Mirandahandfelt.weebly.com



Teamwork Can Solve Any ProblemMattie Stepanek, an American poet, a peace advocate and motivational speaker, once said “Unity is strength…when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved” (Brainy Quotes, 2013). To have teamwork as a top strength can be a good thing. I can see that teamwork is my top strength, because I work well with a group of people, I am loyal to my friends and family, and I can be trusted to pull my weight in group projects and at work. The definition of teamwork from the VIA Character Strengths survey is “You excel as a member of a group. You are a loyal and dedicated teammate, you always do your share, and you work hard for the success of your group” (VIA Inventory of Strengths, 2013) Teamwork has some benefits of being a top strength which include problem solving, accomplishing tasks faster, healthy competition, developing relationships and everyone has unique qualities. This top strength is fulfilling to me in many ways. Teamwork exists in my character, I have a better understanding of what the meaning and the larger purpose is for this strength, and there are influential factors that have helped me develop this strength. To begin with, teamwork exists in my character. I do not think that I have to convince anyone that teamwork is my top strength; especially if they know me. I am a hard worker because I am a person who is industrious and diligent in carrying out tasks or duties. I am determined that if I work hard I can accomplish my goals and have a positive outlook on life. This is because I can have the feeling that I worked hard for accomplishing an achievement, instead of being hand given it. I work well with other people especially in group projects, I make sure that everyone takes a role in doing the project and that it is well done. For instance, this semester I am in Neuroscience. Every Friday we have lab and everyone has a lab partner. My lab partner is Tim O’Brien. In the first half of the semester we dissected sheep brains, every week we took turns cutting the sections of the brain and quizzing each other over the terms. In the second half of the semester we had to write a research paper. By working together and assigning different sections between the two of us we got the paper done with little complications. I asked Tim, “How do I participate in our group?” His response was, “Miranda actually is a fantastic partner. In addition to her responding to emails and texts in a timely manner, she always does her share of work and understands when conflicts come up. She is a person that I can trust. I think it is because we trust each other in the sense that we both know that each of us will do our share of the work for the paper or project that we are such good partners. Miranda has a strong work ethic as well.” This top strength is expressed through my dedication for getting things done well in a timely manner. Teamwork is shown through my personality, because I work well with other people. One example of working well with other people is shown at work which is at Subway. If we did not work as a team then the customers’ satisfaction would not be to their standards. That means that the time it will take to make their sandwich will be longer by not working as a team. I emailed one of my co-workers Sara Selle and asked her if I showed teamwork. Her response was, “At Subway, there are different task lists that need to be completed before each shift is over. By completing these lists, it helps other co-workers have an easier, less stressful day. If the lists are not completed, the workers that are still there after she has left will be left the responsibility of doing her tasks as well as their own.” A second example of working well with other people would be being on a women’s volleyball team. I enjoy being on a team and playing any sport. Throughout my childhood up until now I have been involved in softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and in track. I believe that being on all of these different teams have taught me how to work well with others and not just do everything myself, if there are other people to help me might as well use their help. Michael Jordan a professional basketball player who played for the Chicago Bulls said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships” (Michael Jordan Quotes). Following this further, there is another saying that is “there is no I in team”, if you are part of a team or working with a group of people you cannot try and accomplish success by yourself. We could not have won any of the games in any sports that I have played in if I was just playing the sport by myself and being a ball hog. In the seven years that I played soccer, my position was either a forward or an outside midfielder. On our team there were two forwards, our job was to beat the opponent’s defense and score goals. In order to beat the defense and score a goal I had to communicate with the other forward. In my sophomore year in high school, we were playing against Wahlert High School; this was a big game because it determined if we (Hempstead Girl Soccer team) were going to be city champions. In this year I was a forward along with Kinzie Ahlers. This game started off rough in the first half of the game we were losing. However, in the second half of the game we were tied. Between Kinzie, Brittany and Emily who were the outside midfielders, and I, we communicated with each other. On way that we communicated with each other would be when Brittany had the ball I said, “Brittany, ball” then she passed the ball to me, I did a cool trick to beat a Wahlert defense player, then I saw that Kinzie was open so I passed the ball to her and she made a goal. From making this goal and having a good defense we won the game and became city champions. Becoming the city champions in soccer has always been a goal for the team every year and being a teammate on the Hempstead women’s soccer team during that year was exciting for me. The last example for working well with other people would be working on group projects. Working with a group of people for a group project lessens the work load and you can brainstorm better. As a science major, I work on a lot of group projects. In all of our labs for my science classes, we always have either one, two, or three people working in a group working on one lab and writing the lab report. One example is in Physics lab. We have different lab partners every week, but usually there are three people in a group. Some labs are easy to follow and others are hard and confusing. One of my labs dealt with geometric optics, this one was