Teamwork/Collaboration

Teamwork/Collaboration

Teamwork/Collaboration is the ability to successfully build & maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively together as a team through shared responsibility, respect, & empathy to complete a shared goal for a common good.

Assessing Your Level of Competency

Graduate School is a time to join clubs and workgroups that will allow you to lead, collaborate, and share responsibility with groups of students and colleagues to increase your level of awareness around this competency. Ask yourself the following questions to dive deep into your self-assessment:

• Am I a good listener to others on my team?
• Am I comfortable sharing my point of view in a team setting?
• Do I let others share their point of view and accept and understand them?
• Do I know how to keep up my end of the work when working on a team?
• Am I willing to help other members with their work even if it makes more work for me?
• Do I ensure that my work is done in the timeline assigned?
• Am I able to constructively resolve conflicts that arise?

Building Your Level of Competency

Build on your level of this competency through the following:

• Join a student group on campus and ensure that you are contributing to the success of that group.
• Volunteer for a team project in your group/lab or department
• Pitch in when you see others struggling with a project or task.
• Support the leader of your team through offering to help and assisting others.
• Welcome new members to a group or team through support and making introductions.
• Be accountable for all tasks and duties assigned to you on a team. Ensure you complete them on time and to the full expectation of completion.
• Choose a positive attitude, contributing solutions and ideas to the team rather than criticism and negativity.
• Choose a cross-disciplinary research topic that will require collaboration.

Communicating This Competency

There are many opportunities to communicate your experience with teamwork and collaboration to others; through your resume, cover letters, interviewing, 30-second professional introduction, networking, etc. Use the following as examples of how you might be able to articulate this competency:

• Awards, grants or other recognition you've received as part of a team effort.
• Specific teamwork examples of actions you have taken as a team member and the successful outcome.
• List of your teamwork qualities (ie. active listener, honesty, responsible).
• Share how you've helped a team grow and progress through constructive contributions.
• Explain how you helped a team that wasn't accomplishing their goals get back on track.
• Discuss how you supported your coworkers/colleagues to accomplish their tasks in addition to your own.  

Career Ready Competency Tracking Tool

Download the Career Ready Competency Tracking Tool one time from the main Career Competencies webpage, and utilize one document to track the development of all your competencies.