Supervisors Guide to

Module 5 | Working with people

Module 5 Objectives
After completing this module you will be able to:
1	Explain what makes a teamwork
2	Explain what makes a teamwork
3	Identify which of your communication skills you would like to improve.

Synopsis: Getting things done with and through colleagues

Other people can be one of our biggest aids to effective working. Yet many things that involve people are also among the most frustrating. How many meetings end up making you angry? How often do you get frustrated in your work because of things other people do or don't do?

We deal with people in a variety of settings;

• as individuals, perhaps boss and staff, supplier and customer
• in a small group, such as a team, the people in the same office
• in a large group, for example a department
• in a very large impersonal group, such as an organization or large company.

This module looks, not just at the numbers of people we are involved with at a time but also at how we are involved with them. We contact people in three different ways in the course of our work:

• informal contacts, for example asking a colleague to comment on a report you've written before it's circulated, chatting with people in the canteen; these contacts may not affect your work directly.
• line management, for example delegating a task to someone; this is a more formal process though there is also direct contact between the two people involved.
• task groups, a team of three or four people set up to complete a task; these may be short or long term.

These groups are all within an organization but the same principles apply to contacts made by people working on their own.

Topics and activities in this module include inter alia:

• Getting on with your boss
• The art of delegating
• Teams, effective and otherwise
• Handling meetings effectively
• Key communication skills