a little confusing for me because we did not really cover this topic in class yet. Being in a group with two other people that knew what we had to do lessen the work load for all of us. After talking to my partners and knowing that they knew what to do they explained it to me and I was able to set up the lab and help them write the lab report. For the most part, teamwork can also be seen in friendship, by being loyal to my friends. Teamwork creates a bonding relationship into friendship. Playing a sport and being on a team, I wanted to make good friendships with my teammates. By bonding as a team and getting to know each other better makes a better team, because in the game you will work better if everyone is friends instead of being enemies. For instance, in sixth grade I was on a basketball team for the Dubuque Girls Basketball League. On this tem there was a teammate that no one really liked, because she thought that she was the best one on the team and was a ball hog once she had the ball. We did not really win that many games during that season because we did not get a long as a team. I remember every game that we had and this girl was playing me or any of the other teammates would not pass her the ball, because every time we did she would not pass it to anyone that was open. So every time we were on the court and this girl was playing we did not act like a team. However, when she was off the court we played well and like a team. Similarly, friends must defend each other’s character, honor and reputation, either on or off the court. I think there is teamwork in my relationships with my friends. Sometimes when we hang out we usually either make dinner or do some kind of activities. It does not matter whose house we are at we always help each other out with making dinner, no one is just sitting around. In addition when we make dinner it’s a good time to catch up on things. On activity that we do every summer is tie dying; this is a good example of teamwork. We usually do this at Paula’s house, she would set up the tables and put garbage bags on top of the tables, between Allison and I one of us soaks our materials in cold water and ring them out and the other person will make the dye. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, suggested that friendship is like successful team membership; each member in the team should enjoy each other’s company, must be useful to one another, and share the same interest. With this in mind, thinking more about how teamwork can be seen in friendships can have an impact on me and other people around me. This top strength of mine has made an impact on my character as well as on the people around me. Teamwork impacts me by achieving my long and short term goals, increasing my individual learning, resolving conflicts, and betters my communication skills. A few goals that I have that incorporate teamwork consist of doing well in group projects which will allow me to get good grades in college, being loyal to my friends and keeping the friendships I have already and make new ones as I move on with my life, and to improve the work environment at Subway. Using my strength in group projects can increase my individual learning, because my group members are intelligent. Also, each member of the group could have different skills and capabilities which I can learn from and advance my knowledge. Teamwork has an impact on my ability to resolve conflicts, because parts of my strength means that I am a dedicated teammate, I always do my share, and I work for the success of my group. For example, I am a shift supervisor at Subway and I have to resolve conflicts if it is between two employees or an employee and a customer if the manager is not working. Lastly, having teamwork as a top strength impacts my character by bettering my communication skills. Using teamwork either at work, in a sport, or in a group project I am always communicating with people. Communicating with people and working together with people my strength can impact other people around me as well. The effects of teamwork can have an impact on other people around me as well. I asked a few of my friends through email how teamwork impacts them. Two of my friends just talked about teamwork in general and how it has an impact on them. However, the responses were not really the same. The first person I emailed was my friend Paula, her response was “Teamwork is an important strength because it allows people to work together to achieve a common goal. It allows several ideas to come together and make them stronger. It is an important quality because we must work with people throughout our lives. Teamwork helps learn patience, listening skills, and communication. Teamwork helps our friendship because we can work through situations without arguing. It can also help complete our jobs more quickly and efficiently because each member of the team can be assigned a portion of the work. It is nearly impossible to do everything in life alone; therefore teamwork is a strength that will contribute to many parts of your life.” I thought that this response hit pretty much all the aspects of teamwork. It was also interesting because this is similar to how this strength impacts me too. The next person that I asked was my boyfriend and I asked him how teamwork impacted them was. His response was more dealing with how he uses teamwork at his job in the Geek squad in Best Buy. “I think that teamwork is essential to accomplish goals effectively in a team setting. Teamwork makes a task much easier. For example, at work we deal with a lot of clients that come in requesting service. It would be very difficult if one person were to walk through each repair from start to finish. Instead, we have one person at the front helping people to get checked in for repair, there is one person that actually does the repair and another that calls clients and handles the paper work at the end and throughout the repair. This type of team structure is much better, because it allows for us to service people more efficiently and allows for multitasking to take place.” This response is similar to how I use teamwork at my job. How at Subway we need at least three people on the line to effectively make the customers sandwich in fast manner. This response is also similar to the last response that I got from Sara a co-worker from Subway. I asked Sara, if I show teamwork and how it impacts her. Her response was, “In addition to task lists, there are always supposed to be three workers up front in the restaurant. If even one person is missing, it impacts the stress level and work productivity of the other two workers. Each worker depends on two other people to accomplish a successful lunch rush hour. This impacts me, because I am Miranda’s co-worker and depend on her to successfully perform the duties required at our job. Miranda is always able and willing to work with others to achieve the same goal.” Looking at these responses teamwork does not just impact me but also other people that are around me. This strength is beneficial to everyone, and can make working on things easier, as long as we work together as a team. There are many great stories of teamwork that are out there that I read on the internet to try and get me in a team-oriented mindset. There is one that I read on that I thought really fit well with the theme of teamwork. It is about geese and how they use teamwork to survive and how they use teamwork when faced with trying conditions:“When you see geese flying along in “V” formation, you might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly that way. