Character Strengths—Psychology Behind Teamwork
The Psychology Behind Teamwork is an important advancement to level the character of every individual in a team. An experiment by an assistant faculty member at Standford looked at one of the benefits of exercising one of the 24 character strengths, this one is particularly subcategorized under the virtue of justice—teamwork.
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In This Article:
The Kite Fable
As one of the 24 Character Strengths
Qualities of A Good Teamwork
Participants of the experiment were tasked to solve a puzzle. They first met in small groups of 3-5 people, then went to separate rooms for the task. A group was “psychologically separate” as they were told that they are to solve the puzzle themselves and an experimenter was to give a clue afterward. Another group was called categorized as “psychologically together”, they met in a small group and went to separate rooms after just like the other group, only this time they were told that they were given a tip about the puzzle by a fellow participant.
The catch is, the tip given by the ‘researchers’ and the ‘fellow participants’ are just the same!
Walton said, “The results showed that simply feeling like you’re part of a team of people working on a task makes people more motivated as they take on challenges,”; as the participants reflect on their value after the experiment, the results showed that those in the “psychologically together” group had an increase in motivation rather than just a sense of obligation, competition or pressure to join others in an activity.
The Kite Fable
Here is a story about teamwork that you can impart to your constituents:
The Mayor of the town decided to stroll across the park on a windy day, he found a boy flying the biggest and beautiful kite he’s ever seen.
As it soared, he thought about how their little town had little to nothing spectacular to brag of, unlike other cities. Realizing how the kite glides high and gently across the sky and how the other cities could see it for sure, he then wanted to award a “key to the city” to the one responsible for the beautiful sight.
“Who is responsible for flying this kite?” the Mayor asked.
“I am,” said the little boy holding tightly and proud of his beautiful big kite. He said, “I made this huge kite myself, with my own hands. I painted all of the colorful pictures on it, and I fly it!”
“I am,” said the wind. “It is my breeze that keeps it in the air flying so big and beautiful. Unless I blow on it, it will not fly at all. I fly it!”
“Not so,” claimed the kite’s tail. “I make it sail and give it stability against the wind’s blowing gusts. Without me, the kite would spin out of control and not even the boy could save it from crashing to the earth. I fly the kite!”
As one of the 24 Character Strengths
Teamwork is considered as one of the 24 character strengths which is an important concept applied in positive psychology. VIACharacter.org defines teamwork as:
“Teamwork means that in team situations you are committed to contributing to the team’s success. The team could be a workgroup or a sports team, but it could also refer to your family, marriage, or even a group of friends working on a project together.
Teamwork is more than just being an abiding citizen or individual of your community or country, and it’s about having a greater sense of social responsibility for “particular groups of people or even all of humanity.” A person high in teamwork can be simply described as someone who appropriately acts according to the personal ideals and values they hold as a group.
Most commonly, however, this strength refers to your being a dedicated, reliable, and contributing member to your small group or team. Teamwork is closely related to 3 other concepts:
- Citizenship: responsibility toward one’s community
- Loyalty: unwavering trust for a group
- Patriotism: loyalty toward one’s homeland/nation without hostility toward other nations
Teamwork is a strength within the virtue category of justice, one of six virtues that subcategorize the 24 psychological strengths. Justice describes strengths that help you connect in the community or group-based situations. The other strengths in Justice are fairness, leadership, and teamwork.
Qualities of A Good Teamwork: What Teams Can Further Develop
Project Aristotle was a project ran by Google for several years. It included interviews of their hundreds of employees as they analyzed data about the individuals on more than 100 active teams at the company.
“We looked at 180 teams from all over the company. We had lots of data, but nothing was showing that a mix of specific personality types or skills, or backgrounds made any difference. The ‘who’ part of the equation didn’t seem to matter.’’
– Abeer Dubey, a manager in Google’s People Analytics division
The project’s intense data collection resulted in the same and known conclusions as other good managers have:
“The best teams, members show sensitivity, and most importantly, listen to one another.”
This project brought about their concept of “psychological safety” or simply, having a shared belief that the team is safe for personal risk-taking, like talking about one’s struggles, points of weaknesses, triggers, and even strengths. This was best demonstrated by Matt Sakaguchi, a mid-level manager at Google.
When he was diagnosed with cancer, he brought his team off-site to open up about his situation. The group was initially silent, but soon enough his colleagues then began sharing their personal stories.
Google ended up highlighting what leaders in the business world have known for a while: the best teams are mindful that all members should contribute to the conversation equally, and respect one another’s emotions. It has less to do with who is in a team, and more with how the members interact with one another.
Encouragement of Communication
One of the most important characteristics of a good team is open communication. Each team member must be able to communicate with the rest of the group for project updates, questions, ideas, and general input. A team that encourages open communication allows everyone to be able to share their ideas and opinions without fear.
Respect for Team Members
For a team to be a comfortable and safe place for all members, each person must respect everyone else. Members should respect every aspect of other members, though they may not agree with it: ideas, communication abilities, background, religion, work style, and cultural traditions. Because a great team requires open communication, respect can create the trust that will allow members to be vulnerable.
Collaboration Among Team Members
Teamwork requires effective collaboration; each person must figure out how her skills and talents fit with those of the other team members. For a team to work, everyone must understand what their role is and how to use it to contribute to the team’s success. Depending on the team, the roles might be as simple as providing support and morale; a well-functioning team uses each person’s complementary skill sets. Each member of the team should understand that everyone’s part in the project is equally valid.
Problem Solving and Conflict Management
An effective team must develop its own strategy of problem-solving and conflict management. The strategy will differ from team to team based on the situation and the individual members; the individual team must work out the problem-solving methods that work best for it. When your team members can work through roadblocks together, the team will be able to work smoothly even during rough times.
Shared Missions and Common Goals
A shared mission can help a group of people work together and create enthusiasm. When everyone is using their own abilities to work toward a common goal, the result is greater than the efforts of a single person. In a strong team, the good of the common goal comes before the individual preferences and interests of the members. The goal also contributes to a smooth operation; the team can resolve problems and disagreements by determining what is best for the team and the end goal.
Every organization wants to create a powerful group that can outstand and solve the toughest problems, and what they need is the strength to stand together. Teamwork provides a shared strength for an organization and business. Whether you are using this concept of teamwork for managing employees or volunteers is just one way to create a strong team for increasing productivity and a friendlier work environment.
Examine the effects of different configurations of character strengths in such systems. Being one of the positive psychology character strengths, it is deemed as something that can be developed and trained. Because an organization or business cannot hold the fort on its own, it needs everyone to be the same goal as them— to reach the goal and fulfill their vision for the community.
Strengthen your teamwork and unlock the power of collaboration by embracing positive psychology. Download our “How To Make Friends Workbook” to start building connections and fostering a more resilient, effective team today.
