In the restaurant and foodservice industry, no one person can make an operation run well. For example, the kitchen team works together to make the food. One person does not make each dish from prepping to garnishing. The servers work with the hosts and bussers to keep things moving smoothly in the front of the house.
One Team, One Dream
cause teamwork makes the dream work
Teamwork uses each team member’s strengths so the group has more success working together than working alone. The most successful teams respect each other’s opinions and find ways to work together to create positive results.
People on successful teams are more likely to feel a responsibility to the other team members. Why? Because a team is a group of individuals with different skills and experience levels, but they are all working to complete the task or meet the goal. Often, the people doing the work have a better understanding of where breakdowns might happen, and they can build a solution together.
Teamwork is a vital skill for your career success. If you excel at teamwork, you gain a reputation as someone who works well with other team members to achieve common goals, whether that’s in a two-minute conversation or a year-long project.
Effective team working is also essential for business success, which is why “Do you work best independently or as part of a team?” is a common job interview question. Regardless of whether it’s every day, once a week, or a few times a year, most jobs require at least BASIC teamwork ability so you can get along with others and use your unique skills to help reach common goals. The importance of teamwork couldn’t be clearer.
This is a challenge for many high school students – especially those who have never really HAD to depend on others for success. A more common experience is had by those who experienced disappointment when they DID depend on another student and they failed to deliver. For many, many students, a teacher announcing “this is a team project” is cause for groans of unhappiness. Why? The student who wants the “A” will do all the work. The rest will sit back, play on their phones, pretend to help but not really contribute in any meaningful way, miss important deadlines or class periods… and when all is said and done, get the same grade.
“Teamwork” like this? It’s incredibly demotivating.
Unfortunately, this type of teamwork experience frequently follows students into college and their early careers. Some do all the heavy lifting; the rest sit by and do nothing (or worse, actively drag down the team with incessant arguing, demands to be “right,” and general badness).
There is good news and bad news when it comes to teamwork. Throughout your career, regardless of what industry or profession you end up following, you will be either a member of a team or be in charge of managing a team. Teamwork is therefore a vital skill. All those people who stink at it? Those people who don’t help, don’t participate, can’t be relied on? People who argue or complain or actively obstruct your progress? They will still be around, sure.
But they won’t be in charge – you will! You can fire them for being lazy and won’t that feel good?
Recruiters are looking for team players. Why?
Teams really are more productive
When projects are steered by individuals, the individual shoulders the entirety of the workload. But when a handful of people collaborate with a team of skilled professionals on a project, all team members share the workload.
At the same time, people working in a team together possess a range of different skill sets. This diversity of skills can improve outcomes. A good team leader will match each individual person’s skills and strengths with the tasks they’re best-equipped to complete in the course of the project.
Staff relationships grow stronger
When one or two people work alone, their communication, big-picture view and knowledge are restricted. But when working in a team, especially a team that is made up of various people collaborating on projects and solving problems, people are more likely to participate in productive conversations for the purposes of shared goals. By working in a team, they’re also more likely to contribute positively and help and support each other.
Stronger bonds and relationships between team members also create a solid workplace culture and improve staff morale.
Professional knowledge is elevated
All employees have their own knowledge, professional experience, and expertise. When they work together and communicate professionally and honestly, they exchange and share ideas, knowledge and information, and that intellectual capital becomes more concentrated across the business.
How to develop your teamwork skills
Recruiters are looking for strong teamwork skills in the people they hire. Ask any Human Resources representative: if two people are applying for the same position and have the same basic skills and background, the one demonstrates a strong teamwork mindset will get hired. Every time.
How do you build this important employability skill? Do these things:
Understand the team’s objectives
For a team to work together towards a successful outcome, everyone involved must understand the common goal. Make sure you understand and accept the common objective.
Understand your individual responsibilities
Be clear about your own individual responsibilities, and the roles and responsibilities of all members of the whole team. Understand what your role in the team does and doesn’t cover, so you deliver what your team members require of you. Remain accountable and don’t let any business task fall through the cracks.
Be positive
Be supportive of your fellow team members. Give positive feedback, approach collaboration with a supportive mindset, share credit and maintain an enthusiastic attitude throughout a project, especially when deadlines are looming and the team’s stress levels rise.
When problems arise, avoid complaining. Instead, refer to your shared goal and work together to come up with suitable solutions.
Communicate and receive ideas:
To work together effectively in a team, you need to open your lines of communication so that you both share ideas and receive feedback. You need to not only understand others, but ensure your own messages are understood.
Actively listen to ideas and feedback:
Are you an active listener? To avoid misunderstandings and ensure everyone in the team feels that their contribution is valued, it’s important to be an active listener. Pay attention to other team members’ verbal and non-verbal communication. Give them your full attention and ask questions if you need further clarification.
Manage your time effectively:
Good time managers set aside time to plan how to be most productive. Learn how to order your tasks by priority and urgency. Minimise the time you spend working outside designated work hours to complete tasks. Safeguard time that you need to focus on important tasks.
To confirm your communication skills are up to scratch, pay attention to how effectively you communicate information to others, both verbally and non-verbally. For instance, look at some of your recent text messages and reflect on how concisely and clearly you shared your point of view. How would you rate the quality of your communication? Was your message clear?
Equally important is how you receive information. Be open to receiving both positive and constructive feedback. Remember, in order to work well together, everybody in a team, including you, should be proactive about communicating. There are a range of communication skills you may need to improve to communicate effectively in a team.
Even if you disagree with a particular team member, have an open mind and look at the issue from their perspective. Together, this opens you to the views of everyone in your team.
Be a Problem Solver
At the heart of teamwork is problem-solving, big and small. The more adept you are at solving problems, the more positive an impact you can have on your team.
To be an effective problem solver, ensure that you clearly identify the problem you are trying to solve. If necessary, take some time to research, then check in with your fellow team members – make sure you are all seeing the problem the same way!
Don’t forget to brainstorm a range of solutions. Take the time to evaluate each idea objectively. It might be that one single solution is the answer to a problem; however, it might be that what you need is a COLLECTION of solutions to move forward.
Many times, you won’t get to complete, 100% agreement. But the best solutions are those that have majority support across the team. If there’s division, negotiate and compromise. Make sure that everybody is on the same page on the next steps to take when it’s time to get to work.
Excelling in all these areas makes you a much more capable team player who sets manageable deadlines and delivers what your team need from you, when they need it.
How to demonstrate your teamwork skills to employers
Given the importance employers are placing on teamwork today, proving you have these skills in your resume and in a job interview will enhance your appeal as a job candidate.
However, to really make an impression on a potential employer, you’ll need to add more to your resume than mere statements like: “I’m a good team player.”
Instead, share successes that demonstrate your teamwork skills. For instance, perhaps you were part of a team that executed a complicated catering project, developed a new system of maintaining the facility, or created and put into action a marketing plan to sell a product.
Such concrete examples allow you to show recruiters and hiring managers that you have successfully used your teamwork skills.
When applying for jobs or attending interviews, think in these terms:
- targets you’ve hit within your team.
- key achievements within team projects or
- the number of projects you’ve worked on in team settings.
Be a team player
The importance of teamwork and working well with fellow team members can’t be underestimated. As a highly sought-after soft skill in today’s workplace, taking the time to develop your teamwork skills and knowing how to prove them to a potential employer con only aid your career development. It may take time to improve these skills, but by mastering teamwork you’ll be seen as a more effective and valuable group team member.