Graduate / significant experience working in a group - essay for Evening MBA UW [3]

Briefly describe what you consider to be your most significant experience working in a group. Describe the task to be completed by the group, key attributes of each member of the group that impacted the final outcome of your efforts, the biggest challenges you faced and the contributions you personally made.

I consider myself very fortunate to have worked with a number of diverse companies. These experiences have helped me to broaden my knowledge of general business operations. My most significant experience working in a group came from a project in my current company. Our company develops multifaceted technology solutions for vessel terminals around the world. UK's largest intermodal rail operator Freightliner is one such customer for whom we developed a terminal operating system. This project served as a blue ocean helping us enter into uncontested rail market during tough economic conditions.

Main Objective of this project was to convert a single location Terminal Operating System into a Multi-Location System. Apart from that we were asked to implement an automated gate system, enhance Rail functionality and accommodate local business practices and government regulations. Modeling complex Business Processes was the biggest challenge I faced. Others were to help develop cost effective solutions and to work with limited resources. To begin with, I analyzed existing customers operations to attain a holistic understanding of Intermodal business process. This knowledge coupled with my experience in terminal operating system aided us to validate the processes before integrating them into system. I sought for early feedback from business analyst and customer to accommodate last minute changes. For high risk processes, I focused my efforts on proposing simple solutions. Reviewed the Developmental process and made recommendations to improve estimation and planning. During this time recognized the need to automate routine tasks. Furthermore automation was implemented for daily report rollout and unit test runs. Streamlining these processes resulted in better productivity and lower costs. A cohesive team was build through open information sharing and collaborative decision making which improved our collective performance.

Like any successful project, ours also comprised of people who enriched the performance of each individual. First among them would be our Group Manager. She set clear expectations to align the team with the customer centric vision. Her candid feedback resulted in superior output. The inception of various focus areas inspired the team to assume ownership. Her exuberance demeanor abetted positive energy throughout the course of the project. Next, the Scrum Master fostered a relentless focus by shielding us from external interferences. He ensured proper team communication and eliminated hurdles. Business Analyst, although new, used his experience at a leading shipping line to engage well with the customer. His organizational skills and attention to detail facilitated in assembling clear concise business requirements. Lastly, the technical expertise of our software guru facilitated me when impeded with any road blocks. Although complex, his ideas were efficient and reliable. Overall, it was a fascinating experience which heightened my consciousness of the value of exemplifying shared commitment. Following this experience, I know that proper collaboration, coordination and communication in a cross functional team can substantially improve the outcome.

Graduate / Relationship with co-workers / personal values strain - essay for Evening MBA UW [2]

Find below is one essay out of three that are required for E MBA at university of washington. It would be great if any one can review my essay for corrections.

Describe a situation in a work environment that either severely strained your relationship with co-workers or challenged your personal values. How did you resolve the situation?

It happened when I was year and a half into my professional job experience and had taken the initiative to train my colleague, who was fresh out of college. My high levels of expectations coupled with inadequate people skills had caused a severe strain between us. Being naturally passionate about delivering the optimal amount of work in the most efficient way, I made efforts to minimize his distractions. Making my colleague the best addition to the team is what I had envisioned. This anticipation exerted unintended pressure on him making it difficult to reach his objectives. Observing that he was not comprehending and delivering at the required pace, it was necessary to reevaluate the circumstances and devise a solution. At that time I explored two options to relieve him of the pressure. Giving support and encouragement to make him excel at the current position was one choice. The second one was to find an alternate role. Realizing that the former was not sustainable and the latter not immediate, a transition plan was devised to better utilize the available time.

Immediately, I apologized to him for the strain created by my expectations and then expressed my desire to understand his learning style. At that point, he also expressed the anxiety he was experiencing for not being able to deliver the tasks in a timely manner. We spend two productive months meeting once a week after work to discuss his interests and aspirations to find a suitable role. His strengths and weaknesses became evident during this period. This geared us to conclude that he was more aligned to a role in Quality Assurance than in Development. A training schedule was created to launch him into the new sphere of work. Upon completion of his training, he joined the QA team. Shortly, thereafter his progress was apparent which made me realize that identifying the interests of individuals and placing them in right role yields high performance. Today my colleague is leading a team in quality assurance. This experience has helped me to relate with Ricardo Sempler, who has shown the world how to significantly improve performance by restructuring relationships with people. There is so much to learn about the dynamics of leading people, I had since then started reading books on related topics. In addition, I continued to grow from observing the practices of other successful leaders around me.

Dale Carnegie once said "People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing". As I reflect today this bares more truth than ever before. I learned that one should not expect an individual to perform at one's own level of dedication. Each person has his own skill sets, priorities and perspectives in life. So, while working with them, we need to be sure not to either overburden them or to under utilize their abilities. Moreover, Individuals contribution varies based on their potential and the challenge is to get the best out of them. Although not comprehensive, these simple things would help create a happy work force.