Introduction
Teams are a fundamental part of any organization as they are responsible for outcomes and attaining existing goals. Under these conditions, teamwork acquires the top priority as one of the factors that should be given much attention. The aligned cooperation between individuals can create the basis for achievements and future development (Coates & Bell, 2020; Valentine et al., 2019). However, as far as any group consists of individuals, their role and teamwork orientation also play a critical role in the work of any unit. (Tannenbaum & Salas, 2020) For this reason, any person should correctly recognize his/her skills and focus on their improvement to attain better performance (Nordgren & Schonthal, 2021). Using the Teamwork Assessment tool, I analyzed my own behaviors to determine the areas of development and conclude about my readiness to work in a collective and cooperate with others, which is vital for the functioning of any modern organization.
Translating the Goals
The first analyzed area is Translating the Goals and behaviors peculiar to it. My overall score is 23, which demonstrates the need to work on this sphere. The lowest numbers are linked to posting my team goals for everyone to see and sharing them with other groups within the organization. Moreover, I have some other issues with setting and translating goals, such as holding team members accountable for agreed-upon expectations and clear explanations of duties. It means that I might face complexities when trying to explain the existing tasks to others and fail in creating the basis for future success. At the same time, I clearly understand goals and believe that others possess the correct vision helping them to act effectively. The scores show that this area should be taken into account to correct existing weaknesses.
The developmental plans should consider the lowest scores acquired by using the tool and focus on their improvement. Thus, for me, it is essential to work on my ability to align cooperation between various departments of the organization to ensure that the existing goals are correctly understood and translated to others. It will boost the team’s effectiveness and help to gather support from others. Additionally, the development plan includes focusing on delegating tasks and aligning the cooperation within a group regarding the goals, which demands clarity and effective instruction (Pickering, 2021). For this reason, I plan to focus on learning how to translate the goals effectively by reviewing the relevant literature and engaging in real-life situations presupposing collaboration with colleagues and discussion to acquire a better vision of existing purposes. I am sure it will help to promote better results in this field.
Engagement
The next area assessed using the discussed tool is Engagement. It sates for the alignment with an organization, employees’ understanding of their roles, expectations, and readiness to contribute to teamwork (Hegverdt & Johnson, 2017). My own score in this field is 34, which means I am engaged in the work of groups. I give every team member an equal voice, try to build trustful relations, and rely on colleagues by asking for their input. At the same time, I have a low score related to the understanding of others’ career aspirations and goals, meaning there is still space for developmental activities. However, in general, it is possible to state that engagement is one of my powerful aspects, and I try to work with all partners distributing time and effort equally, which is critical for establishing a positive climate within a collective.
The developmental plans regarding this area should imply a better understanding of others, their expectations, goals, and aspirations. Previous assessments of my personal skills showed that I have good empathy, meaning that it can be used to improve results in this area. The factors motivating others can be understood during communication and observation (Guffey & Loewy, 2018). It means that I should put much effort into enhancing my communication skills as a way to understand others better, realize their contribution and factors promoting their engagement. It will also help build a better atmosphere within a team and ensure they can share their feelings and emotions (Griffith et al., 2015). Under these conditions, my developmental plans for this area imply learning to understand others better as it is a key for engagement, goal setting, and effective performance management.
Collaboration
The next area is assessed by using the tool is Collaboration and behaviors associated with it. It means team members’ readiness to work together, support each other, and move towards attaining current goals (Griffith et al., 2015). The evaluation result is 34, which is also a high score showing my good skills linked to this area. I always have a sense of shared responsibility for the team’s success as I consider myself its part.
Additionally, I try to relate all interactions and discussions to the existing goals to ensure they can help to establish the basis for achievement. Sometimes I might use inefficient approaches when dealing with conflicts or solving problems; however, in most cases, I realize the critical importance of negotiation and introduce essential criteria to make decisions. In general, collaboration behaviors can be viewed as my strength, but it is also possible to improve some aspects.
