I believe that in the age of information when the hierarchical model of leadership is being widely replaced by the collaborative approach, the team becomes one of the core values for any organization. It resonates personally with me since I perceive myself as an excellent communicator, possessing all the necessary skills for team building and coordination. Furthermore, I am fluent in two languages (English and Spanish), which facilitates communication and allows me to work in a multicultural team, which, I believe, is going to become the key organizational unit shortly.
In my opinion, a team-player working style possesses several benefits regardless of the sphere of professional activity. First and foremost, collaboration in the workplace gives employees a perfect opportunity to become more familiar with one another and find the most suitable approach to every team member. Second, teamwork allows understanding both strengths and weaknesses of each member and dividing tasks and responsibilities in such a way that each is performed by the most qualified candidate. Third, the division of labor accelerates the process of task completion and increases the efficiency and accuracy of performance. Another important advantage is that teamwork fosters creativity as staff members have to brainstorm problems together and come up with the best possible solutions. The bigger the variety of suggestions is–the more chances the team has to make the right choice.
Finally, having worked in various organizations, including healthcare, biz-marketing, education, and retail companies, I am convinced that no matter what the specific requirements of one’s job are, there are still challenges that a person has to meet every single day in any workplace, and a favorable team environment is the best support mechanism helping us not only develop professionally but also learn to rely on one another and build long-lasting relationships.
References
Barner, C. (2012). Social media and communication. New York, NY: Sage.
Brownlie, D. (2012). Andragogy. Web.
Cummings, J. N., Butler, B., & Kraut, R. (2014). The quality of online social relationships. Communications of the ACM, 45(7), 103-108.