Teamwork Skills: Being an Effective Group Member

Andrew Carnegie, a steel industrialist, and builder of Carnegie Hall, once stated that 'Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.' It is unequivocally true that teamwork can assist in enhancing productivity and stimulating creativity, and one of my most significant experiences with teamwork is from RBC's student council. Participating in student council has changed my way of thinking, as I have begun to consider other opinions rather than just my own, and have learned to collaborate in small groups to achieve an objective.

First, the student council compels me to think of the opinions of the rest of the council, as well as the whole school, when making decisions. This is imperative because even if a suggestion was satisfactory to me, it would not necessarily be acceptable for others. When I was assigned the task of generating names for each day of our Red Ribbon Week, I had to consider that some names that appealed to me would not be liked by other students.

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This relates to the idea of thinking for others by considering names that the other members of the council would favor, to have a general consensus on the final five preferences that the school would utilize after the other members had voted. This would then closely depict the choices of the entire school, with the council being the sample size of the survey.

Second, I have learned to collaborate with others while still helping to achieve a common goal. When working in small groups, I may need to work with others who have weaknesses that are dissimilar to mine, and this can pose a challenge. However, after undertaking a few responsibilities with a group, I now have become more adept at interjecting and taking control when needed. For example, I had designed a poster of our Spirit Week with two other members of our council who had contrasting strengths than mine. This demonstrates my change in thinking, as during the drafting process it was mandatory that I took control, to complete the project more efficiently and timely by establishing a standard text size and color palette for the poster.

Taking everything into account, participating in student council has taught me to make judgments based on others as opposed to myself, and contributing to a larger goal while being in a smaller group. The impact that joining the student council has made on my thinking is quite significant, as I have begun to see an improvement in my work with classroom groups, by accepting other proposed ideas and utilizing my group's personal strengths. It is my belief that all students should partake in an activity similar to the student council, to help develop their leadership skills, teamwork, and perception of those around them.