Advice for leading an FLL team?
 

Hi, I am a high school mentor for a FLL Robotics team. So far my students have had a tough time getting along with each other and competition is coming up in 4 weeks. I want to do the best I can to help them get along with one another because we are slacking behind in competing due to the team always arguing. I would like to be a role model for these students and demonstrate to them that there are advantages to working as a team. This is my first year and it would be great to show the students how to get along with one another and to relax and enjoy the full robotics building experience. Any suggestions would be extremely helpful! :D

Re: Advice for leading an FLL team?
 

I would try giving them some challenges that must be solved as a team. This sort of thing is actually part of one of the FLL judging sessions (core values?). A couple of years I kept time for one, and asked afterwards what the challenge was. The students had to get lego blocks from a basket at one end of the room to a basket at the other end. There were rules which required teamwork, e.g. team members could not move their feet while supporting or in direct or indirect contact with a lego, and once a lego hit the floor, it must stay there. IIRC, they could not touch the legos directly, but could do so only through plastic spoons. The bottom line was that the only way to consistently get legos across was some variation of the bucket brigade.

I was on a job interview panel recently, and one of the questions was something like "What makes a team work effectively?" During the breaks between the interviews, we decided that the correct answer was having a common purpose, effective communications, and trust in each other are essential. Respect and a method for resolving conflict are not far behind.

Re: Advice for leading an FLL team?
 

I know this is after most of the regional competitions for FLL this season (found the thread looking for ideas for my team), but the team I mentor has had some similar issues to begin with. We ended up trying to do a different core values focused activity the last 30 minutes of their meeting, which I think helped them figure out some important parts of being a team. We started them by having them get in line in order of when their birthday is, but told them they couldn't talk or make noise. If I have a day when I don't know what to do, I look up generic team building activities and try to adapt it to them. As far as being an example to them, I try to give them suggestions on how they can help each other rather than arguing and redirect energy from the moment of conflict to whatever they are supposed to be doing. You could also try talking to them about how they use core values outside of the team or have them share where they saw core values being used during the meeting that day. Don't worry too much though- with this age it's hard to be totally conflict free.

Re: Advice for leading an FLL team?
 

I would say that caroline.m and GeeTwo are definitely correct; core value and team work activities are essential to building those skills. I found that for my team integrating time where they get to just hang out as a team also helps because it allows them to bond without the pressure of their work. I don't know if your team did many service projects but I also noticed that when we went out collecting garbage and litter (for Outreach for TrashTrek) that really helped them bond. If you have already organized your team, try doing some pre-season activities to help them bond: e.x a trip to the zoo to learn about animals (since next season is Animal Allies).

At the same time, you should also make it apparent that they might not be friends outside of their team. Gracious Professionalism isn't being best friends with everyone. Gracious Professionalism is showing an attitude of grace and being professional to everyone, even people you don't necessarily like. Emphasize that they're all on the same side and that they should learn to be kind to others even if they don't want to hang out with them all the time.

The last thing I would say is that, when appropriate, let the kids lead their team. Obviously you and the coaches/parents should referee arguments and moderate everything that goes on, but at the same time they will all really come together when they have to make a team decision or resolve an issue on their own. Mentoring my team this year, I would always try and drill the core values into them and teach them what it meant to live out Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism. I noticed they really unified and lived out these values when a referee gave them some points for a mission they didn't complete, and I told them that it was their call if they should tell him or not. They all did a huddle and decided unanimously to tell the referee. It was in times like that where I noticed they really started to work together.

tl;dr: Do team building, drill them on Core Values, show them application, let them hang out sometimes, and let them lead while you make sure they don't do something too catastrophic. I have plenty more advice than can be included in a single post so always feel free to PM me here for more advice if you ever need it.