To be really frank and honest, I actually was shocked that we were given an entire lecture on the topic of “Teamwork”. I mean, teamwork is something that’s already a given when it comes to work environment these days. We can never get away with not having any form of teamwork unless maybe you are the boss of your own company and the only staff that is under your payroll is yourself. But even then you would have to rely on other external people such as suppliers, clients, vendors, or anybody that you might have to cross paths with in order for your business or company to excel.

Either I am really not seeing the bigger picture of things or I might have missed out on something along the way, or maybe it has already been embedded into my bloodstream that teamwork has been in our work place for ages either in the behind-the-scenes manner or something of a much higher magnitude. It is just something that can’t be taught through classrooms or powerpoint slides, but we as individuals have to dive right in and go through and experience working as a team. Linking back to last week’s reading on experiential learning, ‘teamwork’ is definitely one of the life skills that will be easier for one pick up only through gaining experience from working as a team and not just for a one of thing, but for many other occasions. It could be in a working environment, sporting events, or even within the family.

Having said that, I think the lecture delivered today did raise a few good pointers for us to be aware of before we sat off for our Project Brief 4A as we were told briefly that it is going to be a group work assignment. Ultimately, it really boils down to one’s tolerance to other people’s work ethics and behaviour. Say for example, over the period of 1 month, the team has been organising meetings, discussions and brainstorming ideas to drive towards an end product, but 1 team member in particular isn’t contributing a lot or as much as he should be at the beginning of that 1 month duration. We simply can’t assume straight away that he’s just a free loader because what if he is one who excels only when it comes nearer to the deadline, because that is just how he is? Some people thrive under the pressure of nearing deadlines and that’s when their brains produce creative juices under such circumstances. While others might want to take things on a more progressive manner, day by day, week by week, accomplishing smaller things that add up to make the bigger picture. It is all really up to the individual and how we accomodate each other’s working behaviour and characteristics. Of course, being in a team, we definitely have to give and take a little in order to accomodate everybody’s differences and at the same time build on the similarities.

Which profile I have mentioned in the above, are you?