Community Health Volunteer's Training Manual - Population Council

Module 1 The CHPS Concept
60
Exercise 1.4.3 Game
Objective
1. To discuss the
characteristics of teamwork.
Time: 30 minutes
Questions
1. What qualities have you
observed in yourselves that
helped the team?
2. Which qualities retarded the
team’s work?
3. What did you learn about
this game?
4. What are the difficulties of
working as a team?
5. What are the advantages of
working as a team?
Instructions to the Facilitator
1. Use the “Card-matching Game”. Cut
pieces of hard paper. Divide the number of
participants by two to get the number of
cards to use.
2. Write names of common diseases or foods
for instance on them. Each card will have a
word that will be cut into two.
3. Divide participants into groups of five.
Shuffle the cards and distribute a piece
to every member of the groups. Tell
participants about the challenge which is
to find the ways of finding the other half of
their words and winning the prize at stake.
4. After about 20 minutes stop the game and
ask for any cards that remain unmatched.
Ask the questions on the left.
Read and discuss the lists in Box 1.4.3 and say whether you agree with them or not. Then add
your own suggestions to the list
Box 1.4.3: Advantages and disadvantages of teamwork
Advantages Disadvantages
1. We get different people with many talents to
work with us
2. It encourages us to learn to work with people
3. Relationships/friendships and the team are
developed
4. It prevents a one man show
5. It helps to control the use of money and other
resources. Thus it prevents embezzlement of
funds
6. Saves time
7. Promotes love and unity
8. Simplifies difficult tasks
9. Teaches compromise and tolerance
10. Enables leaders to emerge.
Using advantages and disadvantages as benefits
1. Slows down the work (too many
cooks spoil the broth)
2. Team must always wait for a
quorum before it can work or hold
meetings otherwise decisions are
not binding
3. A few people may be left to do the
work
4. Decision-making takes a long time
when the team is not dynamic or
only a few people do the work
5. Promotes bureaucracy
6. Encourages laziness.
How can we use the advantages and disadvantages of team work to our benefit as CHPS
volunteers (Box 1.4.4)? The most important thing about working as a team is to find ways
of identifying and making the best use of team members’ unique advantages. Team work