Teamwork Skills: 12 Good Teamwork Skills (Great For Resume)

What Do Employers Mean by Teamwork?

Generally, employers mean the ability to work amicably with fellow employees in all kinds of situations and with empathy.

Teamwork in essence requires not only people skills but also a sense of maturity, which allows the individual to think above petty misunderstandings that arise.

Teamwork involves helping other members of your team to achieve a common goal quickly and effectively. This does not mean that if you are in an interview you cannot use an example of you being a leader within a team.

In fact, this is highly recommended, as you can demonstrate your leadership skills, so long as you don’t portray yourself as arrogant.

Teamwork ability is one of the competencies employers are most interested in.

12 Examples of Teamwork Skills Employers Want to See in 2023

Teamwork involves a whole set of soft skills that can’t easily be put under one heading. Below we’ve covered 12 different teamwork skill areas that are integral for a great team player.

1. Communication Skills

Team players need to be able to listen and communicate on both emotional and intellectual levels and in a professional manner.

Those who are effective at communication:

• Are able to explain their ideas

• Listen to others carefully and not always with an intent to reply (known as active listening)

• Make efforts to express what their feelings are without sounding threatening

• Try to sense or understand how others feel, based on what they are saying or by their body language

• Ask questions whenever they want clarification or are uncertain about something

• Often reflect on events and interactions that took place and how things could have gone better (they try to learn from bad experiences)

• Avoid creating tension between others, and try to break tension rather than build on it

2. Support Skills

Team members can show support for one another in various ways: congratulating others in moments of achievement or consoling in more trying times.

It helps to look at other members of your team as collaborators rather than competitors. A huge part of support is the ability to respect one another.

3. Problem-Solving Skills

Certain problem-solving skills, such as critical thinking, entail a level of wisdom and experience, whereas others are based on analytical prowess.

In all cases they are concerned with the capacity to assess a given situation and arrive at a positive outcome.

In the context of teamwork, problem-solving skills are valued because employees are expected to develop solutions as a team to situations that threaten to escalate into something potentially serious.

4. Listening and Feedback Skills

To ensure proper feedback is given in the different situations you are exposed to with fellow employees, it’s important to listen attentively.

Clarifying what other team members mean and taking interest in their problems demonstrates that you care about them and their development.

Feedback can of course also be delivered via email; some things are better said in written form. With time and exposure to different scenarios, one picks up on which feedback mechanism would probably work best.

5. Conflict Management Skills/Conflict Resolution

Conflict in the workplace is something all of us experience at some stage. How you deal with conflicts can potentially make or break your career.

Remember not to let your anger or frustration get the best of you. Ultimately you’re trying to reach a solution that benefits the team generally, even if it puts a few individual noses out of joint.

6. Rapport Building Skills

Nobody works entirely alone. No matter what position you hold, there will be times that you need to communicate with other staff members and potentially work as a team.

In these situations, it is important to be able to build rapport in order to help create a harmonious working environment.

This doesn’t have to mean that you are friends with everyone, however. After all, we all have people who we don’t particularly like on a personal level. But, being able to work alongside them professionally and without friction can help to ensure that tasks are completed with the minimum amount of stress and disruption.

7. Decision Making Skills

Decision making is a part of any job. It doesn’t matter whether you are applying for an entry-level position or a senior-executive role, you will need to be able to make decisions that contribute to team goals.

There will be times when it is important to be able to decide which steps are the right ones to take, and the ability to do this without relying on others can mean saving both time and money.

8. Delegation Skills

A successful workplace brings together people with a myriad of different skills in order to create the best possible products and services for their clients.

For those in positions of leadership, this process will also involve delegating tasks to those individuals who are best suited for them.

After all, some team members will bring the specific skills and strengths required to achieve the intended results.

In order to make this happen, you will need to have strong delegation skills and an ability to identify who the best person is for each individual role within a team or project.