Our team is not rookie (2002) and we’ve got a good plan going so far for the robot, at least. But I’ve been noticing that a few people aren’t really doing anything during our meetings. Since our veteran members are aimed towards getting the robot all working and cool looking, they seem to ignore my constant pleas to find some jobs for the 4-5 “extras” sitting around. I wanted to bring it up during tomorrow’s meeting, but no one may reply by then. Advice is needed regardless nonetheless, but it’d help if I could implement it ASAP.
Anyway my request is that I have some position ideas for the team, as I’ve been racking my brain out trying to think of some. I know it’s based mainly off of what they’re interested in and what they want to do, but if I suggest some jobs maybe they’d try it.
Thanks in advance,
=blakcheez=
[PS: I’m also trying to coordinate getting our team to be involved in the community year-round. Thoughts on that subject are also welcome!]
The best thing to do in my opinion is to assign first year people to be paired up with a veteran or mentor who works in the same area they want to work in. Then have the new member shadow the more experienced one until the new member is ready to do projects of their own.
Do they want to build at all? If yes, assign them student mentors, to the specific Sub team of ther choice (Electrical, Programming, Pneumatics, drive train, drive team, etc) if they just want to do something else then, how about chairman’s team? Multimedia? Business? (fund raising) hmm, and you could always have team members organizing the food during long build days? The Multimedia team would be students designing shirts, buttons, and stuff for handing out at competitions etc…
The TechnoKats run similar to a government. We have the adult leaders and then student leaders. Under adult and student leaders there are specified positions; Team Leader, Co-Team Leader, Mechanical Leader, Electrical Leader, Software Leader, Spirit Leader, Scout Chief and Pit Boss. All of these positions have a student and an adult leader, basically they work together to get stuff done. All of the people are elected (except the adult roles, mostly they volunteer for those positions). The student leaders are elected by the team.
There is always trouble with the people who either aren’t outgoing enough to get in the mix and do stuff, or are just lazy. What I have learned to do in the past two years of being student team lead, is to find something not too technically difficult (for instance if software team has nothing to do, but mechanical is swamped) have them cut some aluminum parts for the robot. Just start handing out tasks. Sure, they may not always complete the task, but if you keep nudging them to get out there and do something, they will eventually just start doing it with out you nudging them. You have to be careful to come at the right “angle of attack”. Don’t go over to them and scream “GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND DO SOMETHING!”, just go over and nicely ask them what they would like to do, if they saying I don’t know, then give them something that might interest them. If you want more info or more of my opinion just PM me.
Organize and clean tools
Work on team number signs for the bot
Clean and oil the lathe/drill press/vices/…
Watch the veterans and see what you can learn. Ask foolish questions.
Do Homework, study together for midterms
Check the condition of tools, make a list of those needing attention (dull files, damaged screwdrivers, dull drill bits, etc) for the coach
Sweep the floors
Shag tools or materials for the veterans
Study nuts and bolts, guess the size, and guess the wrench size too, then see how close you are. Continue until you can be 100% perfect on any random fastener thrown your way. A truly valuable skill to be able to say “That’s a 1/4–20 bolt, get me a 7/16 box wrench NOW”
With some imagination, many more can be thought up.
IF these folks want to contribute NEXT year, how do they expect to be able to if THIS year they aren’t learning anything? Worse, they’re wasting time and sucking up oxygen from those who are using it effectively. They’re veterans because they put in their time with the not-so-WOW-stuff, the rookies need to understand that and motivate themSELVES to learn stuff. Even if it’s just the names of tools.
It all depends on their interests. Question their future plans and try to match that with a team activity. For example, if they plan to be an engineer, let them work with the physical building of the robot, if they are seeking more of a communications profession introduce them to designing team shirts, buttons, writing chairman’s award, WFA, etc. However, make sure that they are interested – and that they have fun and continue to be involved. With new members annually, Cybersonics strives get everyone in an active role based upon their interests. If the “extras” are undecided, put them with a veteran, who can after working with them, recommend a position.
Lots of descriptions of jobs to be done on a team contained within various resource papers listed on the NEMO site: http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm
For example, “101 ways parents can help a FIRST team” lists lots of tasks that could also be done by students.
One of my jobs as Vice President of the team is task assigning. Although not fun, with help our team put together an effective way of getting those “extras” to do work.
One: Get a paper of every person’s name and assign them in the sub team they want to be in. i.e. (Mechanical, electrical, programming, etc.)
Two: Print out a weekly calendar of who is going to show up what days so you can plan around their absenses with jobs and assigning. (Improves communication between members instead of one person knowing what needs to be done and not showing up)
Three: Give a speech to the team members telling them what you expect from them, that you don’t want to see them sitting around not doing something and that they should ask a mentor or you what they can do if they find themselves not doing anything.
Four: Keep them learning by shadowing veterans, or teaching them tool names and proper and safe ways to use those tools.
Five: Give them a break every once in a while. If they do work, they need a breather. Have the team have lunch or late night dinner after working 4 hours straight, have the team help pay, or be generous and donate it yourself.
I hope this is helpful for any officer or assignment member reading this. It’s never too late to post advise for others.
