Rewarding Teams

Featured in the current edition(Q4.2011) of Briefings on Talent & Leadership by Korn Ferry International, Hilti, a Liechtenstein-based power-tool business is really big on teamwork. The article got me thinking about teamwork and partnerships in our curricula.

"Teamwork is central to everything. The reward system is partly built around team results. There are no bonuses based on individual performance [...]. All bonuses, both annual and longer-term, are based on the performance of teams. And so are the acknowledgements of achievement" (65).

We've been talking a lot about the importance of teams in schools over these past few years. Are we practicing what we're preaching, or is it a case of edu-speak? How many student "teams" do we have, whether in single disciplines or in interdisciplinary units? Do we value that teamwork? How do we assess it?