As the semester’s coming to an end (fireworks), it means that we need to get working on our final project a.k.a PB 4. Since it is going to be a team project, one of the two topics for our lectorial this week was “teamwork”, which I’ll talk about in this post.

Working in a team can be fun, but most of the time it is challenging. Hence, Rachel kindly shared some tips on doing a successful collaboration.

• Clear Objectives

As a group, it is really important to know what the aim of the group is. It is crucial that everyone works hard in order to achieve that.

• Good Communication

The thing about teamwork is that everyone has their own ideas and to come up with an agreement can be a pain. However, it doesn’t mean that we can’t express our thoughts, because that is important! Hence, Edward De Bono’s thinking hats can be really helpful in giving feedback.

• Consistency

Being trustworthy is also really important. Everyone should keep their words in order to build trust within the group. This is especially important for future collaboration as people want to work with those that are trustworthy.

• Respect

“Don’t treat people like mushrooms.” (so cute!)

It basically means we should not let people in the dark, the rest of the team have the right to know what’s going on. For example if we can’t come or will be late, the least we can do is notify them about it.

• Support

A team means that each member is there to support one another in growing and taking risk. If one fails, the others act as a pillar to encourage and strengthen, and the same goes the other way.

• Responsibility

Of course, there’s the responsibility. We all have been in a group and sometimes there’s that one person who just do not care and do nothing (let’s not do that). When roles are distributed, we need to know what our job is and make sure to get it done. Don’t blame others.

• Equitable

This doesn’t mean equal. As Rachel had explained, there is no such thing as an “equal share of work”. However, it means that everyone has a share of workload, for a team means helping each other in getting something done, not just leaving one person to do the work.

Then we have the solution.

Firstly, we build trust by experiencing things together. Hence, by going out together for a cup of coffee or a meal outside of school. That way, it’s easier to get to know each other. Also, by giving the team a sense of unity by creating timetables, establishing a clear goal and most importantly, a good communicative procedures.

Secondly, we have the team rules, or more accurately, team expectation. It consists of people management (communication), time management (setting a meeting duration, creating a to do list) and creative process management (each member tries out different role).

Thirdly, conducting a good meeting is really important as poorly prepared meeting can bore participants and have bad outcome.

At the end of the day, it’s all about putting these tips into practice and I hope to implement them in my collaboration for the PB 4. As Rachel had said, building a reputation is really important in the media industry as people work with people they can trust and rely on.

To close, I’ll quote Rachel‘s last slide:

“Collaboration/teamwork can be hard (at times) & it requires maintenance and thoughtfulness … But it can be fun and life affirming and when it works you can achieve the most amazing things together.”