When to Work Together

When you plan a project to work on or a goal to reach, you must decide the best way to do it.

• Should you do it all by yourself?
• Should you get advice at times but do the work yourself?
• Should you work together as a team?

You need to look at what is better or worse in each way of working before you decide how to reach the goal.

Here are some points to help you decide the best way to reach your goal.

Do it all yourself when...

• You know what your goal is and know the results you want to get.
• You know it is the best goal to have.
• You have the skills and know what you need to reach your goal.
• You have the time you need to reach your goal.
• It is faster to do it by yourself than to work with others.
• You do not need anyone's help to reach your goal.
• You cannot be held back by others who do not understand your goal or who do not agree with you.

Get advice from others (consult) when...[A5] [A8] [A10]

• You are not sure what is the best goal or the best action to take.
• You are not sure if your goal is the most important one to work on.
• You do not have all the know-how you need to reach your goal.
• You do not want to be held back by others who may not understand or who do not agree with you.
• Other people will be affected by your goal or what you do to reach your goal.

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Work together (collaborate) when...[A2] [A11] [A12]

• It is important to have a whole team to decide on the goal, plan the best way to meet the goal, and work on the goal.
• You need people with different views, skills and know-how to meet the goal.
• The problems you face are many and difficult, and you need new ideas to solve them.
• You do not have the time to do everything to reach your goal by yourself.
• If you do not have others on the team, they may keep you from reaching your goal.
• Other people will be affected by your goal or what you do to reach your goal.
• Other people agree that the goal is so important they want to work on it too.
• You and the other people can trust and respect each other.
• You and the other people will share what you know and what you think, even if it means you sometimes disagree. You all want to find ways that work for everyone.
• You and the other people are willing to work together in different ways, so no team member is left out.

Sometimes you will use more than one way to set and reach a goal. Maybe a team needs advice or help with one part of the goal. It might ask someone new to help out at one meeting. But this person need not become a member of the team. Or maybe the team needs to call a bigger group together to get advice from a lot of people who care about the issue.

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