Team Work Essay Essay Example for Free

Team Work Essay Essay Team work is defined as the process of working collaboratively with a group of people in order to achieve a goal. A successful team involves individuals who can work well together, trying their best in any circumstance to achieve that one main goal that they have set out to achieve. Teamwork means that people will try to cooperate, using their individual skills and providing constructive feedback, despite any personal conflict between among themselves. In every team, all members should possess qualities such as honesty, dependability and accountability. Team work may sometimes be challenging because every team has their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (S.W.O.T), but for team work to be effective, each team should aim for S.M.A.R.T, this means they should aim at goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and spend time to perform the tasks necessary for the success of that team’s goal. Teams that possess individuals who are honest, dependable and accountable are teams that are more likely to strive. Team members should be honest towards their colleagues, because honesty is a good key characteristic of a good team member, being honest can only uplift a group, same goes for being able to accept constructive criticism. Honesty builds trust and strong bonds among team members allowing for them to be able to work together in a friendly environment. Dependable team members have a strong sense of responsibility, being dependable means that you should be available and reliable. Any individual whom is unable to provide the work they are selected to do by their due date, is classified as an individual who is not dependable, it therefore means each team member should be proactive and consistent. If you cannot depend on a team member all of the time, you cannot depend on them any of the time. Having the ability to take responsibility for your own action, rather than blaming others is one quality that many persons whether in or outside of a team should learn, accountability. Being accountable means that you acknowledge your mistakes and decisions, who will be held accountable for any mishaps or failures? The best teams hold themselves accountable, every single team member and not just the leader. Every team should create S.M.A.R.T goals in order to achieve optimal success. Having specific goals are easier to achieve than general ones, to know if your  goals are specific they must answer the six â€Å"W† questions, these are who, what, where, when, why and which. Measurability involves the team’s effort to measure their progress, to stay on track, they need to make dates on which they will complete a specific task and ensure they meet those target dates. Goals that are measurable answers the questions of how much, how many and how will I know when it is accomplished. It is possible for teams to plan for something that is unattainable as such team members should think about whether are not their goals can be achieved if they work hard enough taking in consideration the time that they have to achieve something. In order to set attainable goals they must also be realistic, a realistic goal is based on your abilities, interests, needs, and desires they should be attainable and it should be something you really want to achieve. Never leave work to last minute, time management is key, as such every project should have been completed before hand to be checked and corrected if needed, it therefore means that a time frame should be established for team members if there is no time frame set then there will be no efforts to get the work done. S.W.O.T is what is used to describe a group’s internal and external aspects, with strengths and weaknesses being internal and opportunities and threats being external. There is always going to be strengths in every team, what someone might be strong at in one category may be weak in another and as such, this leads to team members doing specialized work, meaning every team member can contribute to the final work by doing what they are good at doing. As well as strengths there is weaknesses also, not everyone will be able to do what each member is expected and as such it is the team’s duty to allocate a task to that individual in which he/she can manage. It is not the team’s duty to complain and discourage their team members, instead help and encourage. Opportunities include the chance for progress or advancement, this means if members are given the chance to improve the work given then they should take it and make the best use of it. If one group member is given a task and has the opportunity to add to the work aside from what he/she was given to do or decided to do, then he/she should take the initiative to do so. In many cases there will be threats to the work or to team members that could cease the process of completing the work or temporarily stopping the completion of the work which will defeat the purpose of being time-bound. In such a case the thing or person that is  likely causing danger or damage should be discussed among team members and each should come up with a conclusion as to how best to deal with the situation and how to execute their work differently. The success of every team is dependent on individuals who have the drive to achieve the same goals. Team work requires everybody’s efforts and time to plan S.M.A.R.T goals and stick to those goals. Teams need to be grounded on trust as such honesty is always the best policy, colleagues should be there for their team members as best as they can and be able to be held accountable for their own mistakes. Team work should be less about ‘me’ and more about ‘we.’ Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and as such team members should make it their responsibility to uplift and encourage each other. Through multiple personalities teams can enhance great ideas and everyone’s opinions and views must be respected. Threats are always a problem in team work but with communication that can be defeated.