Dr. Meltem Alemdar and Mr. Christopher Cappelli are no strangers to collaboration – they’ve been working together for nine years! They discovered early-on that their individual strengths naturally complement each other, and over time they’ve developed a seamless workflow.

With strengths in Input and Analysis, Cappelli loves discovering new information, and often goes “down the rabbit hole” with research. As an Achiever and an Arranger, Alemdar enjoys synthesizing data and getting things done. With their combined strengths they are detail-oriented while also focused on the big picture, and together they catch things the other has missed. Alemdar explains, “With different strengths, people don’t have to be the same, and they don’t have to do everything.” For this reason, they are enthusiastic about the benefits of CliftonStrengths for team dynamics. As Cappelli puts it, “the StrengthsFinder helps avoid and mitigate conflict, because you better understand others, which creates a better team environment.” By appreciating each other’s strengths, team members collaborate instead of competing.

Alemdar and Cappelli are passionate about the benefits of diverse interdisciplinary research teams. “Diverse teams lead to different perspectives,” Cappelli remarks. “Interdisciplinary research moves the field forward and gets beyond narrow perspectives – creating new knowledge that’s not siloed.” Race and gender diversity as well as disciplinary diversity, Alemdar adds, are key to driving innovation in collaborative research: “It’s a modern way of problem-solving.”

For such teams to be effective, thoughtful cross-disciplinary communication is essential – translating unfamiliar terms, asking questions, and actively listening. Cappelli draws upon his Individualization Strength to understand other people’s points of view, and Alemdar draws upon her Communication Strength to synthesize data for researchers across the social sciences and hard sciences. Cappelli’s experiences collaborating with assessment teams in graduate school showed him that “communicating about projects is vital to success on cross-disciplinary teams” because there are so many “different perspectives with different lingo.” For example, he elaborates, “the term ‘assessment’ means something different across fields. In Education it means testing, whereas in another field it might mean evaluating.” To avoid communication pitfalls with key concepts lost in translation, he says, “you need to learn how to talk to someone and ask the right questions.” Alemdar agrees: “Listening leads to better outcomes.”

In addition to their research partnership, Alemdar and Cappelli work in multiple teams on a daily basis. As the Associate Director and Principal Research Scientist at Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), Alemdar supervises collaborative teams doing data analysis. As a Research Associate at CEISMC as well as a doctoral student in Educational Policy Studies, Cappelli does almost all of his assessment work with teams of cross-disciplinary evaluators. And in their roles doing assessment work (Alemdar as co-PI and Cappelli as team member) for the NSF-IGE grant-funded project “Integrating Team Science into the STEM Graduate Training Experience,” they collaborate with a cross-disciplinary team of researchers to innovate team science training for graduate students.

With their cutting-edge research in curricular assessment, Alemdar and Cappelli not only bring valuable leadership to the Effective Team Dynamics Initiative, but also model a harmonious teamwork dynamic in action.

As Alemdar puts it, “Collaboration is a 21st-century skill – you have to collaborate!”

Cappelli agrees: “Practice what you preach – we’re directly using the skills we’re teaching.”

This is the first article in a two-part series featuring Meltem Alemdar and Christopher Cappelli. Learn more about their assessment work on the NSF-IGE grant-funded project “Integrating Team Science into the STEM Graduate Training Experience” here.

Dr. Mary Lynn Realff is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, but on a given day you might run into her in classes from English Composition and Technical Writing to Senior Design Capstone courses. Why? Because of her passion for teaching the team skills students urgently need in both academic and industry settings. Dr. Realff is a long-term member of the Georgia Tech community, from her undergraduate degree in Textile Engineering to her 27 years as a faculty member. During her time teaching the mechanics of textile structures and polymer science, she became increasingly convinced of the importance of group work, and of the difficulties inherent to a sink-or-swim approach to teaching team-based projects. “Students want to do good design projects,” Realff notes. Too often, however, students are “mired in all this negative team dynamics stuff” and don’t know how to handle it. Faculty members, too, want to provide a good experience for their students, but frequently are not offered the opportunities to learn how to facilitate successful groups.

