Describe a time when someone who did quite well in a team IELTS Cue Card

IELTS CUE CARD

Describe a time when someone who did quite well in a team (e.g. schoolwork or a community)

• You should say:
• Who this person is
• When you worked together
• What he/she did in the team
• And explain why you think he/she was a great team player

Sample Answer

Although I have worked in a team many times, I would like to talk about someone who did a great job as a team member. So this person is none other than Jashan. He’s not only my friend but also my roommate. So, as I remember what happened last year, our teachers gave us an assignment about demonetization. We barely knew about demonetization, so we had zero knowledge about it.

So my teacher also gave us a deadline of five days. After that, we began to work on our assignment and searched through various sites with the help of the Internet. There was a lot of information, so we needed clarification and wasted two days on this discussion. Then, one of my friends, Jashan, whom I mentioned earlier, took the initiative to become the captain, and he showed his leadership skills by dividing the work among team members.

And he also gave us a deadline of two days. So, we worked on the assignment and gathered the data he gave us. Then, we provided all the data to him, and he assigned all the data together. We can hardly believe that we completed your assignment within two days. At first, we thought we could not make it, but later, we completed it.

Follow-ups

1. What role do you believe effective communication plays in successful teamwork, and how do you ensure clear communication within your team?

 Effective communication plays a stellar role in successful teamwork. Team members need more communication to work as a cohesive unit; without it, the results decline considerably. So, to ensure clear communication within the team, I organize regular meetings, and those sessions are interactive ones where every team member gives their opinion. Due to that, there is good sharing among the team members, and all believe their suggestions are welcomed.

2. Can you share an example of a time when you had to collaborate with others to achieve a common goal? What were the challenges, and how did your team overcome them?

I had to collaborate five years back when I was given a project to teach people living in slums. I did not have much of an idea regarding those areas. So, I took the help of one of my friends to achieve that goal, and since he was also a philanthropist like me, he decided to provide me with unabated support. We faced a lot of challenges. The biggest was to convince the people of the slums to study; for that, we worked hard with determination, dedication, and discipline. And finally, we got good results because we managed to teach about 20 students, and we greatly appreciated that.

3. How do you handle conflicts or disagreements within a team setting? Can you provide an example of a successful resolution?

 Conflicts or disagreements are integral to teamwork because many work towards the same goal. So they have different desires and aspirations; sometimes, when they do not match, there is a conflict. And I have handled such situations beautifully many times. One example is recently when two team members fought with each other on the colour of the team’s outfit. To manage the situation, we designed the jersey so that both colours were present, and this is how I successfully resolved it.

4. What strategies do you employ to ensure all team members feel valued and motivated to contribute their best effort?

To ensure that all team members feel valued and motivated to contribute their best effort, I have made it a practice that every team member is given a tag based on their value and significance in the team. We address the team members according to that, and that makes the people feel valued because that tag becomes their identity. Another thing is that every team member’s role is clear to them, which motivates them to make earnest efforts to achieve the team goals.

5. Describe a situation where you had to delegate tasks within a team. How did you decide who should take on which responsibilities, and how did you ensure accountability?

I collected charity money to pass on to needy people during the coronavirus pandemic, managed the team effectively, and delegated tasks. First, I made a list of the strengths and weaknesses of my team members, and based on that, I gave those who were good at convincing people a task on the front end. So they were the primary negotiators with the various corporates and those who were good at the back end. I gave them the operations task, which worked like a charm. To ensure accountability, I made some formats, and the reports used to come in those formats only, so it was very easy for me to track.

6. How do you promote a sense of cohesion and unity among team members, particularly in situations where team members come from diverse backgrounds or have different working styles?

Yes, there are situations when the team members are from diverse backgrounds, and creating a cohesive unit in such a scenario is challenging. However, I tell them the benefits of the cosmopolitan environment for the team members to overcome this situation. I tell them that by adopting the good habits of other cultures, they could do wonders in their lives. It would empower them to think beyond the conventional domain because if we keep on doing the same things the same way, then getting different results is challenging for us.

7. In your opinion, what are the key ingredients for building a high-performing team? How do you cultivate these qualities within your teams?

To build a high-performing team, we need to create a sense of determination, dedication, and discipline among the team members, and to do that, regular pep talks are highly important. Moreover, there should be a motivational session at every setback, and every success needs to be celebrated. So this helps in creating a wonderful team.