Module 1 Using Teamwork Skills

Learning Outcomes

1.1 Understand the need for a team to agree a contract for working together.

1.2 Understand how roles and responsibilities can be allocated within a team.

1.3 Be able to work within a team towards a specific goal. 1.4 Be able to assess the effectiveness of a team. 1.5 Understand how to resolve conflict in teams.

Introduction

Teamwork is an essential part of workplace success. Like a football team working together to set up the perfect shot, every team member has a specific role to play in accomplishing tasks on the job. Although it may seem as if one player scored the goal, that goal was made possible by many people’s planning, coordination, and cooperation to get that player the ball.

Teamwork

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

Working cooperatively

  Contributing to groups with ideas, suggestions, 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

Group Contract

What Motivates You?

Motivation is what draws you to move toward something. It can come from a desire or a curiosity within you or can be from an external force pushing you. Motivation styles vary for different situations and topics but nonetheless, you draw on them especially when you try to learn something new. If you can recognize your main motivational style, you can identify the situations that best satisfy your needs.

Goal Orientated

If you are goal-oriented, you probably reach for your goals through a direct and obvious route. This might lead you to a reference book, your computer, or to call an expert—whatever means is available. You usually prefer meeting in person when it’s the most effective method and don’t find learning new things, itself, much fun.

Relationship Orientated

If you are relationship-oriented, you take part in learning and teamwork mainly for social contact. When you meet and interact with people, you learn things along the way. You may not like working independently or focusing on topics (separately from the people) because that doesn’t give you the interactivity you need to learn.

Learning Orientated

If you are learning-oriented, the practice of learning, itself, drives you. You search for knowledge because learning delights you and you may become frustrated by anything that requires you to spend more time following procedures than on actual learning.

Teamwork – An Inventory of Skills

Part of being a good team member is learning how to understand your personal strengths (what you have to offer) AND where you might need to draw assistance from others. Listed in the workbook are 10 of the characteristics that make a productive team member. Rate your level of confidence in each skill (HONESTLY) – and then devise a plan for how you can improve some of the areas you think might need to improve upon.

Paper Towers Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUMyHs_cMCk

Effectiveness of the Team

How did YOU do?

What went well?

How did OTHER members of the group perform?

What didn’t go so well……why?

What would YOU change next time?

Conflict in the Team

Turtle – Avoider

All conflict is to be avoided at any cost. Contentious issues are shunned and allowed to remain unchallenged. This results in a loss of goals and in damage to relationships. The turtle character communicates an air of helplessness in the face of conflict, believing that solutions to disagreements and divergence of energies are not easily found. Like the turtle when danger looms, they quickly withdraw into their thick-shelled carapace of avoidance.

Lion – Competition

The Lion is king and the king must be seen to be in control and to win. Conflict is a way of demonstrating control. Relationships are only important for their usefulness. How others view them is not as important as their pride in the strength they can display over weakness. To lose in conflict, which for them can simply mean giving way, is seen as a sign of weakness.

Ostrich – Compromiser

Favours the middle ground, resulting in all sides in the conflict winning a little and losing a little. They regard sacrificing part of the goal as being preferable to the conflict continuing. The attitude can be born out of lack of experience, lack of confidence, or not having a viable strategy for addressing conflict. Although they can identify the problem, if they feel that their interests are at risk they will ignore the problem and settle for a short-term solution.

Teddy Bear – Accommodator

Avoids discussing the conflict in order to protect the relationship. They feel it is easier to accommodate the other party by smoothing over any problem. They fear addressing the issue and running the risk of damaging the relationship by causing possible hurt.

Owl – Collaboration

A wise old bird, the owl views conflict as a healthy occurrence. He knows that the Chinese character for Conflict combines the characters for Danger and Opportunity. The owl is creative in helping those involved to find a solution that does not damage the relationship. They help others to explore and identify the difficulty and are only satisfied when a problem is resolved and tensions are dissolved.

Learning Outcomes

1.1 Understand the need for a team to agree a contract for working together.

1.2 Understand how roles and responsibilities can be allocated within a team.

1.3 Be able to work within a team towards a specific goal. 1.4 Be able to assess the effectiveness of a team. 1.5 Understand how to resolve conflict in teams.