Throughout university, and particularly during the micro-mouse project, I have had the experience of working with other aspiring engineers as part of a team. We were required to work in groups of four of whom I had not worked previously. Our group was made up of three males and one female, closely reflecting the gender divide in the engineering world today. I saw this as a positive to our group, as having too many dominant males together can sometimes hinder progression due to conflict of strong opinions. When deciding on our roles within the group, we each chose the one that demonstrated our skillset best. For example, I have strong leadership skills and therefore took on the role of team leader. This post was also open to others, however, together we agreed that I was best suited to ensure we were successful as a group. Throughout this task, it was vital that everyone had a voice and opinions were taken on board. Communication played an important part in the process. We ensured that meetings were conducted so that our plan was coherent and clear. A challenge we faced as a team concerned communication between all members. One member in our group spoke very little English and would communicate with us through a translation app. Although this was a timely task, we needed to take the time to do so. From the start, we made it very clear to each other that all members were valued, included, and supported and I believe had we not taken the time to include this individual, we would not have produced the micro-mouse we did. Everyone’s skill set proved to be pivotal to the success of this task. It was a real eye-opener and a positive experience. Working as part of such a diverse yet inclusive group allowed me to explore what went well, and what did not and how we can overcome challenges together.
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