Dr. Realff knew there had to be a better way. Over the course of the last 16 years, her exploration of the pedagogy of group work brought her to strengths-based theories of education. She began drawing from research in positive psychology and the Science of Team Science, adapting tools such as Gallup Strengths and the Johari Window to proactively head off potential misunderstandings and unproductive conflict in the classroom. This work sparked what has now become the Effective Team Dynamics (ETD) Initiative.

ETD is based on research-driven methods of improving team function, focusing on reflective evaluation of a student’s own habits, skills, knowledge, and abilities as well as the requirements of specific assignments, and the unique dynamics present in each new team. CliftonStrengths describes 34 talent “themes” such as “learner,” “adaptability,” and “empathy.” Students take an assessment and are given their top five talent themes based on their responses. Using the language of CliftonStrengths, ETD helps students identify their patterns of thought and behavior, name and build on their strengths, identify the diverse strengths of any team, and interpret behavior of team members in productive ways. This common language, Realff suggests, “offers a way for me to express what I do best and what excites me.” Even more, it helps each team member realize that other people think and behave differently – and that these differences can be a source of strength for the project rather than an obstacle to be overcome.

Focusing on what is right with people is shown to positively impact well-being and engagement as well as produce more successful group projects. Over the past four years, Realff and ETD have contributed to a growing movement across Georgia Tech to teach successful interpersonal skills as well as the content and methodology of specific disciplines. ETD’s potential was recognized with a Strategy Plan Advisory Group grant, which it used to develop curriculum and work to train students and faculty in team skills. ETD has worked with over 1,000 faculty and staff members across all of Georgia Tech’s six colleges, which, in turn, has led over 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students to identify and leverage their personal strengths in ways that are beneficial to the group.

When asked about her own strengths, ETD Director Dr. Mary Lynn Realff identifies herself in the language of CliftonStrengths as having the “arranger” and “individualization” talents. Identifying these traits allows her to take over roles that she shines in and enjoys, like organizing large, multifaceted projects such as ETD. CliftonStrengths has also helped Realff to discover and articulate her teaching and leadership style as “a person who is motivated by a core set of values and will be ‘all in,’” who “loves to learn and find new ways to help others learn.” Realff travels around the country presenting on her work with ETD, but Georgia Tech always comes first for her. She is energized by bringing instructors and students wishing to improve their team skills into the ETD family.

By any definition, Alex Berry is a team player. Part of the group that brought a large grant in for ETD’s development in 2016, his expertise in collaborative problem-solving left its mark on the initiative from its earliest days. From his involvement with student government to his dozens of mentees within and outside of his home in the School of Industrial Systems and Engineering, Alex’s enthusiasm for working with others to make things happen has left the 2017 graduate with a robust legacy that he continues as the president of the Portland Georgia Tech Alumni Network.

While Alex’s outgoing personality certainly hasn’t hampered his academic and professional development, he credits his successes in teamwork more to specific skills he developed than to being naturally extroverted. Alex began working with ETD after a semester of running 4-5 teams at a time for various project-based classes. He wondered why some teams were strong, while other teams struggled. From Alex’s perspective, other students at Georgia Tech seemed to have a grasp on their personal strengths. However, when it came to translating those strengths to well-rounded and robust teams, results were mixed. Students found it difficult to leverage their own strengths in complementary ways with those of teammates. That is why ETD’s work bridging the individual understanding of “Who am I?” to the problem of “How do I team?” is an integral part to the initiative’s mission, Alex explains.

Alex believes that learning to move from the individual’s strengths to the team’s success comes with the development of a shared language around talent and motivation. In the language of CliftonStrengths, Alex identifies his primary strengths as learner, context, strategic, analytical, and individualization. He describes his combination as both helping him develop processes and form teams and in helping him get to the broader context of a problem. While the language of CliftonStrengths helps Alex identify and describe his strengths, to him it is less the particularities of the language and more the team’s development together of a shared language that is important. With a growing awareness of strengths, comes a new understanding of equitable work as well as the resources to put these values around fairness into practice. Alex believes that dividing tasks should not be about making sure that everyone has some idealized equal amount of work, but rather that teams should prioritize giving each team member a piece of the project that they care about: “if I do 60% of the work that I love and enjoy, no big deal,” he concludes.

