The Importance of Teamwork

The psychologist Abraham Maslow found that individuals have different needs, with different strengths. We know we need food, shelter, pay our bills, job security, etc... But also to relate to others and to be accepted by them. Without it our work becomes boring and dull.

Working in teams is more fun than working individually, which can help to improve our performance.

There are things on earth that are small, but extremely wise: ants, creatures without force, but in the summer they prepare their food for winter. The locusts have no king, but all leave, and are divided in groups (Proverbs 30:24-27).

When we talk about teamwork, just remember the ants and locusts, being so small, but they give a great example of unity, strength and self-management.

The firsts have a leader, live in a society organized effectively and need not be ordered to do their jobs. Have you ever seen a nest closely? Have you noticed how they walk in perfect synchrony and ranks and prepare their food in summer for a rainy day, when they can not work? Since the locusts have no leader, but they know what to do exactly.

Suppose you and two more people are working in a beans planting, where each one receives the wage corresponding to his working day. The work functions as follows: in line, you dig the hole, the second plants the seed, the third member covers the hole. Each member of this group is only concerned to perform his job, it is not important the understanding of the work of others, "is every man for himself".

One day the second team member failed to work due to health reasons, but the activity continued, as each received a salary corresponding to their working day and they knew full well what was their responsibility, without the need for a leader to guide them. The first dug the hole, the second did not put the seed (because he had missed), but the third was covering the hole and so it goes all day...

Many people who work in various organizations, are working in groups and not as a team, as if they were on an assembly line, where the work is individual and each one is concerned to carry out their task. In teamwork, each member knows what the others are doing and its importance to the success of the task. They have common goals and develop collective goals that tend to go beyond what was determined. In the example above if you and the other members of the group work as a team, knowing the importance of the work of each member and having a vision and goals, surely you would say: "Our college missed, we will have to replace him or change the way we are planting, otherwise our work will be unproductive.

Group is an ensemble of people with common goals in general are brought together by affinities. However, this group is not a team. For team is a group of people with common goals working in the achievement of specific milestones.

Group are people who go to the cinema to watch the same movie. They do not know each other, do not interact with each other, but the goal is the same: watch the movie. A team may be the cast: Everyone works together to achieve a specific goal, which is doing a good job, a good movie.

Having a highly effective team is more than having a group of people, since teamwork needs to be planned, prepared.