What makes a team?

A team is when two or more people who work or play together to reach a common goal. The goal might be to win a game of softball, to create a piece of artwork or to win a quiz. People on a team coordinate the tasks they do and cooperate to achieve their goal. Teamwork is an excellent way for people to share what they know.

While one member of the team may not know all that is needed, two or more together might . For example, when playing a game of football, some of team members may be better runners, others make great attack players, others are stronger and make great defenders and others are good at shooting goals. They bring their skills together and achieve things as a team that they couldn't do alone.

What makes a team a success?

Two things that you need to have a successful team. One is – how well the team as a whole achieves its goal. The other is how well each individual team member contributes to the group. This can be illustrated by the following examples:

• A netball team wins the game but a couple of players kept the ball to themselves, so that some team members didn't get to be part of the play. That’s not a successful team.

• On the other hand, each member of the team might get an even share of the ball but they might not work well together. That is not successful team either.

If the team wants to do well, each member must work hard and work together to win the game. Individual commitment to a team effort is what makes a team work.