For Alex, teamwork is not only about cooperating on the release of semiconductors for Intel, or about developing processes to increase project management efficiency between U.S. and Chinese partners. Alex reframes individual tasks (i.e. washing the dishes) in terms of a team (i.e. being the member of “team potluck” who ensures there is a clean, welcoming host location). He notes, “I conceptualize almost my entire life around the concept of teams.” This reframing of interactions as teamwork is especially salient for his work as a mentor. “Mentorship is a team effort,” he explains. In his 50+ mentorship relationships (an accomplishment in itself for a 26-year-old), he sees his role not as a “wise sage” but rather as a player “invited to join a team.”

Ultimately, Alex’s work with ETD and his research with Dr. Mary Lynn Realff convinced him that storytelling is the most important component of professional representation. In his numerous hours helping mentees write resumes and prepare for job interviews, Alex uses his experiences from ETD to help people identify and articulate strengths as well as communicate gaps in a positive, constructive way. Alex is so passionate about the power of storytelling that he founded the social business Chocolate Milk Diplomacy, a career consultancy that empowers marginalized communities to tell their own professional stories. Alex’s story seems to be something out of the adventure genre, as he makes his way from the town of Albany, GA to Atlanta’s Georgia Tech and now to Intel’s offices in Portland, OR. We look forward to seeing where his journey takes him next!

How do we team remotely? With the shift to online courses and meetings, Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students have quickly familiarized themselves with tools like BlueJeans, Microsoft Teams, and Kaltura. Without the option to meet in person, it’s more important than ever for teams to develop communication strategies to stay on track and stay positive.

Incoming sophomores Chase Goulet, Chris Ozgo, and Gavin Rolls are practicing ways to promote strong online team dynamics while working on an independent summer project. With their teammates Sreya Atmuri, Bryce Jackson, and Grace Pfohl, they are collaborating to develop a basketball training app for a client. Since their original summer internship plans fell through due to the quarantine, they decided to develop the app as an alternative way to gain work experience. “Because we all know that this project will be a great experience for our future careers, we’re all super motivated to work on it,” Chase says.

This team of Computer Science majors has approached the challenge of collaborating remotely with a clear set of tools to support their communication processes. “Using online tools like Slack, GitHub, Jira, Confluence, and Zoom has allowed us to develop a product seamlessly as if we are all in the same physical location,” Chris says. Chase adds that the digital nature of their app development project means that it’s easy to share files with each other, and Gavin mentions the team is lucky to be able to do all their work on a computer.

When cultivating effective online teamwork, it’s important to consider not only the tools but also the methods. As computer science students, this team uses the “Scrum” method of Agile software development. As Chase explains it, “the Scrum framework is an Agile design methodology that segments development into weekly (or bi-weekly in our case) sprints where goals and checkpoints are concisely laid out for each member of the team.” Gavin adds that this framework is “specifically designed to enable enhanced productivity,” with principles that “encourage collaboration and allow for the review of team dynamics and processes on the fly.”

Following this method, the team meets on a daily basis. “To make sure we’re on track, we host 10-minute ‘Stand-Up’ meetings Monday-Friday where each member of the team highlights what they’ve worked on, what they plan to work on, and if they have any impediments blocking their development,” Chase says. “This has been a great way to make sure everyone in the team is familiar with what everyone else is working on.” Sometimes the daily meetings go slightly longer, but never more than 20 minutes in order to maintain efficiency. “These scheduled conversations,” Gavin elaborates, “help contribute to the sense that everyone on our team is working day in and day out to create the same vision, and help us stay posted on what everyone is doing.” The daily meetings, he says, are “incredibly important,” and also help the team track their progress “from a big picture standpoint.”

Another important part of the Agile method is reflecting on the team’s progress every two weeks. Since their work is divided into two-week increments, these meetings are key to their collaborative process: “we talk about what we achieved over the last two weeks, where that puts us relative to our initial goals, and what we’re hoping to achieve in the next two weeks,” Gavin says. These reflective checkpoints streamline the project work, he adds, allowing the team to keep track of their goals as well as their progress toward meeting them.

To create a positive and productive team dynamic even while working remotely, the team prioritizes clear communication with their daily meetings and biweekly reflections. Notably, this includes planning ahead: as Gavin emphasizes, “scheduling this communication in advance instead of having it happen in a more impromptu manner has helped us stick with our initial communication goals.” Due to the flexible nature of the team’s Agile method, they occasionally schedule additional “quality check” meetings: “one member will have a meeting with one or two other members to ensure that the component they have developed works properly and will be compatible with the rest of the app,” Chase explains.

