Wise Words With...

The value of Teamwork

Teamwork is both incredibly frustrating and incredibly rewarding. Whilst my children were at university, they would inevitably be paired with people in their team for a group assignment who would contribute very little to the assignment. And yet, universities (and schools) continue to set group work that is assessable. 

There are many reasons to encourage people to work in groups. Groups allow us to gain the perspective of other people. They allow us to complete tasks that would not be possible if we attempted the task by ourselves. We can learn from those around us and we can build our communication and critical thinking skills as we build our character and ethical standards. Most of all, they provide the opportunity to build positive relationships with the people we are in community with.

When I was young my family were all encouraged to pursue individual sports; but I valued team sports. It was just much more fun. I have had the joy of coaching the U14’s girls touch team, preparing them for zone. This is a new sport for many of them, none of them play touch competitively. But it has been magnificent to see the girls work together as a team. Some teams will rely on one or two really strong players, and consistently give the ball to just those players, but in touch, an effective team relies on every player contributing their best.

Today our students played at zone level. They had a great time. It was so good to see the students all working together to achieve and they did brilliantly. They won two games, lost two games and drew the 5th but what was brilliant were not the results but the coordination between the girls as they worked together as a team.

The bible speaks in 1 Corinthians 12 about valuing every person in the body of Christ. 

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment.

Paul as he writes this is not speaking about playing touch or even working together as a team. He is speaking about a church congregation. But there is a universal truth that is clear through this passage and is true of all people that everybody has value and their contributions are valuable and the reason this is true is that we are all made by God the Father in His image and therefore we all have worth. At Nowra Christian School, we believe this which is why we care for each and every child and it is also why we value teamwork and encouraging students to see the value in each other’s contributions. Just as our God is a relational God, humans are made to relate well to each other.