In view of the numerous publications on the subject, teamwork does not seem to be self-evident. In fact, it’s quite easy to see this on a day-to-day basis: you often have the impression that you’re making an effort, that you’re taking it upon yourself, even if you can see that some groups are gradually making progress. But certain conditions need to be met. As well as building the team and defining the scope of action, convergence towards a common goal depends very much on the attitude of each individual.

TEAMWORK INTERACTIONS

WHY USE IT?

Objective:

Developing attitudes that encourage teamwork and, in particular, convergence towards the desired objective.

Context :

Whenever an assignment, decision or project requires teamwork, mainly involving people with complementary areas of expertise.

HOW DO I USE IT?

Procedure:

• Teamwork interactions.

Based on the diagram opposite, we can see that it is individual reflection and group discussions that lead to awareness of individual differences, shared understanding and convergence, and encourage better communication and cooperative negotiation.

• Five reflective questions.
• What experience do I bring to the team? In terms of expertise but also soft skills? Am I prepared to receive and give feedback?
• What preconceived ideas do I have about the work we’re going to do or about the people in the team? Am I prepared to discuss different points of view?
• What results do I expect from the group? Will I be accountable for the various contributions?
• What results do I expect for myself? Recognition from my peers, new experience for my CV, something else?
• What are my fears? That I won’t be listened to, that someone else will appropriate my ideas and contributions, that we won’t get anywhere?
• The composition of the team.

Each member of the team must contribute to the common goal. To achieve this, you will ensure that everyone, at least within the team, cultivates an attitude of respect and non-judgement, of convergence towards the collective goal, with an effective contribution.

Methodology and advice :

These principles can be complemented by the Big Five of teamwork (University of Central Florida):

• Leadership, with one person in charge of coordination and methodology and specifying the team’s scope of intervention;
• Mutual monitoring of performance, where everyone pays attention to the others and ensures overall consistency by refocusing on anything that diverges from the objective;
• Back-up capabilities, in the event of a member’s failure, by temporarily or permanently replacing him or her, for example;
• Adaptability, if the group or the methodology changes during the course of the work, so that there is no deviation or splintering;

A collective focus on the individual, with personal development becoming a consequence of collective work.