To help fellow GT students reshape their virtual teamwork experiences this summer, the team is willing to share some key tips and strategies. Chris emphasizes, “Communication is key. You have to be willing to talk with your teammates or else no one will understand what’s going on and what they are supposed to be working on.” Chase agrees: “I would highlight communication as the highest priority when it comes to teamwork and team efficiency. Make sure everyone has at least a high-level overview of the product you’re creating or the app you’re designing, and that every member understands what every other member is working on. This way when questions inevitably arise, everyone will know who to ask as necessary.” Gavin adds, “establishing a plan regarding workflow with your team members early on, and being serious about sticking to that plan, is really critical. A clear idea of how work should get done has helped me push myself to stay accountable when it comes to the work that I do. Make a plan from the outset and be transparent about how well that plan is going.”

Chase has some additional advice: “For any students or teams trying to make the most of their summers in quarantine, now is definitely a great time to work on projects you’ve been putting off or have always wanted to work on but have never had the time to. I’m working to put together a portfolio of all my design work from over the years now that I actually have time to do so.”

With today’s team collaborations relying on online interactions, this stellar team’s tips are particularly timely! The right tools and communication strategies are essential to collaborate remotely, and structuring the work to keep the team on track will lead to success.

When Dr. Christie Stewart began her year-long pilot of APPH 1802, “Thriving, Not Just Surviving: Strategies for Health and Resilience,” she did not anticipate just how immediately relevant the topic of resilience would prove. Stewart, who holds a PhD in higher education leadership, centers her research and teaching on the development of communities to support well-being. In her current role as a faculty member in the School of Biological Sciences, she teaches the wellness requirement, which incorporates pillars of health and well-being including physical activity, nutrition, sleep, stress management, coping, and resilience.

Stewart’s mission to create a culture of resilience at Georgia Tech took a turn during a week-long training workshop. Preparing her class, Stewart wondered, “how can we continue to support our students’ well-being? How can we integrate the practical aspect of self-care? How do we best have students look at the different dimensions of well-being and evaluate where they are?” As she was introduced to the CliftonStrengths framework, she was intrigued by the potential of team dynamics for pursuing these questions. Through conversations with Caroline Dotts, associate director of healthy lifestyle programs at the Campus Recreation Center (CRC) and a member of the Effective Team Dynamics Initiative’s leadership team, Stewart developed a plan to teach the building of effective teams using a positive, strengths-centered approach.

Stewart’s year-long honors pilot class, co-taught with Lesley Baradel, took a two-pronged approach: learning about personal and team-based strengths and using “crucial conversations” to make differences, and even conflicts, productive. Students identified their own coping styles and strengths, learning to transform stress into positive challenges. As one student put it, “My learner strength helps me be very resilient. Anything in life is an opportunity to learn, and gathering knowledge and learning from problems helps me look at problems as challenges to learn and improve from. This way, I’m better prepared the next time a similar problem comes around.”

For Stewart, the concept of resilience is important especially for students who tend toward perfectionism and have deep anxieties about failure. Resilience provides a productive way for students to use stress, obstacles, and failure to come back stronger. In class, students are taught to use failure to set future goals based on personal values and purpose.

By the time her spring semester final exam rolled around, students were more than ready to observe and describe the strengths they used to be resilient. Stewart reports that students responded overwhelmingly in positive terms: being grateful, remaining connected, finding support, and being supported by others topped the list of strategies they learned from their resilience training.

Stewart’s use of CliftonStrengths extends beyond the classroom. She learned that her top five talent themes were “achiever, deliberative, futuristic, analytical, and significance.” In her work on APPH 1802, she found herself especially tapping into the “futuristic” and “analytical” themes as she ran her pilot and put together a course proposal. Stewart describes herself as “inspired by a vision of the future,” and as being deeply motivated by “looking for rationales or reasons for why we do what we do” – both strengths that are crucial to putting together a successful pilot course.

Completing the course, which strongly features interpersonal skills, in a remote learning environment was never part of Stewart’s original plan, but she has no regrets about the timing of her pilot. She hopes the time spent working through questions of personal purpose and meaning, team skills, adapting to challenges, and integrating setbacks into an overall growth plan will continue to benefit students in an uncertain time.