Develop Your Teamwork and Interpersonal Competency

Employer quote: "Teamwork is the basis of success...

...for the organization you work for. Being able to work in a team not only helps your career but helps create meaningful business relationships.”

Teamwork and interpersonal competency:

Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively with others in a team setting through shared responsibility, empathy and respect. The ability to manage ones emotions and conflict with others while contributing towards a common goal.

Ways to develop teamwork and interpersonal skills:

• Collaborate with others on a class project where responsibility is shared and not divided.
• Handle difficult conversations in person with respect.
• Join a student organization or team on campus where you can help achieve a common goal.

Reflection questions:

1. When do you feel most comfortable contributing your thoughts and ideas to a group or team?  When do you need to speak up?  Hold back?
2. How do you feel about conflict?  How do you typically handle differences of opinions or conflicts?  What could you do differently in the future to manage conflict more effectively?
3. What does “collaboration” mean to you?  Why is collaborating with others important?  Who are people you like to collaborate with?  Who should collaborate with more often?

Practice interview questions:

1. Describe a time where it was important for you to build rapport with someone in order to achieve a goal.
2. Tell about a time you collaborated with another person or group to work on a project together – sharing the work, not dividing it.
3. Sometimes it’s important to disagree with others to keep a mistake from being made. Tell about a time when you were willing to challenge another person in order to build a positive outcome.