Is Teamwork A Skill? Definition And Examples

Updated 10 July 2023

Teamwork is essential for the success of any project in the workplace. Working well with clients, managers, colleagues and other business stakeholders requires you to have certain skills. Employers prefer candidates with these skills because they maintain a strong work culture and help the company achieve its goals. In this article, we aim to provide a comprehensive answer to the question, 'Is teamwork a skill?' and learn some useful tips on how to improve your teamwork skills and highlight them during job interviews.

Is Teamwork A Skill?

Is teamwork a skill can be answered as, it is a virtue that you can develop through regular practice. It refers to your ability to work well with others to achieve a common goal. A team player would always prioritise the goals of their team over individual interests. This soft skill allows you to work as a team during conversations, professional collaborations and meetings. In fact, teamwork is one of the most sought-after skills for almost every profession. That is why employers often look for keywords like "team player" or "teamwork" on a candidate's resume.

Teamwork Skills Examples

Teamwork skills are a combination of soft skills that employees use to work together and achieve a common goal. Here are some important teamwork skills employers look for in a candidate:

Communication

The ability to communicate and express ideas clearly and concisely is a vital teamwork skill. Regardless of whether you communicate in person, via email, phone and instant messages, good communications skills help you share relevant ideas, thoughts and key information with other team members. Effective communication relies on factors such as listening actively, asking questions when required, showing respect, being friendly and maintaining good body language.

Conflict management

A critical teamwork skill is the ability to mediate conflicts between team members. Employers prefer candidates with strong conflict management skills because such employees can handle conflicts with efficiency and fairness. When resolving conflicts, an efficient team player would try to reduce workplace tension and foster communication between the conflicting team members to improve the team's productivity.

Active listening

Active listening skills help team members to trust and understand each other. The ability to listen to your team members can help you understand what they are trying to communicate. When you focus intently on someone as they share their ideas, thoughts or feelings, it shows them that you care about their viewpoint.

Responsibility

Within the dynamic of teamwork, it is important that the parties involved both understand the work they are responsible for and make the effort to complete said tasks on time and up to the expected standard. With the entire team functioning properly by taking responsibility for their own work, they can work together towards a common goal.

Honesty

Being honest and transparent is a critical teamwork skill because it requires you to share difficult updates, such as the inability to complete a certain task on time. Employers prefer candidates who can admit their mistakes and fulfil their commitments because it helps a team function properly. Without transparency, it can be difficult for a team to develop trust and therefore work together efficiently.

Adaptability

For a team to work together, every team member requires to complete whatever role they are assigned. Adapting to the work environment and working outside your comfort zone is a desirable teamwork skill. For instance, you may feel comfortable working on a social media platform. However, if your manager delegates your task to someone else because they require your help with a new email platform, you are required to accept your new role gracefully and work on the newly assigned task instead of complaining about the change.

Is Teamwork A Leadership Skill?

Teamwork is definitely a leadership skill. Good leaders know how to work as a team. Strong leaders help their team members achieve success, collaborate and share ideas and contribute to accomplishing a common business goal. Also, leaders bring their team together by facilitating a healthy work environment and encouraging collaboration. This builds trust among team members, which eventually makes the team more productive.

Team Skills In The Workplace

In the workplace, you can showcase your teamwork skills in the following ways:

Volunteering for more responsibilities
Providing support to team members
Working towards achieving a common professional goal
Celebrating with team members

For example, you may be required to work as a team to create a year-end financial report for a client. You might also use your teamwork skills to work together with your colleagues to plan and organise a birthday party for a team member.

How To Improve Teamwork Skills?

With a dedicated plan, you can improve your soft skills like teamwork. Here are a few ways of improving your skills:

Get honest feedback. Since it can be challenging to identify your own areas of improvement, ask a friend, colleague or mentor to give you honest feedback about your teamwork strengths and weaknesses so that you can improve them.
Observe others with strong teamwork skills. When you see examples of great teamwork, take note and identify why the interaction stood out to you. Apply those qualities in your own interactions when working with others.
Set personal goals. Use your observations and the feedback you received from others to create your personal goals. By creating SMART goals, you can improve one teamwork skill at a time. Goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound can motivate you to become an effective team player.
Learn to listen. For improving your abilities to work as a team, sharpen your listening skills. When you pay attention to what others in your team are saying and consider their contribution valuable, it helps to establish you as a team player.
Read books and articles. Certain books can help you take your team skills to the next level. You can even read some good articles on how you can get work done by sharing responsibilities. Also, reading books and articles would help you understand how others work as a team and deliver exceptional results.
Have a positive mindset. Keeping a positive mindset is essential for fostering an environment of care and support. When problems arise, a positive mindset helps you work together as a team to overcome your difficulties.

How To Highlight Teamwork Skills?

Employers often prefer candidates who have the ability to work in a team. That is why it is always a good idea to highlight your teamwork skills during interviews. Here are some effective ways to highlight these skills on your CV and during a job interview:

On your CV

Highlight your teamwork skills in the employment history section. Based on the job description, pick up keywords like "collaborate", "team player", "teamwork", "network" or "relationship building" to establish your credentials as a potential candidate. Furthermore, when you use such keywords, your CV becomes Applicant Tracking System (ATS) compliant. This can increase your chances of qualifying for the next round.

Example:

Worked with an internal team of seven website developers to create an interactive website that increased sales by 15% in the first six months
Collaborated with the design team to develop product prototypes according to the client's requirement, resulting in 30% faster development of a product
Developed and implemented a software application as a member of a 12-person development team

In your interview

During an interview, an employer may ask questions such as:

Are you a team player?
Do you enjoy working as a part of a team?
Can you collaborate with others to complete a project?

The answer you give helps an employer understand whether you can communicate, collaborate and work well with others. When showcasing your teamwork skills during an interview, always use the STAR interview response technique.

Start your answer by sharing a difficult situation you faced. Then describe how you worked together as a team to overcome adversity. Explain what role you played and what actions you took to help the team succeed. Finally, provide details about the results you achieved after taking the actions.

Is Teamwork A Soft Skill For Your Resume?

Yes, teamwork is a soft skill for a resume. You can include these skills in your resume summary. A resume summary is a brief introduction at the top of your resume that highlights your most important skills. You can even mention it in the work experience section of your resume. For example, you can highlight teamwork skills by picking up keywords from the job description.

Example:

Highly competent and collaborative SEO specialist with five years of experience in on-page SEO. Proven track record of working with a team and establishing SEO tactics that improved website traffic by 35% in five months.
Java developer with exceptional programming, communication and teamwork skills.

Is Teamwork A Skill? Definition And Examples