Teamwork and Collaboration

Build and maintain collaborative relationships with peers, colleagues, and customers to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities. Be able to work within a team structure, and actively negotiate and manage conflict.

Sample Behaviors

  • Listen carefully to others, taking time to understand and ask appropriate questions without interrupting.
  • Effectively manage conflict, interact with and respect diverse personalities, and meet ambiguity with resilience.
  • Be accountable for individual and team responsibilities and deliverables.
  • Employ personal strengths, knowledge, and talents to complement those of others.
  • Exercise the ability to compromise and be agile.
  • Collaborate with others to achieve common goals.
  • Build strong, positive working relationships with supervisor and team members/coworkers.

NACE Center for Career Development and Talent Acquisition®

Developing Communication

  • Actively participate in team settings
  • Volunteer to be on a committee
  • Be part of a case team
  • Play on an athletic team
  • Study team dynamics
  • Join a student organization
  • Take on a leadership position

What does growth look like?

LevelTypeDescription
1Exposure
  • Identify strategies to work with others towards a common objective
  • UList responsibilities for each team member in an effort to reach the objective
  • Recognize the benefits and limitations of different perspectives and communication methods
2Interaction
  • Build collaborative relationships by engaging in authentic conversation
  • Works with others to achieve the common objectives by delegating roles
  • Recognize the unique strengths, communication styles, and perspectives of different team members and devise strategies to incorporate that information into collaborative work
3Participation/ Proficiency
  • Strengthens collaborative relationships by integrating various perspectives into decision making process
  • Uses appropriate communication styles and methods that foster dialogue and achievement of common objectives
  • Detect, negotiate and manage conflict in teams
4Expertise
  • Seek differing perspectives and member participation to avoid groupthink
  • Identify opportunities, strengths, challenges, and threats to improve team dynamics and achieve objectives
5Mastery
  • Generate relationships and infrastructure to help other teams achieve their objectives
  • Seek continual feedback to develop interpersonal skills
  • Models inclusive communication and assists others in developing