It's the first day of class and the professor announces that a large percentage of your mark will be based on a series of group assignments. You are to work with a group all semester, completing various projects, worth varying marks. You look around and realize that you don't really know anyone in the class.
Why do professors do this? By third year, I was so tired of group projects and of being stuck with lousy groups who never did their share of the work. So finally I raised my hand and asked why so much groupwork.
The answer? In the real world, you have to work with people. You don't always know the people you work with, and you don't always get along with them. Your boss won't particularly care, and if you can't get the job done, your job may end up on the line. Life is all about group work, whether we like it or not. And school, in many ways, prepares us for life, including working with others.
For three summers in a row, I have been blessed with a job that involves a high level of teamwork. In my first summer on the job, I observed strong team work skills in one of my co-workers.
He could comfortably crossover into any area, filling any gap in the team. He was often the glue that held the team together. For months after he had graduated, he haunted the computing labs where I worked. My boss just did not want to let him go. I took a page out of his book and tried to pick up on the characteristics that made him such a valuable team player.
Looking back on my education and my work experience, I have gleaned a few tips on how to become an invaluable member of your team, at school, at work, or in any other context where you may be collaborating with others.
- Never miss a meeting.
For school projects, take out your schedules and pick a weekly meeting time. Write it into your schedule as if it were a class. Never skip it! Don't reschedule it, either. Working out your schedule helps you gain valuable time management skills.
Once you hit the workplace, you'll find that meetings are suddenly NOT optional. If you miss a meeting, you miss valuable information, and you will find that you are still responsible for that information, regardless of whether or not you decided to show up.
- Get to know everyone's working style.
Some people are good at researching, while others are good at writing. If you make your writer do the research and make your best researcher do the writing, you haven't used your resources to their best ability and you run the risk of frustrating them if they are working out of the area of strength.
Whether or not this is useful later depends entirely upon the work environment you are in. Usually the tasks will be pre-delegated, but learning to pay attention to the strengths and working styles of your co-workers is still a good idea. You never know when a particular strength will come in handy and who to ask for help.
- Create a process for resolving conflict.
This must be done before conflict arises, or else when crunch-time hits, you may end up with conflict on your hands and a huge argument as a result. Establishing a set of rules can help identify whether disagreements are either a personality conflict, or a conflict that has arisen because someone won't pull his or her weight.
If you sense conflict in the group, resolve it fairly and quickly. Try to get both sides to see the other viewpoint. If you are directly involved, try see the other person's side of the issue. If you feel you have been wronged, try to solve it privately. Take the person out for coffee and tell them how you were hurt by their actions. Don't take sides, and don't hold grudges. In the long run, you're the only one who gets hurt by doing that.
In nearly every job interview, I have been asked to describe a time when I was faced with a conflict with a co-worker and tell about how I resolved it. As a fresh graduate, school is your work experience, and probably your biggest asset. These group projects are an ideal example of how you take to teamwork. If you have a specific process for resolving, or even better, avoiding conflict, you will have exactly the answer that the potential employer is looking for.
Learning how to steer clear of conflict and knowing how to resolve conflicts will serve you well in your working relationships, as well as all your other relationships and friendships in life.
- Contribute your ideas.
Even if you are not that confident of your ideas, throw them out into the air. The worst that could happen is that they will not be useful, which is what they would be if you keep quiet.
- Ask questions.
There is no shame in not knowing everything. No one knows everything. Asking shows you are trying to understand the task clearly and displays your willingness to work with your group.
The more you ask your co-workers, and even your boss, the better you will be able to do your job to their satisfaction.
- Avoid working with friends if you can help it.
This is the most important rule for one simple reason, there is the chance you could walk away from your group and never want to speak to them again. Moreover, if you are friends with half the group, and not close to the other half, it will become easier to take sides in any conflict that arises.
It's also important to learn to distinguish between professional and personal relationships. If you are working in a group on a project it is important to understand that while you are working on the project, you are professionals working together, not best friends who have gotten together to catch up on the latest gossip. This is true in the office and in school. This also leads to the last point...
- Never gossip.
Gossip is one of the most difficult things to avoid. We like to talk. We like to know what is going on. The best way to avoid gossip is to recognize it and stop it before it starts.
Any comment about any third party who is not present is gossip. Unless you are in a review board discussing their performance, you have no business talking about them when they are not present.
If someone makes a comment about a third party, the quickest out is to say "I don't know about that. I could check it with [name] myself, if you like." This tells the person that you are not a willing participant for gossip, since the talk will get back to the person's own ears. I've tried this, it's a very effective deterrent.
No one likes to be in an environment where they feel someone is talking behind their back.
If you can get through the tough group projects in university and just learn to get along, you will come out with a very marketable skill, along with your degree. If given a choice between someone who has an A+ average, but cannot work with people, or a B+ average with great team-working skills, most employers will pick the team-worker. After all, no one likes working with an extremely intelligent person who is a controlling, arrogant know-it-all!
Hannah is a recent business graduate from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Copyright iamnext 2003. May not be reprinted without permission.
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