(This is a list of behaviors observed in people who possess this competence)

• They find out the objective of the work and each person’s role in it. 

• They get involved in the team’s goals and take them on as their own.

• They are responsible and committed to the common goal.

• They assume their predefined role within the team.

• They perform tasks according to their assignment and provide others with status updates.

• They prepare meetings in advance. They help prepare the schedule.

• They define the topics to be addressed in meetings to improve efficiency and productivity, and draw up the minutes at the end.

• They instill a sense of morale and encouragement in team members. They promote constructive dialogue between team members.

• They encourage and build trust through their actions and decisions.

• They encourage communication and a good atmosphere.

• They manage negative attitudes among team members.

• They know how to stay calm in contentious situations.

• When they discover aspects that affect others’ tasks, they communicate them as soon as possible.

• They avoid personal comments during disagreements.

• They are able to give in when they are wrong, and they don’t criticize others’ ideas in a destructive way.

• They worry about others’ work and collaborate with them when it could lead to a positive result.

• Before a meeting, they convey their results and comments to other members and discuss those of others.

(This is a list of negative behaviors observed in people who do not possess this competence to a sufficient extent)

• They don’t know the objective of the work or the reasons for doing it.

• They are not committed to the group’s goal.

• They work individually, without considering the overall result.

• They look for excuses to justify their lack of involvement and behavior.

• They don’t make any effort to do a good job.

• They don’t respect the deadlines set for joint projects.

• They don’t prepare for meetings, which start late and are unproductive.

• They miss meetings or arrive late and, during meetings, they fail to deliver the work assigned to them.

• They are not interested in or concerned with what other team members are doing.

• They don’t have confidence in what others are doing.

• Their actions, attitude and behavior generate a lack of trust among other members.

• They don’t take account of the skills of the other team members and what each one can contribute.

• They don’t express their ideas or suggestions clearly.

• They believe they are capable of doing things better than other members.

• They are not aware of other team members’ needs.

• They talk negatively to others about a team member’s performance behind his or her back.

• They prioritize tasks that have been assigned to them over collaborating with other team members on other tasks because “it’s not my job.”

• They carry out tasks assigned to other team members because they don’t think others are capable of doing them.

• They change the work of other members without checking with the group; they don’t trust the work of others.

• They distract the rest of the team by diverting the topic of conversation to something that has nothing to do with the task at hand.

Behaviors in the assessment questionnaire

• They find out the objective of the work and each person’s role in it.

• They take responsibility for completing tasks and provide others with status updates.

• They promote cooperation between team members.

• They ensure that the team works together to achieve the goal.

(Suggestions for questions that mentors can ask students to reflect on and, therefore, propose ways they think they can improve)

• Do you and your team members form a real team or does everyone work as individuals?

• Are you aware of the objectives and methodology of the team’s work and do you share them?

• Do you know exactly what work you have to do? What are the deliverables and deadlines? Have you communicated these to your team clearly?

• Do you know and value your team members’ skills and knowledge?

• Do you encourage participation and motivate other team members?

• Do you interact with other members between meetings to get to know them better?

• Are you able to trust your colleagues’ work?

• Do you know how to accept your own mistakes? Do you ask your team for help to correct them?

• Do you share partial results with other team members? Are you interested in the others’ results?

• Do you take advantage of other members’ skills and knowledge to solve specific problems in your own work more effectively?

• Do you think you are capable of correcting and advising others without upsetting them?

• Do you offer your colleagues suggestions to help them do a better job? Do you encourage them to try harder in their responsibilities?

• Do you think business meetings are efficient or a waste of time?

• Do you respect meeting times? Do you make excuses or fail to explain yourself when you arrive late?

• Do you prepare your work for meetings?

• Do you try to expose others’ failures? Do you speak behind people’s backs about their mistakes or lack of ability?

• Working as part of a team is not about the sum of small individual tasks, but about taking advantage of the strengths of each member to reach goals that would be impossible on an individual level. That’s why it’s so important to get to know the team.

• Organize a preliminary meeting where you can get to know the members and their skills; don’t discuss the project other than to clarify the objectives and the frequency of meetings. Assign tasks during the second meeting.

• Find out the qualities of the other members that you don’t possess but that could complement your own to make the team more cohesive and achieve better results. Also think about where your own qualities can add value.

• Create an atmosphere of trust based on first impressions, a sincere interest in the circumstances of the other team members and a professional attitude. Think about what actions help build trust and reinforce them, and avoid actions that drain energy from the other members. It’s not about being good or bad, but about team cohesion.

• Accept comments and suggestions from other teams about your work and the way you work. Go a step further and actually ask them what you could improve. At the same time, give your opinion in a constructive way, without questioning others’ lack of ability in areas where you have experience. Instead, contribute that experience to help them grow.

• Publicly acknowledge others’ positive traits. Try to find out the strengths of each team member and how they contribute positively to the rest of the team.

• When your colleagues have trouble completing tasks, give them advice to help them perform better and not feel discouraged, but without taking over.

• Learn from your colleagues and their abilities: report writing, use of presentation tools, project planning, communication, etc. When you see them doing something you would like to be able to do, ask them to show you how they learned it.

• To work as a team, it is essential to know how to put yourself in others’ shoes, since not everyone has the same approach to problems. The creative member with little flair for practical solutions is completely different from the coordinator who comes across as authoritarian, and all the other roles described in the document Team Work by Cardona and Wilkinson.

