Teamwork makes the dream work

How can developing your own talents contribute to teamwork? No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it. ~H.E. Luccock

Teamwork takes place when individuals work cooperatively with others and offer assistance and support when needed. The first step to improving teamwork is knowing your own strengths. Using the Individual Development Plan, the C&T Career Mobility Guide and associated assessment, you can determine areas of strength and opportunities to improve or hone skills that an individual needs to become a contributor to a team.

Characteristics of an effective team:

• Team members can name and understand the individual talents of everyone on the team.
• Team members can see a clear connection between each other’s strengths and behavior. They can see the link between strengths and success.
• Everyone on the team has partnerships that encourage their strengths development.
• Team members use their knowledge of each other’s strengths to plan, strategize, analyze, and direct their action plans.

Benefits of teamwork and developing your talents:

• Working in a team can maximize individual strengths. This means learning from each other and sharing new talents you may develop. Understanding and being aware of a team’s strengths is more important than the specific composition of those strengths. Just knowing your strengths and those of your partner’s  improves engagement and performance. (Clifton Strengths)
• When a team is on the same page, it makes it easier when more people can problem-solve by capitalizing on everyone’s knowledge. This contributes to solving problems at a greater speed in an interest-based way.
• Teamwork improves work efficiency, enhances work relationships, and can improve overall productivity.

What teamwork looks like in the workplace:

• Attend regular staff meetings where you can share what you have learned with others and solicit skills that your teammates may have learned themselves. If you recently attended a Microsoft Teams training, for example, offer to share what you have learned with your team. This will allow you to grow as a group and puts you in a position to offer assistance and support when needed or asked for help.
• Stay abreast of your department’s mission and goals by initiating a conversation with your manager.  
• Volunteer to do a team-building exercise such as an ice breaker, as part of your departmental meetings.
• Make customer experiences with your department seamless by demonstrating a united Yale to both internal and external customers.

By identifying your own strengths, developing your own skills, being aware of your teammates’ strengths and skills, and sharing those skills with each other, you will be able to work together to achieve a common goal in the most effective and efficient way.

Be sure to watch the LinkedIn Learning video to see what it means to Work on a Team.  For more information on finding your strengths, consider reading Gallup StrengthsFinders 2.0  by Tom Rath 2007.