{"id":24683,"date":"2024-04-18T12:30:46","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T12:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=24683&post_type=story"},"modified":"2025-03-31T14:29:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T14:29:29","slug":"in-sync","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/in-sync\/","title":{"rendered":"In Sync"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Egyptian pyramids didn\u2019t build themselves. Archaeological findings reveal that it took teams of thousands of people to pull off such a feat \u2014 from creating and molding the bricks to transporting and installing them. And getting humans on the moon<\/a> for the very first time took a creative and skilled team of individuals to pull off the historic mission.<\/p>\n

A fundamental aspect of human progress since the dawn of civilization, teamwork still lies at the heart of many achievements today and is increasingly needed to solve the challenges of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

But what makes a great team? Here\u2019s a look at some principles of teamwork in three areas, which can also be applied to teams more broadly.<\/p>\n

Working Together in the Workplace<\/h2>\n

From communicating effectively to improving company culture, teamwork drives many benefits in the workplace. Professor of Psychology<\/a> Mindy Shoss describes teamwork within an organization as having shared goals, processes and outputs. Her research involves studying worker well-being and understanding workplace environments.<\/p>\n

\u201c[A good team] is where people are excited about the work, want to continue to work together and where they feel there is an emotional and psychological benefit to being a part of the team,\u201d Shoss says.<\/p>\n

A workplace has taskwork and teamwork goals, she says, and collaboration is needed to meet these. First, a team must determine the problem they want to solve and identify their team\u2019s expertise and resources. Then, they should figure out how to work together in a way that\u2019s mutually beneficial, rewarding and supportive to get the work done.<\/p>\n

Science Team Success<\/h2>\n

Scientific teamwork requires collaborative problem-solving to tackle challenging issues and develop effective solutions. Stephen Fiore, Pegasus Professor of cognitive sciences<\/a>, has dedicated more than a decade to understanding how to foster and improve collaboration among researchers<\/a> working across scientific disciplines. He was recently selected to serve on a National Academies of Sciences committee to identify best practices for success with team collaboration on complex scientific problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have the right blend of attitudinal, behavioral and cognitive factors, the team is able to more efficiently coordinate their knowledge and behavior,\u201d Fiore says.<\/p>\n

One crucial attitudinal factor is psychological safety, or how comfortable people are to stand up for themselves and their abilities to debate. This is particularly relevant in science teams at universities where hierarchies exist \u2014 from graduate students<\/a> to professors. These hierarchies can inhibit people\u2019s willingness to take risks and productively argue about ideas, which is essential for innovation and making new discoveries, Fiore says.<\/p>\n

Looking at behavioral factors, he emphasizes the importance of active listening to learn and understand. One cognitive factor to consider is creating shared knowledge within a team, which is particularly important when issues arise because team members will know who to ask for help.<\/p>\n

Creating Synergy in Space<\/h2>\n

In complex environments such as outer space, teamwork is crucial to successful missions. Research Professor of Psychology Shawn Burke \u201992<\/strong> is working with NASA to explore team leadership, roles, cognition and heritage traditions among crew members, and finding ways to mitigate challenges.<\/p>\n

As space flight rapidly evolves, there has been a push for long-duration missions to visit Mars and other planets. This can potentially lead to longer isolation for crew members and larger communication delays to Earth, Burke says. Boredom is another challenge, which can leave crew members feeling unmotivated.<\/p>\n

Burke emphasizes a dependency on formal team roles, like the commander and mission specialist, and informal team roles such as the problem-solver and entertainer, which address the social and emotional needs that organizations often neglect. Meeting teams\u2019 needs increase crew bonding, motivation and well-being, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile both task and social roles are crucial for effective team functioning, our research shows the increased importance of social roles in teams that are operating in isolated and confined environments such as space flight,\u201d Burke says.<\/p>\n

Moving Forward Together<\/h2>\n

From the workplace to scientific collaborations to space missions, effective teamwork requires an understanding of shared goals, leveraging expertise and open communication. These principles remain as relevant as ever \u2014 reminding us that together we can overcome obstacles and accomplish the extraordinary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24845,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[1675,1672,1470,1674,289,1673],"class_list":["post-24683","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cognitive-sciences","tag-mindy-shoss","tag-psychology","tag-shawn-burke","tag-space","tag-stephen-fiore","issues-spring-2024"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Psychology of Teams and Teamwork<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UCF professors share some principles of teamwork in three areas, which can also be applied to teams more broadly.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/in-sync\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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