so ... teamwork

To begin with I would like to explain what this blog is all about. It is describing the best way to work as part of a team. It is about the relationships and skills I developed while involved in teamwork. This blog is about creating a “dream team” and the roles that are needed. The task that was set was part of my “managing pr” module. We had to build a team within our group to respond to a brief we had presented to us by another group. We also had to create our brief to present; this helped us to imagine what it is like to be a client. So this blog is about my personal experience as a member of the team.

A definition of the teamwork is: a joint action between two or more people, in which each person contributes a different skill and expresses their own individual opinion. This does not mean the individual is not important, however, it does mean that teamwork can go beyond individual accomplishments. The most effective teamwork is produced when all individuals involved harmonize their contributions and work towards a common goal. On the bhaim website it is said that there are seven essential skills when working within a team. These are listening, questioning, persuading, respecting, helping, sharing and participating.

On the tips4teamwork website they also have seven skills these are listening; it states that the time to listen happens twice as often as the time to talk. It is often found that we are too busy thinking about what we want to say rather than really listening to other people opinions and ideas. Sacrifice; the team has to evaluate what they really are willing to sacrifice. For example: time, resources or the position of power. Sharing; every member of the team has to be willing to share the information the research, even it makes somebody else look good. Communication; everyone who is part of the team must be willing to communicate effectively what is going well and what is going not so well with the project. Language; it is important to keep your tone uplifting because if some members speak with a more dominating tone then it make rivalry within the team. Hard work; as an individual you have to work hard but then you also need to be able to hand the information over to the group to achieve the overall goal. Your hard work cannot stop at the individual you have to carry on as part of the team. Persuade; every member of a team should be encouraged, defend and re think their ideas, to make a plan which will be best for the team and the client.

On the happy manager website it describes Bruce Tuckmans (1965) theory “team stages model” Tuckman suggests that teams grow through stages from their creation as groups of individuals, to task focussed teams. He discovered phases while he was observing small groups of people; he also read 50 articles to help his research. There are 4 phases as the diagram shows. Forming; this is the initial stage of team development during which the team has not yet gelled together. Everybody is finding their place in the team, sizing each other up and asking why they are here. Storming; this is where members of the team see themselves as part of the team. However, they may challenge each other about such things as what the team is doing and how things should be done. Conflict and confrontation is typical at this stage, hence there is often a loss of performance. Norming; this is where the team members come together and the developing processes begin, often ground rules are established and the group clarifies who does what and how things will be done at this stage. Performing; this is the final stage this is where focus is increased on both the task and team relationships. This is mainly where the best work is done as the team works efficiently together.

We began by getting into teams, which is not my strongest skill, I find that I work best individually but this experience has brought me many skills to help build up my ability to work as part as team. We were told that we were to create a brief for another group, then to receive a brief ourselves for which we were to create a pitch to present to the group. Our team decided to have meetings every week at a certain time and place. This worked well for our group, as it made it easy to make sure that everyone knew where and when we were meeting. When we were discussing the brief, we found that we all had similar ideas, as we all wanted to give the group a brief which would give the group the ability to be imaginative and creative in their pitch to us. We decided to include who we were and what we did in the brief more, so they knew who we were and what we wanted briefly rather than being too specific. We also decided not to give a budget as it would restrict the other group, so we were really rather nice to the group. As we were completing this it was clear that some of the group were naturally good at leading. But luckily there was no conflict and we all seemed to work well as a team together.