Communication and Teamwork
			Interpersonal communication is the next stage in developing your ability to work as an effective interdisciplinarian.  You have now formulated your thoughts within your mind and committed them to a tangible medium.  The next step towards true progress is being able to communicate those goals to other people verbally and analyze, and appreciate, their own unique points of view. To fully synergize with the world around you, it is vital that you share ideas with others, and in turn, allow them to share their thoughts with you.  By utilizing and appreciating the perspectives of others, you will gain knowledge from a primary source, and will be able to move towards cooperation.  As a result, you will make progress with people whose points of view and values may differ from your own. I often develop my interpersonal communication skills by networking. Networking with other people is a wonderful example of effective interpersonal communication.  By constantly opening yourself up to others and their experiences, not only will you share your unique worldview, but you will express a genuine interest in the lives of others.  Again, nothing will make me more effective than continued practice.				Now that I have made connections with other people through my written and verbal skills, it is time for me to come together with those people as a team.  I can use common interests to form a bond with my coworkers.  Then we can use our collective talents and knowledge to combat problems that none of us would be able to solve on our own. Teamwork is vital to progress in an interdisciplinary world.  When many disciplines are being divided into smaller and smaller subgroups and areas of specialty, it is important to bring expertise together in a coherent fashion  to solve multi-faceted problems. As the collective knowledge of our society increases, so does the overall compartmentalization of such knowledge.  As a result, it becomes imperative that people be able to work together effectively.  Without this cohesion, the detailed and specific knowledge of particular disciplines is lost in the name of protecting one's intellectual territory. I have developed the skill of teamwork by exposing myself to situations where I was able to work in a team.  Not only can we share expertise, but we can share different perspectives on a common goal.  The only way to increase your efficacy is to be eager to be a team member. Return to Homepage Return to Transferable Skills Email: [email protected]