[00:06.09]READING
[00:06.14]MAKING THE TEAM WORK
[00:07.50]We are often asked to work in small groups,but why?
[00:10.08]Is it necessary to work with others?
[00:11.47]What if you feel comfortable doing a task by yourself?
[00:13.53]Especially at school, it sometimes feels as if we are being asked to work in teams for the sake of just that.
[00:18.00]In reality, however, after leaving school,
[00:20.32]you will find out that almost all work in many fields is done teams.
[00:20.38]School life is a preparation for our working days to come.
[00:22.88]A team is group of individual people brought together in order to accomplish a task that cannot be efficiently or effectively completed by any member of the group alone.
[00:29.65]The group may be temporary or stat together for a long period of time.
[00:32.44]A type of team that we are all familiar with are sports teams.
[00:34.98]Sports teams are made up of certain number of players,
[00:37.41]whose common goal is to work together to win a match.
[00:39.18]Different team members may have different skills.
[00:41.12]Although coach is usually not counted as team member,
[00:43.70]his role is to discuss strategy and make decisions about the composition of the team
[00:46.76]A sports team can only function well when all team members cooperate.
[00:49.82]The atmosphere in the group affects the performance of the team,
[00:52.06]so social relations within the team are important.
[00:54.23]It is not necessary for all team members to be friends.
[00:56.37]On the other hand, all team members should respect each other.
[00:58.75]It is important that all member of the team feel that each of them makes an equal contribution and that they help and support each other.
[01:03.74]In a sports team each player has a clear role,
[01:05.93]and there are few occasions when members are confused or uncertain of their roles.
[01:09.07]Roles of team members are accepted and there are no conflicts about expectations and responsibilities attached to each role.
[01:10.00]However, when forming teams to complete tasks at school, we are often hardly aware of this.
[01:14.13]Working in groups at school is an opportunity to learn more about teamwork.
[01:16.61]Group work makes up aware of the role that is most suitable for each of us.
[01:19.54]Practice also brings the benefit of getting experience working with other people.
[01:22.78]Group work shows us how other people’s roles fit the purpose of the group,
[01:25.81]and it teaches us to be patient and how to respond to different personalities.
[01:28.76]As with sports teams,
[01:35.19]group work can only be successful when group members respect,
[01:37.33]help and support each other,
[01:38.53]while the work division is clear and each member performs at the right level in the role that is most suitable to him or her.
[01:42.84]But a project team requires very different roles from those of a rugby team.
[01:45.63]Teams require leaders, and people who create ideas,
[01:48.12]who develop ideas, and people whose role it is to comment and help improve plans.
[01:51.96]Teams also need people to identify problems, and others to suggest solutions.
[01:55.17]In small teams, members may combine roles according to their personalities.
[01:58.23]People full of action and ideas are often the ones to bring new energy to the group,
[02:01.18]while people who are mainly listening and commenting are often the ones to keep an eye on procedures that must be followed.
[02:05.41]Some are good at evaluating, while others are good at compromising in conflicts,
[02:08.39]and keeping peach and harmony in excited discussions.
[02:10.66]Rules and regulations help teams function well,
[02:12.72]but we should always guard against making teams too bureaucratic.
[02:15.15]Working is a team, we have to take into account how each in individual member works best.
[02:18.97]Some work beat on tasks alone, while others work best in groups.
[02:21.84]How the tasks of the group are divided depends on the personalities and abilities of the individuals in the group
[02:26.62]In a dynamic team, people with quite different personalities work well together.
[02:29.91]In fact, their differences are the strength of the team.
[02:32.08]To make the best of working with our classmates,
[02:33.78]it is important to recognize their strengths and weaknesses.
[02:32.78]Knowing other people’s shortcomings can help us avoid embarrassing them.
[02:35.47]To know someone’s personality type and ability is to know a great deal about that person.
[02:38.92]The lacks of recognition of differences in human functioning has led to much misunderstanding,
[02:42.47]conflict, and waste of energy-in the classroom,
[02:44.79]in the workplace and at home.
