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Senior Column: Teamwork makes the dream work

Photo by Sarah Irwin

As I reflect on my college journey, one thing that stands out to me is how much I’ve come to appreciate and value working within a team.

I didn’t always feel like this though. Throughout my high school career and stretching into my earlier time in college, I almost always preferred to work alone. I thought that I would be able to get more done if I relied on my own abilities and worked on projects alone. As a design student, I used to fear that my ideas would not be heard or that I lacked the skill set to considerably contribute to the group.

After being on several teams these past few years though, I have come to realize that these prior opinions and fears I had were all wrong.

One of the largest and most obvious benefits I have noticed while working in a team is the diversity of ideas, perspectives and skills that each member brings to the group. Everyone has unique experiences, strengths and weaknesses, and when these are combined, a project can become much more innovative and creative than what could have been created by just a single person.

I’ve noticed that working within a team allows for more opportunities to learn from one another, challenge each other’s ideas and ultimately arrive at a better end product. As a user experience design major, I believe that these benefits of working as a team are not only important, but mandatory for designing and creating an amazing product.

Additionally, these group experiences have helped me develop important communication skills. It’s not always easy to collaborate with others, especially when there are disagreements or conflicts about ideas. However, these experiences greatly helped me learn to communicate effectively, listen actively and compromise when necessary, resulting in any challenges being worked out, and ultimately creating a stronger team dynamic.

Another aspect of teamwork that I have come to enjoy over the past few years are the people. Throughout college, I’ve been lucky to have been paired up with some incredibly talented and supportive peers. On many of the projects that I have worked on, and am currently working on, there is a strong sense of respect and community that we share with each other. As we all work towards the same goal, each member is able to become invested in each other’s success, and I believe that that is a really valuable thing to have as a group.

If you would have told me four years ago that I would be looking forward to working with a team rather than dreading it, I would have assumed it was a joke without hesitation. I know now that teamwork is not scary, unnecessary or unproductive, but quite the opposite.

I guess they were right; teamwork really does make the dream work.

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