Final Team Challenge - Day the Third
Today was my day as Team Leader. I got out of the house and it was a beautiful day, which made for a good start.
Like I mentioned in my previous post, I was anxious about how the day would go. With all the tensions in the team, plus the fact that all entertainment would essentially lie with us, I was concerned that people would fight, or the residents would get bored... Basically, with so much hinging on our performance today, I had to co-ordinate everyone and do it bloody well.
Thankfully, we wouldn't be picking up the residents until later. We'd considered the fact that we'd need plenty of time to prepare the food, the venue and so on, so we put on our plan that we'd be picking them up at about 11.
I got Katie, Jane and William making sandwiches as soon as they were there. Anna came in and decorated the cupcakes. Katie, who is made of culinary awesome, had baked some fantastic butterfly cakes and scones for the residents, and brought along jam and cream. We also had some miniature apple pies, which tormented me from their platter all morning. The sugary bastards.
The morning meeting didn't go as bad as it had done the past two days. Admittedly it could have been better but we were all a bit distracted. The main problem was that people disagreed with bits of the plan, which of course led to a call to rewrite. We worked it all out eventually, happily, without any serious argument.
Another thing that might have made the morning meetings a little easier would have been to let everyone in the team have a say on the plan. The plans were written by a few of the stronger, more opinionated members of the team (I believe it was Anna, Jane, Katie and myself that wrote the final version), and everyone else would have to find out on the day what they were doing and when. If we'd done it as a whole group, then we could have avoided those disagreements.
I sent a few team members off to collect our residents and their workers, and another small group to get some easter eggs, a bouquet (as bingo prizes) and some 'thank you' cards. Of course, the venue had to be prepared as well. William and Ant helped me get some tables outside - it was a last-minute decision to have the tea party outside since it was such a lovely day - and then I got Perry and Laura (with effort) to help us get chairs outside.
Anna, Laura and myself were left with the difficult task of attempting to put a cloth on the table. We searched the Youth Club thoroughly and found some paper tablecloths. The problem? The wind was being a bugger today. We had to blu-tack the cloths down. And here we had the first conflict of the day.
Anna vs. Laura. Anna and I were talking about her upcoming court case for drink-driving; I was basically being someone to rant to and offering Anna reassurance about how the case would go. Laura was being her usual self - she had to be told exactly what to do. Then she made a remark about how 'only stupid people drink and drive' - which sounded exactly as it reads; a cunning stab at Anna, and in a sensitive area at that.
I sent Laura inside and Anna went to talk to Tim about the case - she's really worried that she won't be able to pay any fines, and she's frustrated that her parents aren't going to go with her so she's there without any familial support. An agreement was reached in which Tim would go to court with her should nobody else be able to manage. I'm glad that either way she'll have someone there supporting her. I offered to go myself but she flatly refused. I briefly considered going anyway while I had a morning off tomorrow, but I felt that she'd be a bit cross with me if I did. She didn't seem keen on having friends see her in that situation.
We set up a table and some chairs downstairs for bingo later on, and then our guests arrived. We had Margaret and Maureen again, whom I adore, and a new lady called Elizabeth who is, to be honest, away with the fairies! She really is quite wonderful with a habit of randomly bursting into song! How awesome is that?
We got them outside, sat everyone at the table and served the food. The plan was to have dinner a bit later, but this would turn out to be a day where we went with the flow and it worked out. So we had food there and then, chatted with our guests and had a game of Pictionary, which included a round in which Team 46 was the category! Cue Anna's drawings of Lewis, Vicky, myself and Tim.
Unfortunately, we had a second altercation at the worst place possible: the table. Perry vs. Laura. From what I've been told, Laura was effing and blinding at the table, using language that is hardly appropriate in front of elderly guests. Perry, getting aggravated, told her to tone it own on the language and Laura took it the wrong way, telling him to 'fuck off'. Perry lost his temper with her and had a go right back. Before the situation could get wildly out of control, Vicky sent them both in and then told them to go home.
