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Working in teams
Working in teams

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3 Group or team?

At this point it will be useful to identify some of the groups and teams that you are part of.

An image showing the backs of seven males holding up a rowing boat above their head.
Figure 3 A group or a team?
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The figure shows the backs of seven males holding up a rowing boat above their head. They are all wearing the same clothing. They are stood barefoot on a jetty, surrounded by water.

Figure 3 A group or a team?

Activity 2 Assessing your present position

Timing: Allow about 15 minutes

What groups or teams are you part of? Don’t just think of teams at work. Widen your thinking to include teams that you are part of in work, school, the community and sport. Think of previous teams as well as current teams. How many can you come up with? For each example try to answer the following questions:

  • What was the purpose of the group or team?
  • How well did it achieve its goals?
  • Who was involved in it?
  • How were members selected?
  • Did people have different skills and experiences and if so were they complementary?

Try to answer these for three of the examples you have come up with and note down some of your thoughts.

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Comment

While sports teams are an obvious example, perhaps you have been a member of a musical group or a team of volunteers.

Don’t worry if you have only come up with one example at this point, you might think of some more as you work through this section and you can always revisit this activity to add in other ideas as they come to you.

The last section this week will also help you consider things you could do to increase your teamwork experience.

You’ll return to this list of teams later this week.

Now that you’ve had the chance to consider some of your own experiences, the next thing to work out is whether those experiences were actually in teams or groups.