The Force is with us!

The topic of today is “team work”.

Task 1

Read the text below to get the general idea:

A Japanese proverb says: None of us is as smart as all of us. It is true especially when we think of the concept of teamwork as such. Together Everyone Achieves More, as it might be paraphrased. It goes without saying, that together (in one team) we can gain more than individually. What counts here is known as “cooperative effort of all group members to achieve a common goal”. In particular, the idea of teamwork is associated with business settings which value collaboration. In such environments people understand that, from decisions to actions, everything is based on the idea of togetherness, a mutual relationship between all employees, and evenly, but not equally, shared responsibility.

To be effective, the idea of team building should be first implemented in full and then exercised every single day of work. It is not enough, as some managers might mistakenly believe, to take a group of employees outdoors once a year for a couple of days and practice some team building activities, such as building a water pipeline or constructing a beer crate tower. To make teamwork happen in a company, a lot of actions need to be undertaken. These are just a few of them:

1. recognizing each individual’s ideas, strengths and weaknesses,
2. forming teams to solve real work issues or problems,
3. communicating tasks and expectations clearly,
4. encouraging trust and cooperation among employees,
5. evaluating performance and celebrating successes publicly.