It’s that time again, when the local kiddos head back to school. CU has been saying things like, “Neener neener, they all have to go back to school…hahahahaHAHAHAHA” for the past week and yesterday I finally had to confront him with, “HEY…*I* have to go back to school too, so quit with the cackling.”

That’s right…my 6-week break from school was, as always, way too short. My marketing management class started over the weekend, and I’m doing the online thing again. I’m taking another course…ops management…but it doesn’t start for another four weeks. I’m itchy to take an actual in-person course, but with our vacation coming up and my mom being here around that time, it just wasn’t the right time to need to physically be somewhere for a lecture during the week. So, I’ll venture down that path next semester.

So far, the class seems like it will be better organized than my last one. First off, my instructor is actually a professor…and the department chair. His syllabus was clear and easy to understand…and it sounds like he actually gives a rip about our learning experience. After last semester and the Org Behavior Instructor From Hell, this has been a breath of fresh air so far. He even said wrote at the very top of the syllabus:

ALWAYS SAY THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS FIRST:

I’m glad you are here. I recognize that in taking this course you are investing your time and money. I will do my best to make it up-to-date, relevant, and interesting to help you get the most out of the course.

Oh, marketing professor. Tell me where you are going, and I will follow.

I don’t think I mentioned what my workload was like last semester. In addition to required threaded discussion “participation” (which is required of every online class, and isn’t a big deal to me), we had weekly 4-5 page essays, a 10-15 page team case analysis and a 20-25 page individual case analysis. Of course, we also had our assigned reading. It was a lot of work.

This term, I have about 100 pages of reading a week (the usual), 2 quizzes, a final exam and a team project. The team project consists of a Project Prospectus (2 pages), Industry Analysis (10-15 pages) and a Marketing Plan (20 pages or less). The best part of this team project…well, best or worst depending on your perspective…we get to pick our own teams. That’s right, we’re not paired up with people who may or may not share our work/learning philosophies. At first I thought, GREAT…but then thought…oh no…that means I have to try to figure out who I want to work with. Sigh.

Never fear though, our leader set up our first threaded discussion as a marketing tool for ourselves. We were to introduce ourselves and give the usual bio info, then tell everyone what we expected from teammates and what we could offer a team. When I logged on yesterday, there were nine responses and…I kid you not…everyone of them was the same cookie cutter response: “I work very hard, and like having fun on projects. I’m looking for team members who are hard working, dedicated, and like to have fun.” Really? If those people were products, I would not buy them. This is a prime opportunity to market ourselves, and they all totally took the easy way out.

Here’s what I wrote:

Let’s just put this out there - I’m looking for team members who want to get an A on this project, and are willing to put forth the effort to get that A. I’d also like to work with teammates who are interested in pursuing topics in the high tech or internet/e-commerce industries, or perhaps health care, because I believe the health care industry is going to continue to explode in the future and I find that very interesting.

I’m well organized, inquisitive and experienced in keeping a virtual team on track, both at work and in previous MBA coursework (in-class and online). I’m also respectful of the process a team puts in place for a project. I credit (Blame? Ha ha.) the PMBOK for that one! For example, if I have a deliverable the entire team has decided needs to be uploaded to Doc Sharing by noon so everyone can review it before our 8 PM chat…I’ll actually have it uploaded by that time. I’m not the one who will wait around until 6:30 PM to upload it, and then expect everyone to review it on the call, likely throwing off our agenda. To me, that’s just part of being a team member…being respectful of the time of others.

At the risk of this sounding like a personal ad (MBA student seeks teammates for fun-filled marketing project?) when other teammates are griping, complaining, and pulling their hair out, I’ll be the one who will tell the joke to try to lighten the mood and also provide possible solutions…maybe something we hadn’t thought of before. I think the role that suits my personality best is that of Meeting Leader, because of the experienced outlined above.

A couple of hours later, our professor responded and told me he appreciated my direct approach. CU said my response made me stand out from everyone else, which is good. Because you know what? My #1 priority isn’t to have fun on the project…my #1 priority is to get an A. Now, I’m definitely the kind of team player who would love to enjoy myself while working towards that A…but if something has to give, it will be the fun and not my effort. That approach seems to be working, as I already have several invitations to join teams and I’m beginning to form my 12-week dynasty…bwa ha ha.

Now kids…get to work! We have a busy year ahead of us.