Roger McCarty: As a participant in an experiential learning class, you will have some combination of faculty advisors, business mentors, and/or TAs assigned to your team. These advisors, mentors, and TAs (hereafter called resources) are available to support your team in a successful project. These resources are not there to take over your project or hijack your strategy for success.
The experiential learning classes are to prepare you to work in the real world, where you will not have faculty to support you, but there will be mentors and others who will want to help you. If you were on a safari in Africa, where you had never traveled, would you turn down the advice of an experienced guide who knew the jungle and the terrain?
[A cartoon animation of a tourist photographing an alligator in a pool of water appears. A tour guide waves frantically in the background from a vehicle. A sign that says “Stay In Vehicle” is near the water. The scene changes to show that the tourist has been swallowed by the alligator.]
In your future jobs, you should seek out mentors and other experienced guides to help you avoid the pitfalls of your job.
[A cartoon animation of the exterior of a bowling alley appears. The scene shifts to show the lanes of the bowling alley with a ball rolling toward bowling pins.]
The role of resources played during the experiential learning class might be compared to the parable of the bumper guards. I think we have all had the opportunity to visit a bowling alley and to roll a few balls down the lane. I suppose most of us have rolled the ball down the center of the alley and got the strike by knocking down all of the pins.
[The sound of a bowling ball knocking down bowling pins is heard.]
I also suppose that most of us have rolled more than our fair share of balls into the gutters on the sides and knocked down no pins.
[An animation of a bowling ball going into the gutter and knocking down no pins appears.]
Now, as a bowler, you can roll the ball down almost any of the lane and knock down some pins, but if you roll a ball into the gutter, you are not going to knock down any pins. Because children and others of us who have had a hard time keeping the balls out of the gutter, the bowling alley provides bumper guards.
[An animation of a bowling alley with bumper guards rising into position appears.]
These guards can be raised to block access to the gutters. When the bumper guards are engaged and a ball starts to move toward the gutter, the guard bounces the ball back into the alley. The guard does not impact the ball as long as it stays in the lane; it only impacts a ball that will fall into the gutter. Now, a ball in the gutter will always get a score of zero, and that is not a good thing. So, when a ball is heading for a zero score, the guard gently directs the ball back into the lane where it has a chance to score points by knocking down pins.
[An animation of a bowling alley with a ball bouncing off a bumper guard, rolling toward bowling pins, and then knocking the pins over appears. The sound of a bowling ball knocking down bowling pins is heard.]
The experiential learning class resources (faculty, mentors, and teaching assistants) act as the bumper guards for your project. As long as your projects are moving forward effectively and without foreseeable problems, the resource guards are just observers.
[An animation of mentors standing next to a bowling alley holding arrow signs and appears. The arrows point toward the pins. The bowler rolls the ball. The sound of a bowling ball knocking down bowling pins is heard.]
They are available for you to ask questions and seek advice, but you are free to act on their advice as you see fit. It is your project, and you are in command. But when a project is headed for the gutter because the project teams are not following the processes that will lead to a successful outcome or not applying the appropriate tools and analysis for success, the resources will gently inform the team of the problem. When deliverables are not clearly identified, a work plan not created or followed, a midterm not held, a final report not written, and so forth, the resources can help the team identify what needs to happen to put the project back on track to be successful. When a team is struggling to find tools or analysis which could be used to create a successful outcome, the resources may be able to help the team identify appropriate tools and analysis that they could use. The resources are there to keep the project from failing but not to direct the specifics of the project.
Teams which have used their resources to maximize their impact have generally far outperformed the teams that have hidden from their resources and tried to avoid them. Some teams seem to feel that they are a better team if they can avoid all help.
[A graph appears showing the correlation between high and low-performing teams and employees, and their willingness to seek or avoid using the resources available to them, including advice, support, mentoring, and ideas.]
Recruiters and companies tell us that people who try and do projects on their own are considered low potential employees. High potential employees seek advice, mentoring, and ideas from every source they can find. No one is smarter than the group, and you should use every resource available to you.
So, happy bowling, and may your project ball always roll down the center of the lane. But if it doesn't, be thankful for the resources that are there to help gently guide your team toward a successful project.
