4. TEAMWORK AND COMMUNICATION

Teamwork is a key expectation in most workplaces, especially where tasks are complex and require differing areas of expertise. Working in teams allows us to address the increasing complexity of large projects, and integrate a diversity of skills, experiences, and expertise to complete them more quickly and skillfully than a single individual could. Imagine how many people must work together to designs a sophisticated product like Skyrim (check out this information on the Skyrim development team if you want to know the answer).

Team Synergy describes the phenomenon that occurs when the achievement of a team working together is greater than the sum of what each team member could achieve working individually. It is widely accepted that team synergy and team intelligence generally lead to greater efficiency and better results. Why, then, are some people reluctant to engage in teamwork? Perhaps they have had ineffective or dysfunctional teamwork experiences in the past. While sometimes the culprit in these situations is a “poor team player” more often, these issues are caused by one of three things:  misaligned goals, confusion over roles, or unclear team processes.

You have likely engaged in “group work” in many of your classes; this may have been productive and fun, or may have seemed pointless, depending on a variety of factors. But keep in mind that a group is not the same as a team. Teams work interdependently, are accountable to each other, and have mutually agreed upon shared goals. Where a group may be comprised of several individuals each working on separate but connected tasks that may lead to a common goal, a team actively collaborates and relies on the diverse skills, and clearly defined processes to navigate crises and conflicts, support each other, and achieve their goals synergistically.

For teamwork to be effective, the team must

• understand and share the goals of the project, and ideally be involved in developing and shaping these goals
• have clearly defined processes that guide how the team will interact and how work will be done
• fully understand their roles, what is expected of them, and how they will be held accountable to each other
• trust the other team members, and feel able to safely discuss ideas and concerns

An effective team leader must make sure that goals, roles, and team processes are fully understood by all team members, and will strive to create a safe environment where all voices are heard and respected.

A well-functioning team is the very model of synergy: more than “the sum of its parts,” a high-performance team can achieve far greater results these same than individuals working on their own. However, the inverse is also true: a poorly-functioning team is unlikely to produce quality work, and dysfunction can derail a project entirely. One of the most essential elements needed to ensure that a team functions effectively is clear communication.

This is why teamwork is a key learning objective and is taught explicitly in this text. Very few people intuitively know how to structure communications that allow them to collaborate effectively and equitably. This is something we learn to do. This chapter provides information to help you achieve key learning objectives that will help you contribute to and be a part of a high performing team.