• Once you have read it, share the information with the rest of the team, so that you can all put yourselves in others’ shoes and think as a team.

• A word of advice: don’t pigeonhole members, since they may fall into several categories at the same time.

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• Engage in active listening to facilitate communication and participation among team members and give everyone time to speak. Don’t interrupt people and pay attention.

• Involve everyone in conversations, offer your ideas without fear and consider others’ ideas in a nonjudgmental way, especially if you are brainstorming. If people are not participating, encourage them to comment by asking them about the topic being discussed.

• When expressing your ideas, be open to improvements and corrections from others. Don’t take them personally, but see them as a way to move forward with the work.

• Prepare minutes for the meeting to clearly record the decisions made, the issues that need to be addressed and the issues that could not be resolved. Note down ideas that were put on the back burner.

• To ensure that the group functions as a team, the members need certain traits and the working environment needs to be perfect.

• The first is the ability to give and receive feedback; in other words, talking to others about their work as objectively, tactfully and sincerely as possible and, at the same time, asking others for their opinion on your work and taking their comments on board in order to improve.

• The second is an attitude of listening. Only when team members are able to truly listen to the ideas, improvements, proposals and conclusions of others can a common goal be reached. The opposite simply encourages everyone to complete lots of little tasks.

• The third is optimism. Nothing is to be gained from destroying others with comments or by being reckless with tasks because everything works out in the end. It won’t be easy, but it will work out.

• Look at everyone’s schedules to ensure good coordination, then establish a date and time for meetings and determine the frequency if a time and date that suits everyone is found.

• Choose a location without any interruptions or distractions, such as a group work room, and make sure you have the necessary materials (whiteboard, computers, etc.).

• Send the meeting agenda and tasks to be carried out through the previous minutes.

• Prepare the deliverables to be provided or the information to be presented.

• Encourage your colleagues when they feel unmotivated to work, don’t contribute or don’t trust their work.

• You must be available to resolve team members’ queries concerning completion of the work and, where appropriate, act as a representative when discussing it with the teacher.

• Being a leader means working harder. You have to check that the tasks have been done correctly, pool them and check that the quality of the final work is up to scratch.

• Familiarize yourself with the tasks assigned to you and the details specified, analyze the members to determine who can support you and make sure you are clear on the deadline for delivery.

• Use tools that allow you to communicate with colleagues and show them your progress, such as Google Drive, Gmail, Dropbox and WhatsApp.

• Lean on your colleagues when you encounter difficulties in tasks, and reciprocate; look for areas where others can be experts and help out in areas where you can be an expert.

• Ensure all team members accept the work you have done. If everyone has participated to some degree, it is more likely to be widely accepted.

• Meetings must be productive. To ensure they don’t drag on, it’s a good idea to take certain measures, including setting a time limit, with some leeway in case something important comes up. You can always continue an informal chat once the time has passed.

• In the meeting, remove all distractions (mobile phones, computers if they are not going to be used, etc.), and suggest others do the same. It is better to take notes on paper and then transfer these to the minutes digitally.

• Team Work, P. Cardona and H. Wilkinson

Note: This analysis explores what a team is and what it isn’t, the different roles when working on a team, the importance of attitude and skills, etc. In short, it provides a thorough analysis of teamwork.

• What Everyone Should Know About Teamwork, Luis Romero

Note: Based on studies by Katzenbach and Smith, this article outlines five different ways to work on a team.

• Ten Teamwork Killers, and How to Avoid Them, IESE

Note: What makes a team work poorly? Why can it sour the atmosphere?

• Trabajo en equipo: estas son las claves (Teamwork: Here Are the Keys), Elena Herrero

Note: Oriented more to the business world, but also valid for university students, this article describes a series of guidelines to improve in this competition.

• Building a Psychologically Safe Workplace, Amy Edmondson

Note: Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School, talks about her discovery of psychological safety as the key to ensuring a work team functions properly.

• Build a Tower, Build a Team, Tom Wujec

Note: This article uses a small experiment to analyze how the most successful teams are built and their characteristics.

• Steve Jobs talks about teamwork at Apple and why trust is key to its success

Note: In this extract from an interview, the founder of Apple talks about trust in the most senior positions at the company.

• Why It’s Time to Forget the Pecking Order at Work, Margaret Heffernan

Note: Based on a study of productivity in chickens, this video explains the characteristics of truly good work teams and how they behave to achieve success.

• What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work, Dan Ariely

Note: In this video, Dan Ariely shows why it is important for us to feel useful when we do what we do, and backs this up with numerous experiments he has undertaken in his career.

• Remember the Titans

Note: The film is about an American football team that has white and African American players for the first time in its history. At the head of the team is coach Herman Boone, whose main objective is to ensure his managers set aside their differences and play as one team to achieve something important.

• The Imitation Game, Morten Tyldum

Note: Mathematician Alan Turning (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his team are on a secret service mission to crack the Nazi encryption machine, the Enigma. This will only be possible through hard work and a clear idea of each person’s contribution.

• The Incredibles

Note: Superheroes have been forced to use their secret identities and lead a “normal” life. Against this backdrop, a family with super powers tries to live as normal people. But everything changes when the father is asked to return to his life as a vigilante from time to time, and he takes the whole family with him.

• Google Calendar: create events and add other team members to them.

• Google Drive and Dropbox: for file sharing and online work. Access them from the School’s email.

• Pegby: task management tool that allows group tasks to be created.