What's gonna work?

When I hear the word "teamwork", I automatically think of Nickelodeon's The Wonder Pets. Why? As the parent of any toddler can tell you, their signature song is "... what's gonna work? Teamwork!". Using this mantra, they manage to save animals that find themselves in trouble.

But instead of focusing on the James Bond-like gadgetry they use, such as a hypersonic flying machine made only from parts found in a daycare, I'd instead like to think about what teamwork means.

Teamwork is a basic value of today's society. At least, its something we THINK we should be doing. The trouble is, though, we don't often live up to our own ideals.

So how can we, whether we work in a pet store, daycare or even a library, be better at teamwork?

I thought about this question as I listened to a colloquia presented by Dr. Ken Haycock, who is the director of San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science.

Dr. Haycock mentioned a few things about teams which struck me as very useful.

First, teams have a group goal but individual accountability. I don't think I've ever heard it stated so succinctly. As he points out elsewhere, a good amount of work is taken up by teams parceling out blame for the team's failure. Such failures could be avoided if the team leader did a better job.

The team leader's main responsibility then, according to Dr. Haycock, is moving the team through its "life-cycle", which consists of:

Forming

In this stage, everyone is getting to know each other, and feeling a little apprehensive about working together. Complaints are common, because people are getting their arms around the notion of working with people they probably haven't collaborated with before. I would guess that library school teams form slowly because many people attracted to LIS have, like me, introverted personalities.

Storming

This phase is where it starts to get interesting. Now members have to get down to the nitty-gritty of working on the project, and dissatisfaction starts to set in. It can also be marked by defensiveness, because people are not used to having to defend themselves to strangers. It is imperative the team leader take charge to keep the group from spiraling out of control. As he also mentions, successful teams have to have ground rules on how the team works.

Enid Irwin, a lecturer at SJSU says, lays out what the ground rules help address when she writes that students are afraid their teammates won't contribute, or that they have nothing to offer. Fear of "getting it wrong" is prevalent here too according to her, as well as the worry that other members will take control of the team.

Norming

Things start to come together in this phase. Competition between members gives way to cooperation, because people see the benefits of working together. Dr Haycock mentioned that some teams never get this far, instead bumping around in the Storming phase until they limp over the finish line of turning in an assignment. Irwin suggests this could happen because team members don't have the skills, enthusiasm and trust which teamwork needs to succeed.

Performing

This is the pinnacle of teamwork, where everyone is contributing and working together to make sure the team accomplishes its task. Its what The Wonder Pets do every day.

So, I'm happily getting indoctrinated into the LIS lifestyle. As Enid says, teamwork is a real-world skill, and how I work through my degree program will help define my career.