Even if you prefer to work alone, teamwork is a skill you need to learn. Whether it’s a group project at uni or a shared task at work, working well as a team is often the difference between success and failure.
Working in a team is scary for some, but nobody can do everything alone. When teamwork works, it makes work easier. We’ve put together this guide to help you gain the skills you need for working in a group. Once you tackle teamwork, you’ll reap its benefits.
We’ll explore our top tips for improving teamwork:
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Start with introductions
When working in a new group, spend five minutes finding out who everyone is, what they do and what their skills are.
Don’t assume everyone knows each other even if you study the same course or work for the same company. Your first meeting is the perfect time for everyone to introduce (or re-introduce) themselves. Save yourself from the awkwardness of asking someone their name two weeks in!
Listening to each other will bring you closer as a team and help you identify strengths and weaknesses. Chatting about your skills will make it easier to assign roles and responsibilities.
Sometimes, you’ll come across group exercises in assessment centres. In those scenarios, you’ll likely all be strangers so it’s even more important to take the time to introduce yourselves properly.
Establish clear roles and responsibilities
To thrive as a team, everyone needs to know their role and responsibilities. After you’ve broken the ice, assign responsibilities based on skills.
It’s sometimes useful to have one or two people in charge. If you decide to keep power levels equal instead, you’ll still need to hold each other accountable. You don’t want somebody to have to step in as a leader by default because other people aren’t pulling their weight.
Always communicate
Teamwork often fails due to a lack of communication.
When you wrap up your first meeting, arrange your next one. How often you meet up will depend on what you’re working on, but you’ll need to check in regularly.
Setting up a group chat is a good idea too. Being able to message each other keeps you connected between meetings. Check in and make sure you don’t overlap responsibilities – you don’t want anyone to do anything twice!
Build relationships – get to know each other
The best teams are built on the groundwork of strong bonds. But you’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll make connections. Having good working relationships doesn’t mean you’ll be friends for life. You just need to understand how your team best works and how you’ll help each other.
Even if you’re working on a project with a tight deadline, it’s still worth making connections. Pausing to get to know each other before rushing into a task will benefit the whole team and the project.
Set goals as a group
Each group member needs to know what the aims of the project are.
When setting tasks, communicate any deadlines. Having a clear timeline keeps everyone on the same page and helps you pace yourselves accordingly. Group work is a good opportunity to improve your time management skills. If someone falls behind, they’ll affect someone else’s timings too. So, it’s extra important to stick to the schedule. But that schedule needs to be achievable.
Be realistic when you set goals and re-evaluate as a team whenever you go off track.
Review progress together
As part of your regular meetings, check in with each team. This is the time for everyone to share what they’ve been doing, how far along they’ve got and whether they need support.
Don’t assume that ‘no news is good news’. Just because somebody hasn’t asked any questions, it doesn’t mean they’ve not experienced a problem. Make sure everyone in your group is doing OK and not pretending. Sometimes the loudest thing is what’s left unsaid, so question anything that concerns you. If you suspect that a group member is struggling, approach them one-on-one to check they’re alright.
Support each other
Teamwork isn’t a competition. Letting competitiveness get in the way of collaboration is a bad habit you need to unlearn.
You’re all working for the same goal and should support each other. When each member is comfortable communicating freely, teamwork will improve. Build a supportive network and make sure everyone understands their team will be there for them if they need help.
Bounce ideas off each other
Two heads are better than one! Working in a team gives everyone space to share their ideas. Brainstorming ideas encourages you to be more creative and boosts performance. You’re more likely to come up with a better idea if multiple people put their brains to it.
Make decisions together
It’s always important you make decisions together – whether you’ve got a group leader or not.
With a leader, decision-making is sometimes easier because somebody has the final say. But a leader still has to make sure all members have a say, or it’ll turn sour quickly.
Everyone needs to feel like their voice and opinions are heard and that they’re contributing to a decision that’s fair (as much as possible). Making decisions comes with disagreements, but if you deal with them professionally, you should be able to come together to make compromises. You can’t always please everyone.
Being able to reach a compromise is a useful interpersonal skill. Combine compromising with networking, communication and your newfound teamwork skills and you’ll start your career flying!
Have fun
A good team is a happy team.
Some people consider the small talk at the start of a meeting to be a waste of time. But this social chatter is there for you to lift each other.
Yes, you want your team to be productive and working to a plan. But you’re also people with work or study in common. So, enjoy each other’s company. Hard work is easier with a good laugh.