彭蒙惠英语：What Makes a Team Tick?（在线收听）

What Makes a Team Tick?

By Richard G. Ensman, Jr.

Business leaders often speak about “team building” in glittering generalities. But do they truly understand the forces that build team spirit in the workplace?

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Team building. You’ve heard the term dozens of times. So what does team building in business really mean?

Popular belief suggests that effective teams arise when people with similar work styles or personalities are grouped together in the workplace. But more often than not, effective teams arise because groups of people share similar outlooks toward their work lives. The greater the commonality of work and life philosophies, the more tightly knit the team will be.

If you want to build a team, consider the outlooks and attitudes of the prospective members as you try to instill a common spirit in the group.

Outlooks and attitudes of an effective team

What are the key business values of the team members? Does one member place a high priority on human relations? Another on productivity? Another on long-range planning? None of these values are intrinsically “right” or “wrong.” But a clash of values fosters autonomy, not teamwork.

What are the personal aspirations of your team members? Lateral career moves? Promotions? A chance to “make a difference” in their chosen fields? Common aspirations tend to motivate people to work toward goals together.

What goals and objectives do members of your team emphasize on a day-to-day basis? What objectives take priority in their annual work plans? The more agreement between the goals of your business and those of the prospective team members, the greater the likelihood you’ll create a workable team.

Vocabulary Focus

what makes one tick (idiom) the reasons for someone’s or something’s behavior and/or personality

tightly knit (adj phr) closely connected

intrinsically (adv) [in5trinsikEli] relating to an extremely important and basic characteristic of a person or thing

aspiration (n) [7AspE5reiFEn] something one hopes to achieve

Specialized Terms

glittering generality (n phr) 口号或装饰性的言词 highly appealing words closely associated with concepts and beliefs that aren’t necessarily based on information or reason

autonomy (n) 自治权 the right of a person or group of people to self-government; the right to work independently

lateral (adj) 横向的 relating to a transfer or change in position to one of equal status, involving no advancement; sideways movement