[02:46.31]To understand means we can build strong and good relationships between members of a team,
[02:49.50]and make the best use of each other’s talents.
[02:51.53]INTEGRATING SKILLS
[02:54.41]Reading
[02:55.01]TICKET TO SUCCESS
[02:56.31]In the final year at high school,
[02:57.88]Li Younghong knew that a career at university was not for her.
[03:00.44]Her parents had not wanted to pay for any other type of education,
[03:03.24]but had offered her some money to set up a small business to sell cigarettes.
[03:05.93]However, that was not what she had in mind.
[03:07.76]Instead, she asked a coupe of friends to lean her some money so that she could take a one-year training course to become a hairdresser.
[03:12.46]Looking back, she congratulates herself on this decision.
[03:15.02]Soon after completing her course,
[03:16.22]she found a job in a barbershop.
[03:17.47]Things went smoothly.
[03:18.62]As the years went by, she worked in many places,
[03:20.66]always improving her position and gradually getting more and more experience.
[03:23.46]She had made herself independent,
[03:24.71]and was able to manage her finances well.
[03:26.36]Two years ago, she decided to put that money to good use.
[03:28.97]She decided to go back to school.
[03:30.35]This time she decided on a practical course to learn how to do make-up.
[03:33.33]Once again this proved to be an excellent choice.
[03:35.37]The combination of being an experienced hairdresser and knowing how to do commercial make-up for brides and bridegroom made her much in demand.
[03:40.96]The story of Li Yonghong is not exceptional.
[03:43.00]Life at high school is the time to find out not only what we are really good at,
[03:46.21]but also what we really want.
[03:47.28]It is not always easy to discover our strengths while we are still at school.
[03:50.21]Many people tend to listen to their parents or to their teachers who often have expectations that are hard to live up to.
[03:54.70]The ideal for many people at that age is to go to university,
[03:57.52]but is going to university really the ideal career for most people?
[04:00.26]At the age of 17 to 18m many young people dream of going to university,
[04:03.71]because they think a university degree is the ticket to success and happiness in life.
[04:06.92]Too many people forget that in order to become successful,
[04:09.27]you must first explore your talents and get go know yourself so as to find out where your real interests lie.
[04:13.38]Not going to university is not a shame.
[04:15.31]No matter how hard you try,
[04:16.85]working towards a career for which you are not suitable is not going to get you there.
[04:19.83]Think of the following little experiment.
[04:21.21]Write your name on a piece of paper.
[04:22.70]Now do the same with your opposite hand,
[04:24.45]the one you do not usually use for writing.
[04:26.15]How about the results this time?
[04:27.51]This example shows that we can be really good at something when we follow what feels right.
[04:31.17]It is not use for everybody to try to pursue the same career.
[04:33.88]What would the world look like full of manage and financial specialists?
[04:36.78]We must make the most of our special talents and interests.
[04:39.00]By following your own interests you will ensure that you arrive at the best possible station in life.
[04:42.84]It has become quite common now to distinguish various people’s different talents or “intelligences”,
[04:47.26]and accept their influence on human functioning.
[04:48.85]People have different personality types,
[04:50.34]and connected to these types are different learning styles.
[04:52.35]Schools and universities tend to serve people whose mental,intellectual type is strongest.
[04:56.16]People whose learning style is to try, experiment and find their way through hands-on experience,
[04:59.80]often find that school life does not accommodate their learning style.
[05:02.41]These characteristics combine in unique ways in each person,
[05:05.07]forming personality types, each made up of different inner processes and ways of functioning in the world.
[05:08.83]It is important to recognise that each personality type is of equal value.
[05:11.86]No “way of being” is better than another.
[05:13.90]Each offers gifts and processes that complement the others,
[05:16.28]contributing in a unique way to the qualitative functioning of the whole,
[05:18.71]whether the “whole” is team, a class, family or a society |