“TEAMWORK
IS THE FUEL THAT ALLOWS COMMON PEOPLE TO ATTAIN UNCOMMON RESULT”

    COMPILED
BY: KARMA CHODEN KALEON

PGT ENGLISH

“Teamwork
is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The  ability to direct individual accomplishments
toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to
attain uncommon results.”

                                                   Andrew Carnegie

The greatest resource that teachers have is other
teachers. But sadly, teamwork and collaboration are not commonly found in
schools. Teachers have very challenging and stressful jobs, part of what
contributes to their level of challenge and stress is a teacher’s tendency to
isolate him or herself.

I remember my first few years as a teacher. I began by
adopting those exact habits of preparing alone and working in isolation. I was
a lonely superhero who went home exhausted each day without the encouragement
or support of my more experienced peers. I was right next to people who had
answers and ideas that could have benefitted me, but I was too hesitant to ask
any help from them.

It was only by the grace and generosity of a couple of
seasoned teachers that I was able to appreciate what I had been missing. They
reached out to offer unsolicited assistance, build a relationship, and share a
few encouraging stories with me. I had assumed that I could be more effective
when planning and working alone, but I eventually found that, when working with
people, efficient is rarely truly effective. It
took a long time for me to realize that I could accomplish more and be far more
effective and energized if I was willing to share ideas, ask for help, and lean
on others.That experience of connecting with other teachers and

sharing ideas throughout the year had a tremendous impact on me as a young
teacher. Over the years, it is what led me to share with and reach out to
others who I felt might need encouragement or ideas. I realized that teachers
have too much of a history of closing doors and doing things their own way.

We have to build
meaningful connections instead of being tucked neatly away in separate rooms all the
time. School administrations should give teachers the time and opportunity to
talk and plan together, to share laughter, encouragement, and ideas.   

Team
work is involving more than one person in a process to achieve a goal. An
aspect that should be emphasized in the strategic management of a school
organization is forming a working team that is active and able to work together
to achieve organizational goals. In general, the team is a group of quality
built in order to create a rule that strive for excellence. Therefore, the
success of the efforts of a group that was formed, the spirit of cooperation
and good relations among group members needs to be nurtured.

 One of the aspects that need to be addressed
in the school organization management is the establishment of an active and
working team able to collaborate to achieve organizational goals. Generally, a
team is a group of quality established to create a work rule that strives
towards excellence. Teamwork is involving more than one individual in the
process of achieving a particular goal.

Teamwork
certainly involves a work team which can be linked with the concept of group
cooperation. Cooperation in turn can be defined as a process of continuous and
impersonal social involving two or more groups of humans consciously and are
willing to strive to achieve a goal that is somewhat limited (or part of the
goal) in addition to complying with certain rules or procedures.

Cooperation
is the behaviour that leads towards the achievement of the goal by at least two
individuals. In this situation, the movement of a member in a group towards the
achievement of the goals will help other members in order to achieve that goal.
This, in summary, cooperation can be defined as a social process in which
individuals and groups helping to achieve the desired goals. The team is a
group of quality for an organization. The Organization, whether big or small,
primary or secondary schools, requiring a team as the main machinery to
organize work.

However,
there is a difference between a team familiar with a work force that is able to
function effectively in the production of high quality work. Teamwork between
Headmasters, teachers, and staff in a school are the elements can unite a
school organization in achieving quality improvement. The management or leaders
must take action into practice through the nature of the collaboration,
commitment, and participation of all experts in quality improvement programs as
a whole.

According
to Ab. Aziz (1999), the work team will provide many benefits either in terms of
knowledge, skills or expertise in tackling problems or issues that arise.

Among
its benefits are job satisfaction and teachers morale values when given the
opportunity to work together to improve the quality of the school. A problem
was able to be resolved more quickly and effectively when shared by individuals
who have the skills in various fields.

An
effective team definitely can implement development within the school
organization. The combination of a variety of skills, experience, and judgment
allows the team gets better results than a bunch of individuals. The team will
be more flexible and able to achieve a combination of productivity and
performance that dreamed by the school. The team is a very important component
to personal achievement. Individuals who are effective in reality have
characteristics such as high self-esteem, the desire to plan and review their
work, and develop their skills to be an effective team member.

Making
Decisions Together Effective teams make best and quality decisions via sharing
of knowledge and skills of team members. The decision is usually made within a
short period of time because it involved the cooperation of all members as well
as in quality.

