One of the most important lessons I have learned from my academic and work experience is that life is about people. From having to deal with difficult people to enjoying time with friends and family, I have found teamwork, for better or worse, is involved in every aspect of life. Therefore, with everything, it is important to have a team-based attitude to accomplish missions or goals of a team. In this, compromise and collaboration are necessary for success.

Compromise is an integral part of any team dynamic. Not everyone is going to get 100% of what they want when working on a team. Thus, knowing how to appease all sides on a team with solutions that involve all input is helpful to get people on board with ideas. I learned how important compromise was during my Capstone experience. In the beginning of the Capstone class, there was little to no foundation or structure for leadership, client, or schedule of deadlines. With this, the team formed all of these and set each of these structures involving everyone's input and preferences. Through mediated discussion and compromise on everyone's part, our team was able to make decisions that would help guide our Capstone to successful completion.

Collaboration is the other aspect needed for successful teamwork. Having all members put in feedback and work into a project is certainly better than only a few contributing. Also, putting the interests of the team ahead of oneself is necessary to ensuring success for the whole team. I collaborated with my Capstone team and subteam frequently by doing my work ahead of deadlines, providing feedback to others when asked, and proactively stepping up to help the team whenever opportunities arose to. I was heavily invested in the successful completion of deliverables to Capstone's clients and did not want the project to fail or stumble in the face of organizational roadblocks. So, as conflicts and problems came up, I put forth the extra effort to make sure they didn't negatively affect the final product.

Putting the needs of a team above the needs of an individual is the ultimate ideal for successful teamwork. Different experiences in my life have taught me that collaborating and compromising, when possible, helps foster a solid group dynamic. Since teamwork is necessary for all aspects of public service, it is necessary to get these fundamentals in order to be a team player and have success in group-oriented work.