Teamwork

Assignment

In the world of trade and business, very few people learn and work alone. In the meantime, even programmers, who bore the reputation of being the original "lone wolf" types now have to meet and work in groups because really big projects can not otherwise be realised. In this case, very precise arrangements are necessary nowadays.

Actually, everyone profits from team-building. The more difficult the relationships are at the beginning, the greater the validity of this system should be. However, all those involved must do their share. Should anyone step out of line, it causes difficulties, not only for the person concerned.

Function

For those who don't already know it, at the beginning of the teamwork there is one point that one should accept quickly. One has certain principles that one considers to be valuable, indeed, the other members of the team have perhaps, other principles. Mostly, it is first of all, simply the ability to realise that one is not the be all and end all, and to be cautious when passing on one's knowledge and one's own experience. In the motor vehicle branch, generalising is particularly inappropriate. "There will never be motorcycles with diesel engines, because …". Indeed, what if they are built somewhere in the world (e.g., in India)? He who considers his own knowledge to be unchangeable reduces the possibilities of others and is not really prepared to listen to other ideas.

Once one has understood that others are also just as convinced of their own ideas, the whole development starts to move in the right direction. Instead of letting one's anger run free, one learns a little more self-control. This helps one to distiguish between the right to freedom of speech and insulting comments. There is a good way to measure one's own teamworking ability. It develops more admirably in the beginning, the more often one comes out of big decision-making processes, with less euphoria, having slight doubts and other reasons to reconsider, the more mature one becomes. This does not mean that one should always hold back one's own opinion, maybe then, if it stands in the way of a group decision. In the beginning it requires a certain amount of trust in the group before one can try to make a breakthrough with one's own minority opinion.

A great deal of responsibility is placed on the person who can win the trust of the group, or indeed, manage the team. One may not, under any circumstances, abuse the (only borrowed) power that on has been given. One's strength lies therein, not to do what obviously, seems to be a good idea at the time, e.g., to settle an argument by a quick word of decision, without considering any available feedback, simply to save time. This functions quite well at the start, and unfortunately, one feels oneself confirmed. A good team manager - even more than the team-members - should never be completely self-assured. This does not exclude the possibility of making good proposals in critical situations, or the power to avoid a change of direction every five minutes. One can recognise a team manager - over the team members - by his/her ability to keep to the decisions made and having the ability to handle criticism positively. Neither submissive nor arrogant, rather by showing an adequate amount of feeling, - and above all - to react to the criticism.

The result of good teamwork, is to bring out a more effective performance than actually exists from a number of people. The individual player is more satisfied because of the (visible) success of the project, and because of the good working climate among the colleagues. Last but not least, going to work on a Monday with a total aversion, is equal to almost a whole day lost.