The ability of an individual to influence & motivate others to contribute toward sucess.

[jackshoegazer]

It is amusing how group projects bring out my latent leadership abilities.

Comments

[ed1nburgh.livejournal.com]

_{I'm horrible at group projects. My obsessive-compulsive disorder combined with the inherent lack of work ethic of people in the group with me pretty much assures that I'll end up doin it all myself.}

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Group projects are usually doomed from the beginning, but we must suffer through. Once I had a group that refused to suggest anything or even discuss, so they just blandly agreed to whatever I said, so I divided up the work and acted as leader and organizer. Then I hear from my teacher that my group was complaining that I was doing everything, so I told them all to fuck off and made them do the presentation by themselves. I told the teacher what was going on and I got full credit for the project. I don't know what happened to everyone else.

This project is pretty good and two of my group members are really productive. The other two are kind of slackers, did the minimum (one of which barely did anything, came to no meetings, and only sneaked in his research at the last minute.)

I guess I see it as a balancing act; if others hesitate, I step up to fill the gaps.

[ed1nburgh.livejournal.com]

<sub>That's how it usually happens for me. I remember my shining moment was when I was in the 7th grade, way back when. I had a science project to work on with a group of people, all of whom were slackers. We had to build a roller coaster and then explain the physics behind it. We had a substitute teacher that week, so they could screw around however they wanted because they knew I'd work on the project out of fear of getting a bad grade. They told me that I'd have to do all the research, because they weren't going to do any and I'd get them all As.

So, when the teacher got back on the day of our presentation, I went and told her what happened. She said, "Okay, do this. I'm pretty sure they'll all come up to you and ask if you did the research. Tell them you didn't do it." (Even though I obviously had--though I'd had no intention of sharing it with them.) When it came time to present, she asked each of them to explain how the roller coaster worked, and flunked all of them in front of the class. It felt nice. After that, they tried to complain that I forced them not to work and did the entire thing myself, but she knew better.

Luckily, now that I'm in IB classes, the kids there are just as concerned with getting a good grade as I am, so they're easier with which to work. When I was in open-level classes, you'd get all the slackers, and it was wretched.</sub>

[fortepiano.livejournal.com]

that was some pretty sweet comeuppance.

[lagizma.livejournal.com]

The best group leaders aren't the ones who volunteer right out of the starting gate, but who evolve into the role. Like you.