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Re: Looking for some brutally honest feedback...
Keeping students as engaged and committed as the FIRST season demands is major problem for the majority of teams. There's no shame in admitting that. I'll admit my team is plagued by this problem too.
In my opinion, what keeps a team together is the complex social-structure that good teams develop. This is the "team" in "team-building." Ultimately, student push themselves to achieve, less because of the learning and experience benefit to themselves, and more because of the social gratification they will receive. If there is not a strong system of social rewards for ambition and commitment, that could be the key to success.
At it's core, our team is really just a few inter-locking friend circles that have been built around robotics. There are many ways of creating this social foundation, but a simple way is to put your team through duress and make them find a way out. If only a few people do not give up it will be a good team-building exercise. I caution against internet team-building activities -- they're ineffective and a waste of everyone's time.
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