What is teamwork?
In its basic understanding, teamwork is the ability of a group of individuals to cooperate with each other to reach a specific goal. In sports this goal can mean a variety of things, such as winning a championship, qualifying for the playoffs or simply ending the season with a winning record. Teamwork in sports often involves individuals who must fit into specific roles to achieve the best position for a team. For example, in basketball this may force a veteran player to accept a smaller role as a bench player to give younger teammates more time on the court. Principles such as sacrifice and commitment are often stressed within teamwork. Developing Teamwork Developing teamwork can be a challenge for any coach or team leader, especially those who may be joining a new team. Many teammates begin to work with each other long before the season begins. For example, professional players enter training camp months before the season to learn their roles through practice and training sessions. D
When we talk about Teamwork we generally mean different things. For some a team is a group of people with a shared purpose. For others a team must also have a deadline. For others a team must also embody some degree of co-operative working. If we are really serious about improving teams and teamwork then we need to get more rigourous around what we actually mean A Biological definition of ‘teamwork’ Carl Anderson and Nigel Franks [1] have undertaken unique research into insects, animal, human and even robot teams. They are interested in the degree to which these different groups are capable of exhibiting ‘teamwork’. To do this they developed a rigourous but practical way to assess whether particular group activities constitute ‘teamwork’. Teams undertake different kinds of tasks If instead of focusing on the team members we look instead at the tasks they undertake together we find four types: • Individual Task • Group Task • Partitioned Task • Team Task Individual Tasks These can be co