Here, I should have been paying attention to what was going on further along the table. As team leader, my job was to nip any arguments in the bud but since my attention was elsewhere I didn't catch it in time and Margaret in particular witnessed the argument.
Thankfully, it blew over. We ended the tea party on a high note and then went inside for bingo. To make our guests feel included, we all played and had Dave as the bingo caller, since Perry (our original caller) had been sent home. The plan was tat if a team member won, they'd choose a resident to give their prize to. At the end of the game, each resident had two prizes.
After bingo, we went upstairs... for karaoke. Oh my god, it was hilarious. Dave and Lewis singing 'Barbie Girl'... strangely enough, I'm not surprised. It's something they would do. A few people had a go singing and dancing, and then wound up with Vicky and Tim doing a duet while we all danced! Elizabeth finished it off with playing the spoons and singing. Bloody marvellous stuff, I must say. It was brilliant.
Sadly, the time came for us to take the residents back to the care home. I sat next to Maureen on the way back. Katie was next to Margaret while they got on so well, and Jane sat next to Elizabeth. Maureen was telling me on the way home how happy she was she'd agreed to take part in the final team challenge with us, which was probably one of the most rewarding things I've ever been told. I'm so, so glad that despite all the faffery, our residents enjoyed it.
I was absolutely gutted when we left them at the home. None of them wanted to go back, which was heartbreaking. We all reminisced about the challenge as we headed back to the centre, and ended the day with a debrief and by doing our review paperwork for the day.
I think we did really well, forgetting the aforementioned fafferies. Despite our detailed plan, we just went with the flow and it turned out really well. The day felt much more natural as a result, both for us and for our residents. I think I co-ordinated the others really well and took a diplomatic approach during the morning meeting, but I think that I could have done a bit more when people were kicking off at each-other later in the day. I have a naturally non-confrontational personality which means that as soon as people start to argue I just step back ad try not to get involved; not a good thing to do if you're a team leader.
Still, every hiccup is a lesson learned. My avoidance of confrontation is something I intend to work on, especially as it'll come in handy if ever I do become a teacher of some sort.
Like I mentioned in my previous post, I was anxious about how the day would go. With all the tensions in the team, plus the fact that all entertainment would essentially lie with us, I was concerned that people would fight, or the residents would get bored... Basically, with so much hinging on our performance today, I had to co-ordinate everyone and do it bloody well.
Thankfully, we wouldn't be picking up the residents until later. We'd considered the fact that we'd need plenty of time to prepare the food, the venue and so on, so we put on our plan that we'd be picking them up at about 11.
I got Katie, Jane and William making sandwiches as soon as they were there. Anna came in and decorated the cupcakes. Katie, who is made of culinary awesome, had baked some fantastic butterfly cakes and scones for the residents, and brought along jam and cream. We also had some miniature apple pies, which tormented me from their platter all morning. The sugary bastards.
The morning meeting didn't go as bad as it had done the past two days. Admittedly it could have been better but we were all a bit distracted. The main problem was that people disagreed with bits of the plan, which of course led to a call to rewrite. We worked it all out eventually, happily, without any serious argument.
Another thing that might have made the morning meetings a little easier would have been to let everyone in the team have a say on the plan. The plans were written by a few of the stronger, more opinionated members of the team (I believe it was Anna, Jane, Katie and myself that wrote the final version), and everyone else would have to find out on the day what they were doing and when. If we'd done it as a whole group, then we could have avoided those disagreements.
I sent a few team members off to collect our residents and their workers, and another small group to get some easter eggs, a bouquet (as bingo prizes) and some 'thank you' cards. Of course, the venue had to be prepared as well. William and Ant helped me get some tables outside - it was a last-minute decision to have the tea party outside since it was such a lovely day - and then I got Perry and Laura (with effort) to help us get chairs outside.
Anna, Laura and myself were left with the difficult task of attempting to put a cloth on the table. We searched the Youth Club thoroughly and found some paper tablecloths. The problem? The wind was being a bugger today. We had to blu-tack the cloths down. And here we had the first conflict of the day.
