Most people like the idea of being on a team—although working on a team can be another matter. Not only can frictions create problems; the teams we work on rarely match up with the ideal vision we have of teams. When we think of a team we draw on images from sport: a small stable group of people working towards an important common goal. In organizations we might be on several teams, they may have dozens of people, and not be aligned. And many teams are now virtual, so we may never even meet face-to-face, or are at least a hybrid team.
In this topic, we will look at the world of teamwork and give some tips to navigate through the challenges.
The objectives of this topic are to:
- Increase your understanding of the different sorts of teams you might work on.
- Review some of the research on what makes teams work well.
- Identify some specific things that you can do to improve how your teams function.