Much of our early learning did not prepare us well for the things we need to learn at work today. During most of our formal education, we were forced to sit passively while an authority figure told us facts and information we were expected to memorize. Doing homework was usually a solitary affair, and we were punished if we were caught helping a classmate learn. We were often put in competitive situations and rewarded for getting the best test score which usually meant regurgitating the facts the teacher had given us.

We now know that virtually all learning is more effective when the learner is active—when he or she interacts in some way with the content. We also know that competing with others in a learning setting interferes with the learning process and creates losers where none need exist.

Most work groups are not very good at coming up with innovative solutions because it requires a level of cooperative learning and thinking together that is foreign to most team members. Being an effective team member at work requires interpersonal skills that few of us learned in our formal education. For example, crediting another for their idea, confronting differences without resorting to personal attacks or becoming defensive, giving a colleague feedback in a way that is helpful—all are crucial skills for effective team performance.

Learning team skills is a social activity and almost always requires practice and repetition. Team members can learn the principles of giving constructive feedback by reading an article, but giving constructive feedback is a high-level interpersonal skill that only comes with practice—with real people. In other words, knowing how to perform a skill is different from doing it. This is generally true of all kinds of skills, but it is especially true when it comes to interpersonal skills.

Professional sports teams offer a great example of the necessity and the benefits of practice as a team. All follow a similar model—they hire the best players and coaches they can find—then they hold disciplined practices to further refine their individual skills and to meld the group into a team. Some players hate to practice, but no one is given a pass. The reasoning is simple. Every player’s role on the team is important, and in the final analysis, it’s the way the players combine their individual talents that makes the difference in winning or losing. It’s this combining process that has to be honed in practice.

Typically, the most skilled players love to practice because they want to improve their individual skill and they realize they must work well with others to win championships. Coaches rarely have to push their peak performers. In fact, they almost always push themselves harder in practice than any coach would ever do.

We need to discover ways to bring this awareness of the importance of practice into the workplace. There seems to be an assumption at work that once you understand what’s involved in a skill, you can do it—you don’t have to practice it. It just isn’t so. Knowing how is a good starting place to improve performance, but improvement isn’t automatic.

Team skills can be learned by everyone, but if they aren’t rewarded they probably won’t be. Leaders who preach the value of teamwork without practicing it with their own staff can do more harm than good.

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