Key Event 2

 

What?

As a member of the German Club, I helped, along with the rest of the club, to do Midwinters.  It is a dance that we put on for the school; it is one of our, and Virginia Tech's, oldest traditions.  It takes about a year to plan each one (we have 2 co-chairs that do this), about a semester to publicize it (another 2 co-chairs) and a week of working from 8a-11p to set up the Squires ballroom for it.  Depending on the size of the organization at that time, there are usually between 60-80 people during that final week of work.

So what?

We all have to work as one team to be able to put on Midwinters every year.  However, it would never work if we all tried to work out every detail as a group of 60 guys.  So instead, 2 co-chairs are appointed by our president and make all decisions for the project, providing they stay within budget.  These two co-chairs can appoint as many other chairs as they need (Publicity chairs, decorating chairs etc.).  This self managed team is given its resources and a goal.  It may only be a team of 2-10, with the two co-chairs as the leaders, but every year for over 120 years when it has come time to decorate in the final week of work, the team had accomplished its goals.

Now what?

This key event allowed me to learn about the effectiveness of a self managed team.  The use of a self managed team has turned out to be incredibly useful in this situation, and other situations like this that I have been involved in since, because of the work involved.  Planning for and successfully executing a Midwinters dance is a highly stressful, complex, long-term process that forces the planners to be capable of adapting their plans as the many parts keep moving.  I learned that in situations such as those that a team is better than a single person or the entirety of the organization working on the problems. Without the team, the event would not have been a success. Due to the complex nature of the event, without a team the event could never be executed successfully.  Since I was actively involved in planning my first midwinters, I have learned to always turn to a team effort when tackling complex issues, or long-term projects.