Keep these few points in mind while writing your teamwork essay.
1. Tell your story
Your essays are not read by robots but by the real people who can feel every emotion that comes through your words. Your stories and anecdotes should bring across the work that you did as a team member.
l Did you break ice among other team members?
l Did you resolve any issues?
l Did you contribute anything to resolve the ego clashes among the team members and pushed them to achieve a common goal?
l Did you as a team member change yourself from being ‘I’ to ‘we’?
l Did you do an extra research /put an extra effort and became an example for others whilst igniting the same spirit among the other members?
l What character traits did you apply to maintain the team symphony?
l Did you help in sorting out cultural differences among your team members?
l Did you take the responsibility of co-worker’s task in case of his/her absenteeism?
Think about it. Each one us have been a part of team at some point of our lives. It is the matter of how well you are able to tell your story to the admission committee members. Admissions committee members don’t know you personally or professionally, so it is essential that you support your words with enough evidences. For example just stating that “I am a smart team player” would sound phony if you do not show how you call yourself a team player. What exactly did you do to make a claim such a this?
2. Teamwork can come from any sphere of your life
A lot of applicants assume that they can display their qualities only through their work experiences. While doing that is not a bad option. If you have something significant to share from your work, go for it. But you can also widen your horizon by bringing anecdotes from your extra curricular activities, and community services as well. You can bring experiences from your base ball matches, a finance class team assignment, a challenge that you faced while starting an education programme for underprivileged kids, so on and so forth. Bring at least two to three genuine examples to put your case forward. Write compelling stories so that even after years some admissions committee member recalls your story and shares it with her colleagues.
3. Be Specific
Business School essays come with word limits. You would not have enough space to write every teeny-tiny detail about how you achieved your goal. Focus on the major achievements while taking every opportunity to showcase your hard work, abilities and skills along the way. Show a progression of events that helped you in achieving the target as a team. Elaborate on the lessons that you have learned underway, give specific data about the results, show the numbers, be specific, and tell your story.
Caution: Be careful that you don’t present yourself as someone who single-handedly got the team dynamics going. Don’t sounds like a braggart.
Sharing some of the excellent team work quotes with all of you.
“Our goal is not to win. It’s to play together and play hard. Then, winning takes care of itself.”
– Mike Krzyzewski
No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.
~H.E. Luccock
One piece of log creates a small fire, adequate to warm you up, add just a few more pieces to blast an immense bonfire, large enough to warm up your entire circle of friends; needless to say that individuality counts but team work dynamites.
~Jin Kwon
Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.
~Henry Ford
Regardless of differences, we strive shoulder to shoulder…Teamwork can be summed up in five short words: “We believe in each other.”
~Author Unknown
We must all hang together or most assuredly we shall hang separately.
~Benjamin Franklin
The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.
~Babe Ruth
It is a fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone.
~Author Unknown