The Building Better Teams Series is being offered as part of the IMOD Professional Development Program. This six part series covers different aspects of how to approach teamwork. Building from the best practices and principles being developed by the field of the Science of Team Science, using the NIH Collaboration and Team Science Field Guide as a core text, the aim is to arm participants with actionable tactics to better prepare themselves to operate in teams, and transferable skills that can be used across different technical situations.
This first session explores communication in a team setting. If we want to have an impact greater than the sum of our parts and address challenges impossible outside of a team setting, then we need to be able to talk to each other effectively. This session covered the development of a shared vision to ensure that the team has a ‘North Star’, and everyone understands what they are working towards, and how to get, and stay, on the same page. This includes the importance of clarity, defined expectations, and providing space for team members to ask questions and reach consensus.