Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.
Key Components
- Build Relationships
- Teams don’t have to be friends. But knowing who you’re working with beyond names and areas of study helps everyone be more effective. Take time to develop individual connections to each person.
- Identify Your Strengths
- Gaining an idea of your strengths can not only be helpful information to pass along to your team, but also help you understand what areas you may need to spend time improving while you’re at St. Kate’s.
Team Roles
People come to a team project with different skill sets. These skills sets can be grouped into four large categories:
- Champion
- These members love to support ideas, motivate the group, and advocate for change. Champions usually focus on the big picture.
- Creator
- These members love a creative challenge! Creators thrive on designing solutions and generating ideas. They are interested in action more than talking.
- Implementor
- Implementors know a million tiny decisions go into bringing a project to life. From daily details to administrative tasks, Implementors ensure the team stays on target.
- Facilitator
- Facilitators read the room. They are working to build relationships and manage conflict between members to make sure everyone has the support they need.
Understanding what role you often take in a team helps you identify your strengths and communicate them clearly to other team members. But don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone occasionally and try on different hats—especially if there is a gap or need for different skills based on the project team you’re working with. Adaptability and flexibility are both key aspects of developing your creative teamwork skills.
Setting Boundaries
- Reflect
- Your capacity will shift based on courses you’re taking, internships or volunteer opportunities you’re involved with, and work schedules. What you might be comfortable taking on for one project may not be the same next semester. Be honest about what you can contribute.
- Communicate
- Let your teammates know what your capacity is—either through email or chat, or in person during a working meeting. Setting expectations early means you won’t over-extend yourself, and your teammates know what to expect. This cuts down on possible frustrations later in the project timeline.
