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TEAMWORK!

An essential part of workplace success!

+Workplace Success

Teamwork is an essential part of workplace success.

Like a basketball team working together to set up the perfect shot, every team member has a specific role to play in accomplishing the tasks on the job. Although it may look like one player scored the basket, that basket was made possible by many people’s planning, coordination, and cooperation to get that player the ball.

• Employers look for people who not only know how to work well together, but who understand that not every player on the team can, or will be the one who gets the ball.

• When everyone in the workplace works to accomplish a goal, everyone wins.

+Building Relationships

Teamwork involves building relationships and working with other people using a number of important skills.

• Working Cooperatively• Contributing to groups with ideas, and effort• Communication (both giving and receiving)• Sense of responsibility• Healthy respect for different opinions, customs,

and individual preferences• Ability to participate in group decision-making

+Everyone Benefits

When everyone works together to accomplish a goal, everyone benefits. Employers might expect to “see” this in action in different ways.

• Team members in the workplace plan ahead and work cooperatively to assign tasks, assess progress, and deliver on time

• They have professional discussions during which differing approaches and opinions might be shared and assessed in a respectful manner

• Even when certain employees do not end up with the tasks that were their first choice, jobs get done with limited complaints

+A Leader or Manager

A leader, or manager may often serve as the teamwork facilitator. In this case, team members

• Participate respectfully in discussion• Carry out assigned tasks• Defer to the leader in the best interest of the goal.

Consensus is wonderful, but not always possible, and an assigned leader will often support and facilitate the decision-making necessary for quality teamwork to exist.

+Team Building Skills and Activities

• There is no “I” in Team• I’ll Give You Some of Mine if You Give Me

Some of Yours• The Good, the Bad, and the Reasonable• How Many Shapes Does it Take?• Teamwork on the Job

The activities in this unit seek to teach participants the importance of teamwork to workplace success and the specific role each individual on a team may play. Participants will learn about positive teamwork behavior and discover how their own conduct can impact others on a team. This unit will also discuss possible obstacles to teams working successfully and offers the opportunity to build constructive strategies to overcoming these challenges.

Activities:

+There is no “I” in Team

Objective:

To enrich participates understanding of what it means to be part of a team and why being a team player is important for career success.

+There is “I” in Team

• Choose the quote that you like best.• Get into groups based on the quotes you like.• Discuss the quote and come to a consensus on

why you like the quote.• Select one team member to offer the group

feedback and reflection.• Work together to arrange the words/phrases in

correct order.

+Conclusion

Employers rate the ability to be a “team player” as one of the most important qualities and characteristics of their current (and future) employees (i.e., the job candidate). Why might this be so?

+Journaling Activity

A friend comes to you seeking advice. He got into trouble at work for not being a team player. He really likes his job and isn’t quite sure what to do. What suggestions would you give to your friend to help him improve? How might he respond to his boss?

+Personal Quotes

• Why is teamwork important?• What can be done to accomplish

teamwork?• Create your own personal

quotes about teamwork.• The quote should be one

that encourages peers to gain a better understanding and perspective on the importance of teamwork AND why it is often the core value shared by many different cultures, populations, and groups.

+I’ll Give You Some of Mine if You Give Me Some of Yours

Objective:

To help participants to begin to identify their individual strengths and needs regarding teamwork.

+Workplace Quotes

Complete Inventory of Skills

What does it take from each person on a team to make a team really work?

+Conclusion

• Share one identified area of strength and one are of weakness (one you would like to improve).

• Ask someone you know and trust to rate you (mom, dad, teacher, close friend, etc.)

+Journaling Activity

Consider your score on the Elements of Teamwork inventory. Were you pleased with your results? What are some areas that you would like to improve? How will you attempt to do this?

+The Good, the Bad, and the Reasonable

Teamwork can be tough. Dealing with different personalities and compromise is not necessarily easy. So, what do you do when you are part of a team and there are barriers to the team’s success? This could be a sports team, a team at work, or a group working on a school or community project.

Objective:

To engage participants in discussion of some of the barriers to effective teamwork and the strategies they may be able to put in place to create positive outcomes.

+Teamwork is Always Easy (NOT)!

What are some reasons why teams don’t always work, or what makes teamwork so difficult?

• Inconsistent team players• Time issues• Compatibility• Differences in communication

styles (both giving and receiving)

• Lack of Trust• No clear goal

+The Marshmallow Challenge

Objective: Build the tallest free-standing structure using marshmallows and

spaghetti

• Divide into two teams.• Select a team leader.

• The team leader must supervise and cannot help build the structure.

• You have 15 minutes to work together to create the tallest free-standing structure.

+Conclusion

The Marshmallow Challenge

1. How did your team work together?

2. Besides the team leader, what role did everyone play in the group?

3. Was it a plus or minus that the team leader was not able to physically participate in the activity?

4. What would you do differently given a second chance at this activity?

+Journaling Activity

You are the leader of a team at work. What type of leader would you like to be (one that gets involved and works with the team or one that tells the team what to do)? Explain your choice.

+How Many Shapes Does it Take?

It takes all types of team members to create a balanced, cohesive team.

Objective:

To give participants the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the roles different people play on a team and the importance of each role.

+How Many Shapes Does it Take?

Find a shape in the room and walk over to it.

+Conclusion

• Do you think people have the characteristics of more than one shape?

• Why do you think it’s important to have all different shapes working on the same team?

+Journaling Activity

Do you think it’s easy or difficult for different types of personalities to work together? Why is it important to not only understand how you work best, but to learn how others work best?

+Teamwork on the Job

Objective:

To help participants understand how teamwork is managed on the job- both from the perspective of the boss and the from the perspective of the employee.

+Conclusion

The importance of teamwork is undeniable. There are many benefits to teamwork.

SupportTeamwork leads to camaraderie between team members. This will not only lead to better social relationships, but can also act as a support when things go wrong.Varied SkillsDifferent team members bring with them different skills.Distribution of WorkDistributing work not only reduces each individual’s burden , but also increases responsibility and ensures better commitment to completing the task individually and as a whole.CreativityDifferent people have different skills and posses different perspectives. Therefore any activity that involves teamwork benefits from the various creative thoughts and inspirations from different people.Accomplish FasterPeople working together will tend to complete a project faster than if one person was working alone.

+Journaling Activity

Think of a time when you were part of a group/team and things worked really well, and a time when things didn’t work out so well. What were the solutions and what made the difference?