While times have changed, our education system has not. We still train our prodigy to compete against each other for good grades and test-based accolades. Recognition at school becomes the basis for praise at home, thereby reinforcing the too-long-held belief that success is attained by getting ahead of your peers and staying there.

When students are taught collectively and tested individually, they tend to become self-absorbed. Seeking opportunities for individual achievement, they enter the workplace valuing only what they can do for themselves—working with others holds no importance.

When these myopically focused individuals enter the workplace, they are likely to block or resist team work because being part of a team is not a priority. After all, they’ve been taught that sharing knowledge is “cheating.” As far back as they can remember, anyone caught collaborating with another student, especially on exams, suffered negative consequences both at school and at home.

Modern organizations expect employees to participate collectively in the problem solving and decision-making processes by sharing what they know with their coworkers. This isn’t going to happen until we do a better job of teaching children how to resolve problems collaboratively instead of competitively. Sadly, a reform of that magnitude seems a long way off.

Meanwhile, you might want to look more closely at how teams are working in your organization. If you don’t like what you find or wish to bolster your team building efforts, now’s a good time to make some changes. Here’s what to check for:

A successful team-building program should convert the workplace into an environment where each team member is afforded the opportunity to:

• Understand and be motivated to accomplish the goals of the team.
• Gain insights into the beliefs and values of other team members.
• Distinguish between performance and behavioral problems.
• Think positively about changing unproductive behaviors.
• Learn from failure and be open to criticism.

Effective team building will produce a unified, cohesive unit of employees who appreciate each other’s special functions and know how to support each other to get the job done.

The goal of team building is to build mutual trust so that collaboration becomes instinctive. What actually builds a team is the sense of achievement members experience when they become a part of something bigger than any one individual.