51 Well Daze in Canada

Team 109 Poster

Team Reflection

The COIL assessment experience taught our group a great deal about collaborating within cross-cultural teams. A key takeaway from this experience was learning how to effectively communicate with others from diverse cultural backgrounds. Our team included members from Brazil, Canada, and the U.S., and due to cultural differences, we encountered a language barrier resulting from varying levels of fluency in English. To address this challenge, we employed several strategies, including active listening and patience, to make sure that all members shared a mutual understanding of our team objectives. In instances where a common understanding could not be reached, our group utilized alternative communication methods, such as using the meeting chat to type messages rather than relying solely on verbal communication. Another crucial takeaway for our group was the importance of incorporating a wide range of ideas and opinions from all participants. We quickly noted that all members had different areas of expertise, some had a background in IT, while others possessed skills in business, analytics, and leadership. By leveraging everyone’s strengths, backgrounds, different perspectives and ideas, we were able to strategically problem solve, make comprehensive decisions, and increase the overall quality of our work. Thus, highlighting the importance of diversity in the creative process.

Throughout the semester we learned much in regards to sustainability, sustainable practices, and working in cross cultural teams. The interview with Well Days highlighted that businesses, even small ones, can have a significant impact on social good. The founder Aimee Sutton demonstrated that prioritizing sustainable practices and corporate social responsibility (CSR) does not only enhance the company’s reputation but also serves the broader community. This perspective, aligned with readings from Dr. Burga’s class reinforced our understanding that businesses are increasingly responsible for integrating social and environmental considerations, making the role of business essential in creating positive social impacts. Additionally, learning about cultural differences and diverse work styles significantly improved our team’s cohesiveness. Being exposed to potential obstacles and differences helped us become better equipped to handle challenges, navigate the assignment, and resolve conflicts effectively. Moreover, learning about the POLC framework (planning, organizing, leading, and controlling) greatly supported our teamwork by guiding us through a systematic process for managing and completing deliverables. This helped us to stay organized, and maximize the effectiveness of our cross cultural team.

Throughout the weeks of the COIL experience, our team navigated the project deliverables with a high degree of effectiveness. This success stemmed directly from the processes and procedures we implemented. Once organized into our team, we promptly selected platforms for communication and collaboration, ultimately choosing WhatsApp and Google Docs as our primary tools. Weekly meetings were conducted via Google Meet, serving as dedicated time for group discussions. To minimize any confusion from differing time zones, we scheduled our meetings at the same day and time each week. In our meetings, we discussed upcoming objectives, updated each other on progress with assigned tasks, set new goals for the following weeks, and addressed questions to foster mutual understanding and team cohesion. In addition to regular meetings, we communicated frequently through our WhatsApp group chat. There, we discussed progress toward our goals, provided reminders of upcoming deliverables, and offered

feedback on any questions or concerns raised by team members. For the three main COIL assignments, we divided tasks based on individual strengths and preferences. We also made it a priority to support one another beyond our assigned tasks by sharing feedback, ideas, and concerns to strengthen collaboration and maximize the quality of our work. Regular discussions allowed us to synthesize our findings and ensure that we were approaching the interview content from multiple angles.

After coming together as a group to reflect on what worked and what didn’t, we concluded that more aspects of this cross-cultural experience were successful than challenging. At the beginning of the COIL experience, we established effective channels for communication and collaboration using WhatsApp, email, Google Docs, and Google Meets. These platforms worked exceptionally well and contributed to our group’s success by enabling us to communicate questions, concerns, and feedback with each other and collaborate efficiently on group deliverables despite time differences. This helped ensure team unisense throughout the COIL process, allowing us to work seamlessly in accomplishing our shared goals. Additionally, holding a recurring weekly meeting worked well for our group. By scheduling our meeting on the same day and time each week, we eliminated confusion around time zones and ensured full attendance from all team members. Regularly meeting as a whole team greatly contributed to our group’s success, as it allowed us to set weekly goals, and track progress on deliverables as we navigated the COIL process. Moreover, our task breakdown strategy greatly contributed to our team’s progress and success throughout the COIL activity. When assigning tasks, we considered each member’s individual expertise and interest in specific objectives. By aligning tasks with members strengths and preferences, we were able to ensure a fair distribution of workload, while maximizing individual productivity and engagement. On the contrary, our group did face some challenges. Our main obstacle was navigating the language barrier, as English fluency varied among members. However, through active listening, patience, and mutual respect, we were able to overcome this, turning it into a valuable learning experience for everyone involved.

