The institutionalization of FRC teams, and the toxicity it creates

[nrgy_blast]

Originally Posted by IKE

*snip* Inner groups and favoritism do often form and cause problems. Sometimes this is because the "favorites" spend the most time. Sometimes it is because they behave the best. Sometimes there are other forms of favoritism (nepotism, sexism, cronyism) at play. Most mentors try not to play favorites, but it happens similarly to HS sports teams. Unfortunately, this is a real occurrence.
I am not trying to "blame the victim", but it is often worthwhile to do a self assessment to ensure you are not doing a lot of off-putting behaviors. *snip*

We had a student join our team that came from another team, complained about the things the other team did to limit his participation, focused on things he didn't want to focus on - made it sound like our team was a better fit. We accepted him on our team. By the end of the season it was very apparent that it was not the other team that was the problem.... Sometimes personal reflection can go a long way into resolving 'other people's problems'.