Building just isn't a priority anymore

[Nomadic Mentor]

Originally Posted by Imperium283

This is one of the most reasonable ones most of all. I wish our team had that tone, that building is the priority, but we don't know how to set that tone. And when we try, it backfires on us socially

I've been thinking about this problem for a while. I have a couple of suggestions you might try. First set some ground rules but more importantly enforce those rules. Secondly comes from a judge at the last regional I went to. Find ways to communicate with them. It's hard and takes a LOT of patience but once you figure out how; it will work wonders for you and your team. One thing that's help me a lot has been complementing the people who are doing good work regardless of what that work. One student did an excellent job with painting the numbers on our bumpers, it wasn't mission critical but by mentioning how good of a job he did, it got him more interested in the rest of the robot and overall he ended up making a make larger and better quality contribution to the team than he otherwise would have.
Another method is to intentionally split up the cliques that form. Ask a few students to come help you with something, like replace a wheel, and while your doing it start teaching them how to fix the chain, or properly space a wheel and whatever else you needed "help" with. Rotate who your asking and as you fix or make other parts you'll come to know how to place the team members effectively so you get a great robot and a happy leadership, and well satisfied team as a whole.

Hope my $.02 helps

-Joseph