Team work: Vital to you career progression within the marcomms industry

Working as part of a team

If you are working or thinking about working in the advertising, marketing or media sectors, you will learn that team work is vital and there will be few elements to your role that rely on you working in isolation. The ability to work effectively as part of a team is key at work, but it's something that rarely gets taught.

Being one of a family and going to school is some preparation for being in a team, but for only children or people who didn’t do a lot of teamwork at school or college, working as part of a team can be daunting as they are used to doing things their own way and not having to consider other people or alternative approaches.

Teams in business, such as new business pitches, product launches or client teams, all go through a series of stages before they become fully functioning and effective. Equally, changes to the team or the environment in which the team operates can cause them to regress before moving forward again.

In many ways, the concept of a team working better than the sum of its parts is true, however, difficulties can be experienced because of the diverse differences between people and their values, beliefs and attitudes and the time it takes to discuss and reconcile this, which is why having a clear mission and goals is absolutely vital.

To fit well and create a well performing team, follow these principles:

·          Listen to and appreciate different points of view

·          Let go of being right

·          Have an agenda and take minutes at team meetings so there is no confusion – don’t let things become informal or sloppy over time as the team becomes more familiar

·          Sum up verbally to check the team’s understanding of what’s been agreed at the end of any team meeting/teleconference 

·          Ensure the team has a mission, goals, clear roles and responsibilities, defined ground rules and decision making and a clear team process for discussion and agreement

·          Any more than 10 people in a team can be problematic and the benefits of being a team diffused

·          Ensure that there’s a good and relevant mix of skills and personalities for the team’s purpose

·          Spend time socially as a team to bond

·          Celebrate successes and breakthroughs, privately and publicly

·          Spend time discussing any problems and disagreements - don’t brush them under the carpet

·          Review progress regularly

·          Keep meetings fresh by initiating different ice-breakers or creative approaches  

Want to work as a member of a team?

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