kind of Team
Don’t get me wrong it was a great experience. But it was not easy like I thought it would be. Most of my life I have been in a leadership position when it came to sports: I was either a captain or the one with more experience. Business is different. When I finally got assigned to a group and we started working on our simulation (our team company), I realized that I needed a lot of help. I normally do not like to ask for help; I’m normally the one who likes to help others. This is where I struggled.
I’m a Marketing and General Business double major with a minor in Communication. Finance and Accounting are not my strong suits, so when it came to pitching in ideas on how to run these parts of our company, I felt useless. I would sit there and think I’m graduating in a couple of months, and I realized there is still so much to learn. Then I would go into panic mode and question most of my life decisions up until that point. I would sit there and think “how can I go into the business world and feel uncomfortable talking about, well, business.” Then it hit me. That is the point of being on a six-member team. I’m not expected to know it all or to be able to answer all of the problems/questions. I am here to help the team with what I know best so they can help me with what they know best.
It seems so simple, yet it took me most of the semester to figure it out. Being successful in business is not all about knowing all of the answers; it is about finding the best way to figure out those answers you do not know before everyone else does using the resources available to you.
Case Competitions
When we got to case competitions, and I realized that I was valuable to the team because I’m comfortable presenting. I like to speak about what I know to audiences. I’m a basketball player; I perform in front of crowds of people all the time. I saw some of my teammates completely dread the competitions, and I thought “wow, this is where I can help lift us up. This is where I can contribute and lead.” So that is what I tried to do.
I never thought I would learn so much not only about business but also about myself in a few short months. I learned not only how to lead and be strong but how to follow and lean on others when I needed help. I learned how to work with different people on multiple different tasks with multiple different personalities. Even thought there were times when I thought I would never make it through the class, here I am, alive and still graduating in May of this year. So to all of you, who have not taken Senior Seminar yet, try to enjoy what Dr. George is teaching you, not only in the classroom but outside of it too. Enjoy it the best you can because senior seminar is a stepping-stone of what is hopefully to come!
UST – BBA, Marketing & General Business, 2015