The Four Components of Teamwork by Laura Benjamin Teamwork! Do you ever wonder why that word seems to be on everyone's lips these days? Even the U.S. Department of Labor reported in, "Skills Employers Want," that what employers want most in today's workplace include: Verbal communication Interpersonal abilities AND Teamwork Perhaps it's because we're trying to do more - with much less! The American Management Association's Staffing and Structure Survey found 76 percent of Human Resource Managers believe skilled labor is 'scarce,' in comparison to 66 percent in 1999 and 52 percent in 1997. Teamwork is not a new concept. It has been the key to our survival as a species. We use teamwork to find food, build shelter, drive away enemies, and protect the young and the weak. The most effective teams are those who quickly and efficiently adapt to their changing environment. Certain species are better at it than others - cockroaches, for example! Scientists have discovered that our ability to collaborate with others even drove the development of the thinking part of our brain, the Neocortex. Among primates (including ourselves), the side of the Neocortex to total brain volume increases in direct proportion to the size of the social group typical to that species. In other words, the larger our circle of social connections the larger the size of the part of the brain responsible for intellectual thought. (Maybe you should add more names to your Rolodex!) There are four components to successful teamwork: Commitment to Succeed Communication Emotional Competency Self-Control Commitment to Succeed A number of years ago, a young military recruit was being evaluated on her ability to march a team of 60 people across a concrete runway and maneuver them onto a drill pad adjacent to it. As the point approached to give the proper command, her mind went blank and she missed the optimum point to turn the columns of airmen in the right direction. By the time she gave the command and all 60 people completed the turn, it was clear they were headed not for the drill pad, but right through a muddy ditch! It was quite a sight when all those freshly pressed, creased pants and spit-polished shoes slogged on through the muck! But they followed her - even though they knew in advance where their steps would take them. No one jumped out of formation to avoid the disaster, or even tried to take over the leader's position. Everyone had taken their turn with this same exercise. Each one knew how difficult it was to coordinate the command, the proper footing and judging the distance required to navigate the maneuver. Each one understood that it wasn't an easy task. A commitment to succeed no matter what is a test where many teams fail and it destroys them. The question is not whether they always agree, but can they hang in there and support each other through the tough times? Or do they abdicate when things get a little mucky? Communication Studies show there are immense economic advantages to the old adage, "Two heads are better than one." People who tap into their team to communicate needs have a huge time advantage. For every 3-5 hours the average person spends gathering solutions to a problem on their own, the high performer spends just one hour tapping into their network of experts. It's more efficient and everyone wins in a situation where ideas are shared. To go it alone deprives your teammates of the opportunity to support you and also to test their own problem solving and decision-making skills. Well-developed communication is the basis of any successful long-term relationship. In today's workplace, team relationships extend years into the future - they are expert connections and professional networks for future business opportunities. Many of today's lucrative partnerships were forged in earlier years at other companies. Emotional Competency In 1973, Professor David McClelland of Harvard University found that star team performers possess more than just education, technical skills or intellectual excellence. They possess the competencies of empathy, self-discipline and initiative…key elements in the area of emotional intelligence. Hay/McBer, a well-known research firm, studied star performers from 286 organizations, two-thirds from within the United States, and one-third from 20 other countries with a wide range of job titles and occupations. They evaluated 21 competencies critical to success and found that all but three were based on emotional intelligence. Eighty percent of the time, what set superior from average performers apart depended not on cognitive abilities, like analytical skills, conceptual thinking, and technical expertise, but on emotional intelligence. Other factors impacting success include influence, self-confidence, the drive to achieve, adaptability and big picture thinking, which is 13 percent greater among the star performers. In another study, parents were shown video clips of a number of teachers at different grade levels. The clip was run for less than 30 seconds. Parents were then asked to determine the level of each teacher's competency, which they did with 80 percent accuracy despite the 15-30 seconds they had to form their conclusions. Too often, we only give credit to the intellectual part of our brain as a way to gather data and draw conclusions. Going with your gut instincts or intuition is easily dismissed as suspect…after all, we're more sophisticated than that, aren't we? Studies show, however, that star performers and outstanding teams are made up of people who have highly developed skills that have nothing to do with IQ. In fact, less than 25 percent of the time was IQ a determining factor in their success! Self-Control Controlling emotion is another predictor of lifelong success. A number of years ago, a research test was conducted with 4 year olds at Stanford University that was about as "high-tech" as you can get - the test was conducted with marshmallows! You may have heard about it in your Psychology classes in college. The children were brought into a room where a marshmallow was placed before them on their desks. The researcher told the children they had permission to eat the marshmallow right away, but if they could wait until after he returned from running a brief errand, they would get to eat the first marshmallow and also be given a second as a reward. Researchers tracked the life experiences of those two control groups and found some interesting differences between the children who grabbed and those who waited. Fourteen years later, the ones who waited scored an average of 210 points higher (out of 1600) on their SAT. As adults they were more intellectually skilled, better able to concentrate, more dependable and formed more successful long-term relationships. Of the children who grabbed, they were more likely to fall apart under stress, become irritated and pick fights and end up in prison. In other words, they gave in to their impulses. We are all emotional creatures, but our ability to control and properly direct those emotions makes a huge difference in how successful we are in life and ultimately, in our ability to "play and work well" with others. Also see: • Managing a productive brainstorming session • Dealing with difficult people in the workplace • Communication tune-up Adapted from Laura Benjamin's keynote address to the Software Support Professional Association in Toronto, Canada. Laura specializes in improving the way we get along within the workplace. She is a featured guest on radio and television, member of the National Speakers Association and President of the Colorado Springs Society for Human Resources Management. For more information, go to www.laurabenjamin.com.