Collaboration
teamwork requires cooperation, namely the joint effort which involves more than
one individual. Toleration is particularly emphasized in this context and it
should be applied into a culture of teamwork in the school organization.
Decision making Responsibility in finding solutions and making decisions can be
reduced. When Headmaster or principal is able to give some authority to a member
of consisting teachers or staff in making some decisions, its burden gets
lightened.

Principals
or Headmasters must motivate its members to share views and problems so that
they do not suffer from stress or ‘burnout’. Useful information should also be
shared between members of the team. Thus, response and comprehensive views are
more readily available by the school. The quality aspects also  needs to be stressed because each member in an
organization need to understand that in a team certainly exist many different
types of individual and skill levels as well as having distinctive character.
Teamwork allows them to complement each other by leveraging flaws that exist in
each.

 By increasing productivity, indirect manpower
can also be utilized wisely. This cuts the cost of school organization as well
as more focused towards the development and expansion of schools to be more
successful and competitive. Job satisfaction individuals also easy to feel
stressed, tired, weary and bored when working alone. Effective teamwork can
make individuals achieve career satisfaction as well as more relaxed and happy
in their duties. While not denying the personality of each individual is
different, for example, there are individuals who are more efficient, fast, and
comfortable when doing the job alone and some are otherwise. However, be aware
that teamwork is essential in carrying out the duties of challenging and it
will take too much time if done alone.

Generate
a sense of unity and togetherness among fellow group members. This will  encourage  them to help each other and work together. In
order to establish this element , a team must have a high sense of belonging.
An element of ‘I’ is reduced, while the element ‘we’ be increased. Healthy
competition can also be manipulated to create a sense of belonging.

On
the other hand, the extreme competition will only lead team members to conflict
with each other. Each team member must also be able to differentiate their team
to the entity ‘honorable’ and ‘authority’. However, in the meantime they can
work with others to enhance the ability of the group by creating an atmosphere
of mutual understanding judgments. With this, each member can see the skills,
capabilities, and assignments that contributed to the success of the team. Each
member will also recognize their contribution given to the forces of. In order
to achieve a goal in a team, communication aspects are emphasized. Each member
must understand and master how to communicate effectively. They must know the
contributions of others in the team.

Thus,
to ensure the goal is achieved, organizations or school principals should
nurture the cooperative spirit through various activities of employees. To
promote productivity, collaboration among school members is extremely
necessary.

Relationship
among humans is important in all organizations including schools, where
principals must build close relationship with teachers. Teachers and
non-academic staff also need to have good relations with Headmaster or
principal as leader of the school. This relationship enables the two sides to
share information and carry out the work as a whole. Thus, this can improve the
performance of work and develop a spirit of brotherhood and spirit of cooperation
in the school organization family spirit.

 The Family spirit (of togetherness) is also
important for teamwork. This is because employees who have the spirit of family
will be compromise and work together in teams. As a result, schools are able to
evolve more rapidly and effectively. The family spirit is also creating harmony
within the organization. For school organization with a rich diversity of
values, the spirit must be nurtured because of family values and cultural
diversity in the workplace. When the value of the cultural clash occurs, then
the organization will face the problem of a conflict of personality
differences, thinking, belief and understanding. In fact, the sense of family
that instilled in school organizations will strengthen the relationship among
teachers of different personality.

Other
strategies that can be used are in the form of reward points. Praise, reward,
bonus, and so on can be given to employees who work in fostering a sense of
family within the organization. With the reward, employees will be more
motivated and strive to improve cooperation. Empower employees to make
decisions can also develop a spirit of cooperation. The headmaster or principal
who is the boss needs to open the space and opportunity for the teachers or
staff who are skilled, capable, and has the potential to be involved in the
decision making process. In this situation, the employee is given the
opportunity to express their views in matters related to the management
decision-making. In addition, the headmaster, principals can assess the real
state of subordinates in the decision-making process. The disagreements that
occur can be consulted for an agreement between the teachers and staff with the
headmaster or principal, as well as helping to foster and promote the spirit of
cooperation between members of the school organization.

Therefore,
the headmaster or principal should play a role as a planner, coordinator,
motivator and mentor. Appropriate strategies should be undertaken to develop a
spirit of cooperation in the organization of the school. Meanwhile, all
teachers and staff need to give strong support in realizing the goals of the
school.

“Alone
we can do so little, together we can do so much’’   

                 Helen Keller