Anna vs. Laura. Anna and I were talking about her upcoming court case for drink-driving; I was basically being someone to rant to and offering Anna reassurance about how the case would go. Laura was being her usual self - she had to be told exactly what to do. Then she made a remark about how 'only stupid people drink and drive' - which sounded exactly as it reads; a cunning stab at Anna, and in a sensitive area at that.
I sent Laura inside and Anna went to talk to Tim about the case - she's really worried that she won't be able to pay any fines, and she's frustrated that her parents aren't going to go with her so she's there without any familial support. An agreement was reached in which Tim would go to court with her should nobody else be able to manage. I'm glad that either way she'll have someone there supporting her. I offered to go myself but she flatly refused. I briefly considered going anyway while I had a morning off tomorrow, but I felt that she'd be a bit cross with me if I did. She didn't seem keen on having friends see her in that situation.
We set up a table and some chairs downstairs for bingo later on, and then our guests arrived. We had Margaret and Maureen again, whom I adore, and a new lady called Elizabeth who is, to be honest, away with the fairies! She really is quite wonderful with a habit of randomly bursting into song! How awesome is that?
We got them outside, sat everyone at the table and served the food. The plan was to have dinner a bit later, but this would turn out to be a day where we went with the flow and it worked out. So we had food there and then, chatted with our guests and had a game of Pictionary, which included a round in which Team 46 was the category! Cue Anna's drawings of Lewis, Vicky, myself and Tim.
Unfortunately, we had a second altercation at the worst place possible: the table. Perry vs. Laura. From what I've been told, Laura was effing and blinding at the table, using language that is hardly appropriate in front of elderly guests. Perry, getting aggravated, told her to tone it own on the language and Laura took it the wrong way, telling him to 'fuck off'. Perry lost his temper with her and had a go right back. Before the situation could get wildly out of control, Vicky sent them both in and then told them to go home.
Here, I should have been paying attention to what was going on further along the table. As team leader, my job was to nip any arguments in the bud but since my attention was elsewhere I didn't catch it in time and Margaret in particular witnessed the argument.
Thankfully, it blew over. We ended the tea party on a high note and then went inside for bingo. To make our guests feel included, we all played and had Dave as the bingo caller, since Perry (our original caller) had been sent home. The plan was tat if a team member won, they'd choose a resident to give their prize to. At the end of the game, each resident had two prizes.
After bingo, we went upstairs... for karaoke. Oh my god, it was hilarious. Dave and Lewis singing 'Barbie Girl'... strangely enough, I'm not surprised. It's something they would do. A few people had a go singing and dancing, and then wound up with Vicky and Tim doing a duet while we all danced! Elizabeth finished it off with playing the spoons and singing. Bloody marvellous stuff, I must say. It was brilliant.
Sadly, the time came for us to take the residents back to the care home. I sat next to Maureen on the way back. Katie was next to Margaret while they got on so well, and Jane sat next to Elizabeth. Maureen was telling me on the way home how happy she was she'd agreed to take part in the final team challenge with us, which was probably one of the most rewarding things I've ever been told. I'm so, so glad that despite all the faffery, our residents enjoyed it.
I was absolutely gutted when we left them at the home. None of them wanted to go back, which was heartbreaking. We all reminisced about the challenge as we headed back to the centre, and ended the day with a debrief and by doing our review paperwork for the day.
I think we did really well, forgetting the aforementioned fafferies. Despite our detailed plan, we just went with the flow and it turned out really well. The day felt much more natural as a result, both for us and for our residents. I think I co-ordinated the others really well and took a diplomatic approach during the morning meeting, but I think that I could have done a bit more when people were kicking off at each-other later in the day. I have a naturally non-confrontational personality which means that as soon as people start to argue I just step back ad try not to get involved; not a good thing to do if you're a team leader.
Still, every hiccup is a lesson learned. My avoidance of confrontation is something I intend to work on, especially as it'll come in handy if ever I do become a teacher of some sort.