Individual Reflections

George’s Perspective: Participating in this experiential activity, was challenging at times, but overall rewarding. During the first few meetings there was definitely a feeling out process that made it difficult to establish groups norms, goals, and positions. The first big hurdle to jump was language differences. Working with a team containing members from Brazil and the United States, language barriers occasionally posed a challenge to communication. Although we primarily used the English language, differences in proficiency and accents sometimes led to misunderstandings. I quickly learned the importance of patience and clarity when discussing details about the COIL assignment. I often found myself stepping up to help clarify instructions and answer questions, when others seemed hesitant. This helped me to develop my leadership skills, which is an area I have struggled in during past group activities. Additionally, if there was ever something I had trouble understanding, I would always politely ask my group member to repeat what they had said. Another challenge my group had to navigate during this activity was dealing with different time zones. At first, finding a mutually convenient time for meetings was quite difficult. Eventually, my group was able to establish a schedule that worked for everyone, meeting Wednesdays at 8:30pm EST every week. This taught me the importance of flexibility in a team setting. Going into this assignment, I was closed off to the idea of conducting our meetings at night, as I tend to focus best on homework at night and didn’t want that routine interrupted. The need to accommodate different time zones, pushed me to break my routine and become more adaptable. As time passed, my group was able to become a strong and cohesive team, that I feel I have learned a lot from. Overall, this experience taught me how to be a more patient and adaptable leader, strengthening my ability to collaborate in a team environment.

Tiago’s Perspective: Participating in this activity was challenging, especially at the beginning. During our first meeting, some members remained silent, while others struggled to express themselves. The main barrier was communication, as we were speaking in English, which created obstacles for me at times since I couldn’t fully understand what was being discussed. This made me feel concerned, as I thought I might not be able to keep up with the group. Fortunately, George, one of the team members, noticed our communication challenges and took on a leadership role, coordinating and explaining the tasks in a clear way. His approach to communication was more accessible for me, which greatly improved my understanding. His attitude was essential in helping me feel more secure and engaged in the project. Throughout this experience, I learned the value of being led. I realized that for a team to succeed, it’s crucial to know when to contribute actively and when to trust in the guidance of a leader. I learned to follow directions with humility and to appreciate my colleagues’ skills and decisions. This perspective showed me that leadership is not only about leading but also about collaborating and supporting the work of those who are guiding the group. This process strengthened my ability to trust and learn from the leadership of others. Another positive aspect was the group’s willingness to organize meetings despite our three different time zones. We were able to adapt and find a day and time that worked for everyone. This flexibility helped us maintain a steady pace in our tasks. In summary, the work progressed gradually, with roles naturally becoming established, and everyone was actively involved, providing support as the tasks advanced. This experience was highly rewarding. Besides the cultural exchange, it also allowed me to reflect critically on how we should behave in team projects.

Loriah’s perspective: Participating in this activity had its fair share of challenges, however it was truly an eye opening and overall lovely experience. Throughout this activity we were given the opportunity to connect and work with individuals of all different backgrounds. With this, we did experience challenges of language barriers, some confusion regarding everyone’s overall understanding at times, and in addition to this, the time differences also served as a small obstacle. Despite these challenges, I feel like our group worked nicely together, and had equal contribution from all team members, as we each brought valuable insight and uniqueness to the group. We would communicate often via our whatsapp group chat, and reiterate things discussed in our weekly meetings, which I think really helped to solidify everyone’s understanding on their role on certain aspects of the project, as well as how to go about completing things. Even when there was confusion, I feel that everyone felt comfortable enough to ask questions and obtain the clarity needed to perform efficiently and effectively. Overcoming these barriers requires lots of patience, and open mindedness, which is something I think was exercised nicely by all members. Working with people from all around the world, means that there will inevitably be time differences and navigating this can be different, and can require some sacrifices on one end or another. Being that, Brazil, Canada and the US have a one to two hour time difference, finding a time to meet that works for everyone was difficult. However, on this note we found a time in the evening that worked well for everyone, that we consistently stuck to for all of our meetings. Adapting to different time zones helped me appreciate the importance of adaptability. Being adaptable is an important attribute of any leader, and something that definitely helped make this activity go smoother. I think that this activity required lots of communication and confirmation, in order to ensure that all members are on the same page at all times. This forced us all to find ways to navigate the language barriers (whether that be having one of the other team members from the same country translate something) and express any confusion. Tiago and Waldir did a really nice job of this whenever there was any kind of hesitancy or miscommunication. Learning how to navigate language barriers allowed me to practice effective communication, and illustrated the importance of learning how to approach cross-cultural dynamics. I think that we all contributed to the group and activity in our own way. Within this group, I don’t think that there was one said leader, however George did play a key role in mediating all parties and helping with clarity for a lot of the group members. I think that my personal contribution to the group was reminding the group of specific details, asking questions for collective understanding, and providing insight when applicable. I definitely learned a lot from this experience, and am very thankful to have had the opportunity to participate.

