This document discusses teams and teamwork. It defines what groups and teams are, and explains that teams work together to achieve specific goals. The document outlines benefits of working in teams such as learning different perspectives and gaining interpersonal skills. It provides tips for effective teamwork, including treating others with respect, encouraging discussion, and keeping communication clear. It also describes common roles in teams such as leaders, materials managers, documenters, and timekeepers. Finally, it presents two exercises for teams to practice their communication and problem-solving skills.

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Team work
Communication Skills 2018
Delivered by Kim Thomas, developed by Joelle Peters

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Groups
A group is a collection of people with a common characteristic or
purpose. Working in groups is part of every day life. Many of us belong
to a wide range of groups.
• Families
• Sports teams
• Class groups
• Committees
• Work projects
2Material adapted from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/groups.html

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Groups - Teams
A group which has been created for a specific purpose is called a
‘team’. A team works together to achieve a specific goal.
3Material adapted from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/groups.html

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Team Communication
People working in a group or team will interact and communicate
differently than they will in a one-on-one setting. There are benefits to
working in groups.
• Learn to see things from others points of view
• Compare themselves to group members
– Strengths
– Weaknesses
• Gain confidence in interpersonal skills
4Material adapted from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/groups.html

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Group attitude
For a group or team to work well it needs to be ‘cohesive’, this means
that all members need to work well together. It is important to actively
listen to all members of a group or team, and to develop trust within the
team.
5Material adapted from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/groups.html

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Golden rules for teamwork
• Treat everyone with respect – if everyone feels respected and valued
they will contribute more willing to the team
• Encourage discussion – make sure everyone is heard, even if they
have different views to you. Sometimes a new idea turns out to be the
best one!
• Make a choice and move on – Once the team has made a choice
(even if its not yours) go with it and do your best to make it work
• Keep communication clear – you don’t need to write essays to each
other, but make sure everyone is communicating clearly
• Make it fun – If people enjoy working in a team the productivity will go
up!
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Roles in a group
• ‘Role’ refers to how people behave in a group, and what jobs they do.
• People may have more than one role
• Roles may change over time
• In small groups most people have a role, which may be unspoken,
and everyone is expected to participate and contribute to the groups
7Material adapted from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/groups.html

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Common roles in small groups
• Coach/Leader
– NOT someone who makes all the decisions
– Reads tasks/instructions/brief and makes sure everyone knows
what the end goal is
– Facilitates dividing up of tasks and group discussions
– Checks that everything is done and everyone is contributing
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Common roles in small groups
• Materials manager
– Gathers and manages required materials
– Takes care of equipment
– Makes sure everything is being used safely
– Encourages active listening and teamwork
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Common roles in small groups
• Official documenter
– Records and reports as needed
– Keeps track of who has been assigned what jobs
– Able to discuss what is happening with people from outside the
group
– Encourages active listening and teamwork
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Common roles in small groups
• Timekeeper
– Makes sure everything is happening in the right order
– Keeps track of time left to complete various tasks
– Makes sure people stay on track and focused
– Encourages active listening and teamwork
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The Belbin roles
• If you are keen to learn more about roles in a large group, there are a
set of roles called the ‘Belbin Roles’ which you can look up.
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Team work exercise one
• Get into teams of four
• As a team you have to write instructions on how to peel a banana
• You have to write them for someone who has never seen a banana
before!
• Listen carefully to everyone in the team before writing your
instructions (diversity is important)
• You have 3 minutes to write the instructions
• Read them out to the class, were there different ways of doing it?
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Team work exercise two – on the wings of
a seed
• You have 20mins in your team to create a structure that will allow an
ordinary table tennis ball to stay in the air for as long as possible
• Each team will get the same resources
• Decide how you will approach this, and what roles people will have
– Coach
– Resource manager
– Record keeper
– Time keeper
• What practical tasks will each person have?
• How will you make sure you’re all working towards the same goal?
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