“I think “teamwork” means groups of people working together to achieve a common goal. The goals themselves can be either good or bad, but as long as more than one person are helping each other achieve that specific goal, it is considered “teamwork”. They do not all have to be doing the exact same thing to achieve their objectives, of course.”
This interview is reaching out to a broad audience to help me (and you!) get a better understanding of just what people actually think about teamwork and how it impact their lives. I hope you enjoy it and maybe gain an insight or two.
Interviewee Profile
1) What is your official job / position title?
Research Assistant
2) What is your direct supervisor’s official job / position title?
Professor
3) What industry do you work in?
Education
4) How many years have you been in your current industry and job?
2
5) What are 3 to 5 of your most important skills, specialties, or areas of expertise?
Ability to multi-task, be calm under pressure, and perseverance
Interviewee Responses
01) Describe (in your own words) what you think ‘teamwork’ means.
I think “teamwork” means groups of people working together to achieve a common goal. The goals themselves can be either good or bad, but as long as more than one person are helping each other achieve that specific goal, it is considered “teamwork”. They do not all have to be doing the exact same thing to achieve their objectives, of course.
02) Think about a person you feel needs team-building training. How do you think this training would help him/her?
I know this one person who is very stressed out because he does everything on his own. He has too many tasks to complete in limited amount of time. I believe team-building training can help him because if he knows how to work well with other people, he can easily delegate separate tasks to the right people and have his most important jobs done in a much shorter time period. He will easily expedite the process of giving everyone one what they need through this training.
03) How do you think teamwork could help a company or business?
Teamwork can help a business because it is through teamwork that a pool of ideas are gathered into one spot. Through teamwork, strengths and weaknesses are more easily visible. They are also more easily compensated as other people in the group can make up for someone else’s shortcomings. Through teamwork in a business, one person can help with the advertising while another person can help with the proper costs of marketing and even another person can help out through obtaining professional contacts.
04) Describe a teamwork / team-building exercise or event you’ve been through at your work, school, or during training.
In college, I took a graduate level biology class where it was mainly presentation. I was in a group and we had to put ourselves in the shoes of junior scientists explaining their findings when studying their disease of interest. My group’s goal was to assess our findings and efficiently deliver the information to the class in a professional manner. Our group had to learn to delegate important topics to cover to each member and make sure that the topics partitioned were sent to the right people who had great interests in the topic. Afterwards we practiced, and then made a good presentation afterwards.
05) Explain at least 1 thing you’ve learned from a team-building exercise and how it has helped you.
One thing I learned from team-building exercise was that I became much more tolerable towards people with really different ideas. When I work alone, I do not usually trust other people’s advice, and I tend to shun them. However, through teamwork, I am able to see how other people think, and how their way of thinking shapes into new ideas that create a pathway for achieving our objectives.
06) Think back to a team-building exercise you did NOT enjoy. What do you feel could have been improved and why?
One exercise I did not enjoy was in my freshman year, where I was in a group where I did all the work. There were several things that could have been improved. The first of which was that I was supposed to make sure each and every member knew what they were doing. In this team, I felt like I was the only one doing all the work while everyone else was being lazy. The second thing was that I needed to be more assertive. If I don’t like the way things are, I should speak out otherwise I won’t be able to achieve my goals.
07) Describe what you like most about team-building efforts and training.
One thing I like about team-building efforts is the sense of “togetherness” and friendliness that we have while we are collectively trying to aim for one big goal. Outside of teamwork, we do not show much care of compassion of others, and we only care about watching for our own backs. However, through teamwork, we sacrifice at least a little to help each other out. It is the one time where people sacrifice for the common good and I like that a lot when working together.
08) What are a few things you like least about team-building efforts and why?
The one thing I don’t like about team-building efforts is that sooner or later, there will be a conflict due to differences in ideas and ways of thinking among teammates. That means that we will have to set aside our goals to alleviate the serious situation this brings, otherwise there are dire consequences. Another thing I don’t like is that sometimes not everyone is putting the effort they need to be. This can result in a free-rider problem.
09) When learning about team-building, would you rather read about it, listen to a trainer, watch training videos, or physically participate in an event? Describe why you feel that way.
If I want to learn about team-building, I would rather participate in an event. Hands-on experience is the best way to learn something and have the lessons more easily retained. It can also quickly show you where your strengths and shortcomings are. It is much more difficult to get these from just reading books and watching videos.
10) Pretend you are asked to give a quick team-building presentation at work. What are your first couple of steps to get prepared?
The first step is to get a general idea of what a good teamwork is like in your head. This can easily be brought up via common sense. The second step is to list the essentials of teamwork. Listing things can give people a good idea of what points you’re trying to get across.
11) In your opinion, what type or personality of person do you think could benefit most from team-building efforts?
I prefer the personality of people who are assertive. If you are not assertive, chances are, you are not going to get a lot of work done. People who are assertive tend to be straight to the point, and easily know what they need to do in order to get things done. People who are reserved, on the other hand, prefer to go with the flow and fail to meet the goal’s criteria at the end of the teamwork. This can be very detrimental to the whole team.
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