Waldir’s perspective: Participating in this project was a valuable learning experience for me, especially as it involved collaborating with students from different countries. Working in a diverse team not only broadened my understanding of sustainability practices in various cultural contexts but also allowed me to see how these principles are interpreted and implemented differently around the world. Each member brought unique perspectives influenced by their local experiences and educational backgrounds, which enriched our discussions and enhanced my understanding of global sustainability. One of the main challenges I faced was conducting our meetings in English, a language in which I am not yet fully fluent. At times, it was difficult to express my ideas as clearly as I wanted, and I often needed to ask my teammates to repeat certain points to ensure I understood correctly. However, this challenge turned out to be one of the most rewarding aspects of the project. The constant practice in a real-world setting helped me improve my English communication skills significantly. My confidence in speaking English grew with each meeting, and I found myself more capable of discussing complex topics by the end of the project. Furthermore, observing the communication styles of other team members—who were more fluent in English—was extremely helpful. I learned strategies to articulate ideas more effectively and to ask questions in a way that contributes meaningfully to the conversation. The group’s patience and support also made a difference, as they were understanding of my language limitations and often provided clarification when needed. In summary, this project allowed me to learn about sustainability from an international perspective, improved my English skills, and taught me how to navigate language challenges in a professional setting. It was a challenging experience, but one that left me better prepared for future cross-cultural collaborations.

Alexis’s Perspective: This project was a valuable experience for me. Initially, I was unsure about communicating because we all live in different time zones and are trying to find the best time and day that fits our schedules. We were a little confused at first about who’s time zone we all agreed on for our meeting. But after the first week into this project, we all got settled in, and we were all able to agree on meeting time as a group. We’d all meet up at night because that’s when we were all available. At first, I wasn’t too keen on meeting up at night since I would do homework around this time. However, I realized that not everyone has the same schedule as myself after our first meeting. For some, our meeting time would be their only spare time because they had to go for work or class. We all spoke English as our primary language. We had no issues because Loriah and I, as well as our Canadian partners, speak English fluently. However, our Brazilian partners occasionally struggled to communicate, but our group was patient, tried our best to understand them, didn’t judge them, and helped them out. I’d also like to mention that George was an excellent leader throughout the project. He initiated the discussion at our group meetings and ensured that we completed our tasks on schedule. I also have a tendency of preferring to work alone rather than in groups. However, as the project went on, I realized that my partners would provide distinct viewpoints, which I hadn’t considered if I did this project by myself. We would communicate through WhatsApp for this project. This is how we will communicate to agree on a meeting date and time, as well as to update the group on the project’s advancement. I believe that everyone was able to contribute equally to this project, and we were all able to help each other when we didn’t understand something about the project. Overall, COIL improved my knowledge of different cultures and ability to collaborate in a global environment.

Michael’s Perspective: Participating in this experiential activity was both challenging and enriching. The first few meetings felt a bit awkward, and many group members, myself included, seemed hesitant to speak much. This was likely due to the language barrier, which presented one of our group’s biggest challenges. Our team included members from the U.S. and Brazil, and we communicated in English. As a result, we occasionally encountered communication and comprehension issues due to varying levels of fluency, which made it initially challenging to establish roles and begin work on the assignment. To the team’s benefit, one member, George, stepped up and adopted a leadership role. In each meeting, George outlined upcoming deliverables, addressed any questions or concerns regarding the COIL process, and fostered team cohesion by ensuring that all members were aligned throughout the experience. As my fellow Canadian group member, George’s leadership taught me a lot about managing a cross-cultural team. I’m fairly shy, and one of my biggest concerns in this experience was communicating with others, as I didn’t want to offend anyone due to any misunderstandings. Watching George handle these situations with respect, clarity, and patience gave me valuable insight into navigating communication barriers more effectively. This greatly helped me when I addressed each team member in our final meeting for their input before completing our group reflection. I also used an auto-caption tool during meetings to better understand my group members, which significantly improved my comprehension of everything discussed. One challenge our team faced was coordinating across different time zones. Initially we faced some adversity in establishing a meeting time that fit into everyone’s schedules. Eventually we agreed on weekly meetings every Wednesday at 8:30 PM EST. Leading up to this experience, I was against this time because I usually have extracurricular activities in the evenings. However, it was the only time that worked for everyone. This taught me how to be flexible and adaptable, as I had to restructure my routine to meet both personal and team commitments. In conclusion this experience has helped me develop both as a business student and as an individual. I’ve developed stronger communication skills, adaptability, and a greater ability to work effectively in a team.