On this day, November 12th 2011, I had to give a speech on Core Values, such as team work and leadership, to the competitors of First Lego League, who are a mix of elementary and middle schoolers. To view this speech, click the first link in the video bar "FLL speech". Or, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhIDNpfdJPg. Now, when I used to compete in competitions, there was always some speech of this sort, and I used to be disgusted by the very idea of "Core Values". Who cared if we had teamwork, all that mattered to me was winning. Well now that I have traversed through more advanced competitions, larger teams, and more complex challenges, I see that teamwork is winning. Aside from just building a robot, teams have to know how to interact and play to each other's strengths to achieve the ultimate goal of, not winning, but succeeding. They are two completely different entities. Winning just means that a certain team had a good robot and performed well with it. It shows no indication of who built the robot, and how the robot was made. Success, as I see it, is determined by a well functioning club, with proper leadership and communication. If a team can achieve success, then winning will follow directly suit.
The reason I gave this speech is that I was a judge of Core Values that same day. Throughout the day I watched teams work together on problems introduced to them on the spot without any help from teachers. There was a clear distinction between those who made their robot, and those who had it handed to them giftwrapped. There was also a clear distinction between the teams who fought the entire build period, and those who actually worked as a team. Teams talked about how they resolved conflicts through discussion and voting, but when conflicts arose in this spontaneous problem, all of that went to the wind. Even though the people fighting were children under the age of 13, I realize that I witness the same kind of fighting in our Westwood Robotics Club, consisting of high schoolers and adults. When conflicts arise, no one abides by the "social courtesy" of proper discussion. While some may argue that we discuss various designs and prototype them, no one can possibly argue that there exists no bias.
Just this past season, I witnessed a freshman attempt to prototype his own design. He was competing against our president(A member standing for 4 years)'s design. How is this fair in any way? I didn't help him because I was busy making my own design for a different part of the problem. As it turns out, one of the best teams there had a similar design to the one that this very same freshman had.
Now comes the question, how does any of this relate to the topic at hand, communication? Well, I am one of the main members of the club, and am present at nearly every meeting. I am also one of the most outspoken members (Nice word for loud), but in my eyes, I did a poor job of taking a "team" to the competition. In this next season, I should work more on achieving a team built robot, as opposed to a robot jigsawed by a few members.
The reason I gave this speech is that I was a judge of Core Values that same day. Throughout the day I watched teams work together on problems introduced to them on the spot without any help from teachers. There was a clear distinction between those who made their robot, and those who had it handed to them giftwrapped. There was also a clear distinction between the teams who fought the entire build period, and those who actually worked as a team. Teams talked about how they resolved conflicts through discussion and voting, but when conflicts arose in this spontaneous problem, all of that went to the wind. Even though the people fighting were children under the age of 13, I realize that I witness the same kind of fighting in our Westwood Robotics Club, consisting of high schoolers and adults. When conflicts arise, no one abides by the "social courtesy" of proper discussion. While some may argue that we discuss various designs and prototype them, no one can possibly argue that there exists no bias.
Just this past season, I witnessed a freshman attempt to prototype his own design. He was competing against our president(A member standing for 4 years)'s design. How is this fair in any way? I didn't help him because I was busy making my own design for a different part of the problem. As it turns out, one of the best teams there had a similar design to the one that this very same freshman had.
Now comes the question, how does any of this relate to the topic at hand, communication? Well, I am one of the main members of the club, and am present at nearly every meeting. I am also one of the most outspoken members (Nice word for loud), but in my eyes, I did a poor job of taking a "team" to the competition. In this next season, I should work more on achieving a team built robot, as opposed to a robot jigsawed by a few members.
Great speech, Sailesh. I should've gone to FLL, it was a lot of fun freshman year. How was it this year?
ReplyDelete-Richard Ho