Thirty-five-year-old Greta B. from New York City spent most of her life hating teamwork. Actually, she couldn’t even hear the word without shuttering. In school whenever a teacher would say “It’s time to break up into teams”, what Greta heard was a death sentence. This might seem dramatic, but Greta had always been an introvert, and her experiences with teams were always in class where the group would weigh her down or on the soccer field where the group would curse her for weighing them down. No matter which team she was on, the experience never failed to be distressing and disheartening.

Can you relate? Working within a team can be so challenging at times that even the most gregarious extroverts find themselves on the verge of insanity. 

But it doesn’t have to be like this. In fact, there are keys to successful teamwork that eliminate tension and strife entirely, leaving an actually enjoyable and productive process, even for somebody like Greta. 

1. Belonging to the Group
   When you feel, like Greta always did, as though you’re separate from the team, you don’t root for the team’s success. That feeling of otherness will foster a resentful mindset, which in turn will make the entire team effort a painful struggle for you. When teams spend time developing their relationship as a group, each member feels integrated and respected. Whatever the team’s goal is, it’s smart for the members to meet during their free time to get to know each other as people and not just ‘team members’. 
    
2. Acknowledge and Celebrate Uniqueness
   A component of teamwork dread comes from insecurity with one’s own position in the team. When you worry--consciously or subconsciously--about being replaceable, you’ll try to protect yourself by going about the work with an “every woman for herself” attitude, thus further alienating yourself. To avoid this pitfall, make sure you and your team members understand everybody’s individual, unique role, and that that if the team is to succeed, it will need every one of them. The whole point of assembling a team in the first place is because it’s clear that the undertaking is too big or complicated for only one person. Teams need people with many different virtues and abilities in order to succeed. When those differences are explicitly acknowledged, the team can work harmoniously and collaborate productively without stepping on each other’s toes. 
    
3. Honest and Respectful Communication
   Because teams should be comprised of uniquely qualified minds, it can (and should) be expected that there will be disagreements among the group. In a healthy and successful team, this should be encouraged instead of feared. A healthy difference of opinions can lead to great innovations, so it’s important that every voice in the team is heard and respected. If the team environment is hostile--perhaps dominated by a few alpha personalities--and members find themselves bullied into agreeing with the majority vote, then not only will those individuals suffer, but so will the group’s success as a whole. Additionally, if a team communicates openly and respectfully with one another, they’ll be able to move past personal grudges that would otherwise turn the entire effort into a circus. 
    

“Looking back, it’s all actually really clear,” says Greta, who had to face her teamwork phobia when she fell in love with acting and began getting parts in plays, “So much of why I hated teamwork was because I felt disrespected. I never felt that my role was valued, and honestly I didn’t value the roles of others’. I saw my teammates as obstacles to getting what I wanted, and they probably saw me the same way. When everyone in a team feels valued and appreciated, the experience is entirely different.”

What Greta discovered is absolutely true about teamwork: it is only an unpleasant chore when we’re holding on tightly to what we want and how we think things should be. To work successfully in a team, you must accept that getting your way isn’t necessarily what’s best for the group, you must learn to not take anything personally, and you must understand the unique value in each of your teammates. If a team is to succeed, the entire group needs to make these changes in perspective as well.