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in “V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone — and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front. If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those people who are headed the same way we are.When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point. It is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs, whether with people or with geese flying south. Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.What messages do we give when we honk from behind? Finally — and this is important — when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies, and only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation to catch up with their group.If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.”I believe this is a good way to explain teamwork, it shows the main aspects of teamwork, working together efficiently and effectively, being there for each other, and to lessen the work load. My definition of teamwork is people coming together as a team achieving a common goal effectively and efficiently. In the same way people with this strength should have a sense of duty in the group and do their own share of work for being a group member, not because they are forced to do the work but just out of respect of being a group member. This is kind of close to the definition of teamwork from the VIA Character Strength Survey. According to VIA Character Strength Survey, teamwork is defined as “you excel as a member of a group. You are a loyal and dedicated teammate, you always do your share, and you work hard for the success of your group” (VIA Inventory of Strengths, 2013). Another way to understand the meaning of teamwork is to conceptualize the qualities of a good team. Whether we are looking at a sports team, in a work environment or working on a school project, each group of people should show these qualities. The first quality that a group of people should have is effective communication. The communication between each team member should be directed towards the common goal. The second quality that a group of people should have is strong leadership. It is important to have an efficient leader that can give support and direction to the common goal to the other team members. Third quality is to have conflict management. Usually there will always be conflicts in any teamwork situation; everybody has their differences and opinions on how things get done. However, if there is some sort of conflict management, where the conflicts get resolved within the group then that is good and the achievement of the common goal can be achieved. Fourth quality is trust. If every group member can trust each other than the members will have the feeling that the work needed will get done. Fifth teamwork quality to have is have common goals within the group of people, instead of having your own goals. Sixth teamwork quality is respect. Having respect for the other team members can minimize conflicts and enhance productivity. Seventh quality group of people should use in teamwork is efficient delegation. The last quality for a good team to have is avoiding negativity. Having negativity in the group will only bring conflicts and slow down the productivity. One activity that we did in class that helped me better understand teamwork was making the video and reading the chapter about my top strength in Character Strengths and Virtues in the beginning of the semester. I liked this activity because it made me really think on how this is my top strength and what it means to me. In Character Strengths and Virtues it had ten criterions there are a few criterion that really helped me understand the meaning of teamwork: criterion one, criterion three, and criterion five. The first criterion is fulfilling. According to the book teamwork is fulfilling by “keeping the focus on actual behavior-doing one’s share in group activities” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). I think there are a few ways that teamwork is fulfilling. One way is at Subway, where I work. If we did not work as a team then the customer’s satisfactions would not be to their standards. Meaning that the time it will take to make their sandwich will be longer including the time for them to pay for it, by not working as a team. Another way that I find teamwork fulfilling would be playing volleyball Sunday nights with my friends. The next criterion that helped my understand teamwork better is the third one. In the VIA manual criterion three is does not diminish others, the main point from this criterion is “good teamwork elevates others in the vicinity” (Peterson &Seligman, 2004). Teamwork can give people a feeling of belonging, which can have the possibility to make a group of people work closely together as they make decisions. By having the feeling of belonging can improve motivation and performance as everyone is seeking to achieve the common goal. The next criterion in the VIA manual is criterion five, trait like. “The prototype of this strength is someone who is broadly loyal and responsible- an across-the-board good teammate regardless of the team” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Teamwork is in my character trait, because I am loyal to the people around me and I am responsible for my actions. For example, I am a shift supervisor at Subway, I got promoted because I am loyal, responsible, a leader, and I work well with people. If my manager and the people that own Subway could not see that teamwork is a trait of mine they would not have promoted me to be a shift supervisor. A larger purpose of my strength is to increase my