Because sometimes I demonstrate destructive behaviors in conflicts, it is vital to improve my skills in this area. Conflicts are inevitable in human interactions, meaning that their successful resolution is essential for a successful leader, manager, or employee (Murphy et al., 2018). For this reason, developmental plans should include learning practical conflict resolution strategies that can be utilized in various conditions and lead to the desired outcome (Giddens et al., 2021).
It will also help to resolve problems by negotiating and discussing the primary causes with others. Furthermore, I need to focus on implementing decisions by acquiring support from all team members. This aspect can be improved by studying negotiating practices and strategies, leading to a better understanding of others and better interaction with them. These activities will help to attain excellent results in this field and make me a better team member.
Monitoring Performance
Finally, the last area assessed by using the test is Monitoring Performance and activities and behaviors associated with it. My overall score in this field is 31, meaning that I am less successful in this aspect compared to the two previous ones. One of my greatest difficulties is monitoring teams’ interactions for signs of unproductive conflicts and resolution of redundancies or gaps in roles and responsibilities. Sometimes I might have issues with providing coaching among all team members. These limits might affect my teamwork skills and contribution to achieving existing organizational goals, meaning it is vital to focus on my personal development and acquiring methods to become more effective (Kenrick et al., 2014). However, it should be noted that I am good at providing individual recognition and celebrating successes, which is essential for the atmosphere within a collective.
In such a way, the scores show that the area of performance monitoring demands attention and improvement. I think my development plans should focus on monitoring teams’ interactions to ensure there are no signs of conflict or other issues which might limit the productivity of teams and their ability to evolve (Curphy et al., 2019). It can be attained by learning about possible signs of conflicts within groups or causes for worsening of relations in collectives (Robbins, 2020). This information can be applied to real-life settings to ensure there is no critical deterioration of interactions between specialists, and they can work together and cooperate to achieve the existing goals. Additionally, it is possible to focus on improving my coaching skills to help new members or individuals who lack experience or knowledge in a particular field.
Summary and Development Needs
Altogether, the Teamwork Assessment tool helped me to acquire an improved vision of my strength and weaknesses. The scores are 23, 34, 34, and 31 for Translating the Goals, Engagement, Collaboration, and Monitoring Performance behaviors correspondingly. It is clear now that it is vital to create developmental plans focusing on the first area as, at the moment, I have the weakest skills related to it. However, it is also vital to consider less powerful aspects from other spheres to ensure the comprehensive and continuous improvement of my competencies and skills. At the same time, the assessment helped me to realize my strengths, which can be used to contribute to teams’ development.
These include engagement, accepting the successes of others, collaboration, and support. Using these skills, it is possible to help other team members to adapt to new conditions and move together towards existing goals.
Thus, developmental plans should consider several aspects necessary for my personal and professional growth. First, I should focus on translating the goals as it is required for teamwork and can improve outcomes. It can be performed by reviewing literature about clear goal setting, discussion, and cooperating with other departments (Hanh, 2014). It is the weakest area, meaning that most attention should be given to it. However, my performance monitoring skills should also be improved, which demands looking for strategies to monitor relations within a collective and signs of hidden conflicts. It will lead to a better understanding of existing behavioral patterns and promote effective methods to resolve any tensions between individuals belonging to the same team (Tuhovsky, 2015). I am sure that this developmental plan will contribute to my professional growth and my ability to help groups to evolve and show better performance.
Conclusion
Altogether, the productive and stable work of a team is one of the fundamental aspects of modern organizations. That is why every individual belonging to a collective should be ready to evaluate their skills and determine the degree to which they can help a team to evolve. Under these conditions, the Teamwork Assessment tool can be an effective method to outline problematic areas and improve them. For me, it helped to discover issues in translating the goal behaviors and focus on activities that might help to eliminate all weaknesses and make me a better team player. The organization’s goals can be attained only if all elements of the system function effectively, meaning that it is vital to start from the individual contribution and move to other aspects. For this reason, this assessment is necessary for improving performance and achieving desired outcomes.
References
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