Group Evaluation

Strengths

Firstly, by dividing the tasks, this improved the efficiency of the group overall. We made sure that individuals with the strongest skill sets were allocated those tasks – for example, Akriti is great at designing so she was in charge of the webpage. Throughout the project we had very strong communication with a group chat and numerous meetings where we evaluated and discussed each other’s ideas. This allowed us to solve problems as a group, therefore relieving stress on individuals. We found that we were also very good at listening to each other’s point of views, and despite doing separate tasks, we all inputted to create the best possible result. Time management was extremely important throughout our project, and we found that we set key deadlines which we stuck to, however if someone did miss a deadline they could be held responsible as these were very clear. Lastly, each member was very dedicated to the project and tried their best to reschedule their plans and compromise for meetings with advisors and with the charity. If certain members were unable to make the calls, the group was very good at informing the key points that were missed.

Weaknesses

Although we were very happy with the outcome of our project and found many strengths, as discussed, there were a few weaknesses. We found that dividing the tasks meant that there were naturally tasks that took significantly longer to complete and therefore increased the workload of some members, compared to others. For example, Chalisa being in charge of the E-Portfolio was a big task, however we all assisted her by completing our individual sections with lots of time for her to design the page. Furthermore, we found that decision-making within a large group could be quite time-consuming, for example when we were deciding our roles. Once we were in our roles, it can also take time to fully understand these responsibilities. Therefore, there were times when we did feel slightly pressured for time. Naturally within groups, everyone has different working patterns and sometimes these don’t align. For example, Anya works best in the mornings and Abhishek works best in the evenings and therefore it naturally took longer to complete some tasks. In addition, we sometimes had different ideas on how best to complete tasks – for example with the design of the flyer and with the presentation. However, we feel we effectively managed these conflicts as we have worked together as a group for numerous months and came to a compromise.

What we would have done differently

Overall, we were very happy with the outcome of our project, however, we have reflected on some things we would have done differently. Firstly, we would have improved our communication with our charity. Ideally, we would have been more efficinet with our designs and got them sent over to the charity earlier, so there was more time to improve. At times it was unclear what the charity wanted on each design and we found later on that sending the designs for feedback was the best way to make these correct. In addition, the charity representative taking annual leave during the project added more time pressure to the project, and ideally we would have completed more of the designs before this, as we couldn’t get any feedback for a week, which slightly halted the project. Therefore, we would have perhaps set our deadlines earlier than we did, however we still managed to complete the project within the time-scale.

Conclusion

Mentoring Plus is a charity working to support adult volunteers to mentor children and young people across Bath & NE Somerset. As a group, we are highly obliged to become a part of the charity by raising awareness of their hiring venues to generate income for a good initiative. To reach our target to double the previous year's revenue, we helped them create the website template and develop a portal for an online booking system. Creating an influential post for social media to attract the target market with the market analysis of peers to redefine the prices for the venues. Even though with the limitation we are not able to see the result of the action, we believe mentoring plus will thrive from our efforts and dedication toward the action project.