ability in decision making, planning, and in problem solving situations. There is always room in future development for my strength. Some ways that I will improve my strength would be in school working on projects and labs. Another way that I will improve my strength would be in my future career as a Veterinarian. Either being a small or larger animal Veterinarian I will always work in a team. Being a large animal veterinarian I will have to work together with either a veterinarian technician or another large animal veterinarian. One example of teamwork for large animals would be collecting sperm from a bull. There is someone holding a bar behind the bull’s butt, while another person is holding the BBSE machine in the bull. Then the Veterinarian is patiently waiting to collect a sample of the bull’s sperm. If there was no teamwork in this field of work then there is a good possibility that the Veterinarian or someone else getting hurt. Being from a big family has helped me develop my teamwork skills because we always do things together. My family consists of my mom (Pam) and stepfather (Don) and my two sisters (April, and Rachael) and things are always a little bit crazy whenever we get together. Whenever there is something that needs to get done around the house or even just a meal to be set up for, my family has developed a very good sense of teamwork to help me be an effective team member outside of family life. Each member of my family has a different role to play as part of our team. For example, my stepfather is the one that always has to make sure that the house is kept up and that everything is working in proper order. My mother is constantly cleaning and making sure that the house stays tidy and everyone is where they need to be at the time that they are supposed to be there. My younger sister, Rachael, is the baby of the family and her job is mostly to be everyone’s helper. She is always there for whenever anything needs to get done. My older sister, April, is my personally support. Even though she lives far away, she’s always there if I need a shoulder to cry on (over the phone). My role is probably a little bit of all of that. As a middle child, I guess I am meant to share a little bit of responsibility in all of these jobs. Especially being there for my mom (Pam) and my younger sister Rachael, during these tough months with my stepdad having colon and lung cancer. One example that my family showed teamwork is when we go camping at the Palace in Galena. My mom, my younger sister Rachel and I help each other by packing the food and the cooler to get ready for our camping trip. Once we arrive at the Palace camp ground we work as a team and set up the tent and unpack the car and truck. My step dad and my mom set up the tent while my younger sister and I blow up the air mattresses and set up the chairs around the campfire. There is also teamwork between the whole family when we have to start the fire and make our meals. It is usually my step dad getting the wood and starting the fire, while my younger sister helps my mom prepare dinner. I think that my time on sports teams in high school helped me to be a successful team member because it taught me important lessons about what it means to be on a team that I will never forget. In high school, I played on several different sports teams including volleyball, basketball, soccer, and softball. One lesson in particular that I remember is one that my coach, John Denham, told us right before a soccer game in high school. He told us that a good team required a number of different things: it required a good leader, willingness out of everyone to be part of a team, the skills required to be effective, and the commitment to each other to become the best you can be. I think that this lesson has really helped me to realize the fundamentals of good teamwork and what it really means to be part of a good team. Another interesting example of how teamwork was expressed to me was through my manager at Subway. When I first stepped into my role as shift supervisor, I realized that it was my first job that I really had to take a leadership position in. I was a little bit nervous after that awareness and I asked my manager about what she could tell me about leading a team. She told me about a system that she always utilized called “social currency”. So basically, social currency is just doing something for somebody with the hopes that someday they might return the favor for you. It’s not always the case that you will get anything back from the experience, but at least you were able to do something for somebody. An example of “social currency” is when a coworker needs a shift covered and they know that I am not working during that time. If they ask me if I can cover for them, I would probably want to take that shift with the hopes that someday when I need them to cover a shift they will help me out and take one of my shifts. But in most cases that does not happen, just because some coworkers like to make money and not willing to give up on of their shifts or they just do not want to pick a shift of mine up. I have used this social currency in the workplace and I think that it makes me a balance part of a team. Another factor that has lead me to be a good team member is when I am with my best friends Paula and Allison. I have been friends with those two since I switched schools in 8th grade. They have always taught me to be a good team member of sorts within our little group of friends. I think that it almost relates back to the social currency in a way because they have always been there for me by being great friends and it has made me want to always return the favor by being there when they need me for anything. Teamwork is a great character strength to have because it is involve in a wide range of lifetime activities and the things that I will have to do for the rest of my life. The teamwork strengths that I have developed in my life so far can help with career growth and personal achievement. I think that the people in my life can trust me to pull my weight in any activities that I am involved with and that I really do make a good team member. Work Cited"Mattie Stepanek." . Xplore Inc, 2013. 19 May 2013. "Michael Jordan." . Xplore Inc, 2013. 19 May 2013. , C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. New York: Oxford University Press and Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.VIA Institute on Character. (2013).VIA Inventory of Strengths [Online]. Cincinnati, OH. Retrieved (insert final date of paper) from the World Wide Web: ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download