Team skills - can't everyone just get along?
Teamwork is one of the fundamental skills employers look for and it's on the graduate recruiters' high priority list. How many of you can show you can collaborate, influence and compromise. How many people in your team clash on a daily basis?
Teamwork is all about being able to operate smoothly and efficiently within a group. Doing this draws on a number of other skills:
The ability to encourage and inspire other team members to perform better
The ability to compromise and ignore your own ego
Communication and other interpersonal skills such as negotiation, influence, advising and interpreting.
To work together successfully, group members must demonstrate a sense of cohesion. Cohesion emerges as group members exhibit the following skills:
Openness: Group members are willing to get to know one another, particularly those with different interests and backgrounds. They are open to new ideas, diverse viewpoints, and the variety of individuals present within the group. They listen to others and elicit their ideas. They know how to balance the need for cohesion within a group with the need for individual expression.
Trust and self-disclosure: Group members trust one another enough to share their own ideas and feelings. A sense of mutual trust develops only to the extent that everyone is willing to self-disclose and be honest yet respectful. Trust also grows as group members demonstrate personal accountability for the tasks they have been assigned.
Support: Group members demonstrate support for one another as they accomplish their goals. They exemplify a sense of team loyalty and both cheer on the group as a whole and help members who are experiencing difficulties. They view one another not as competitors (which is common within a typically individualistic educational system) but as collaborators.
Respect: Group members communicate their opinions in a way that respects others, focusing on "What can we learn?" rather than "Who is to blame?" See constructive feedback in the process section for more details.
This seminar explores ways to implement cohesion in your teams and among team members.
Date: 09 September 2016Time: 09:00 - 13:00
Venue: Hole in One Conference Centre, Ruimsig, Johannesburg
Cost: R1,550 per person