How do we help students practice collaboration when many of them struggle with the basics of working on a team?
That question guided September’s Faculty Voices session led by Kevin Carr, coordinator of the Business Communication program in the College of Business. Through a role-play exercise designed to fail, Carr demonstrated how deliberate struggle can become the foundation for teaching stronger teamwork.
Common Challenges Across Disciplines
The session opened with faculty describing the teamwork struggles they see in their own classes. Many noted that group projects often result in uneven participation, with one or two students doing most of the work while others contribute little. Scheduling conflicts were another recurring theme, as students balance full-time jobs with coursework. In some cases, groups lacked basic communication skills, or members had mismatched expectations about grades and effort.
At the same time, faculty observed that seniors often collaborate more smoothly, suggesting that teamwork skills develop over time but may need earlier, more intentional instruction.
Teaching Through Failure
Carr’s approach flips the usual strategy. Instead of showing students an ideal model of teamwork, he lets them experience a dysfunctional meeting first-hand.
In the exercise, groups receive a scenario to solve but each member secretly plays a role:
- The Alpha dominates the discussion.
- The Perfectionist rejects all ideas as inadequate.
- The People-Pleaser agrees with everyone but decides nothing.
- The Disengaged member checks out and contributes little.
Faculty volunteers demonstrated the activity with a prompt to improve student happiness on campus. As expected, the team failed to reach consensus. The frustration and humor of the exercise gave participants the same “lightbulb moment” Carr’s students experience—recognizing how these personalities derail progress.
From Breakdown to Breakthrough
The debrief transformed the failed exercise into a learning opportunity. Faculties identified the personality types at play and connected them to Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team: lack of trust, fear of conflict, weak commitment, avoidance of accountability, and loss of focus on results. Recognizing these patterns gave the group a shared vocabulary for discussing team challenges and potential solutions.
The session also highlighted the importance of emotional intelligence—awareness of self, others, and group dynamics—as a foundation for strong teamwork.
Watch the full recording here:
Building Better Team Habits
The follow-up to the role-play involves teaching students practical strategies for success. Teams create written charters outlining goals, roles, timelines, and accountability measures. This shifts responsibility away from the instructor and onto peers, where it belongs in professional settings.
Other strategies include setting agendas, documenting meeting minutes, rotating facilitators, and establishing clear benchmarks throughout the project. These practices help teams move from vague intentions to concrete actions, reducing the likelihood of conflict or uneven participation.
Flexible Applications for Any Course
The activity is adaptable to many contexts. It can be completed in a single class period—about 20 minutes for the role-play and discussion—or shown through a short video for large lecture courses. Prompts can be customized for any discipline, from engineering design challenges to collaborative writing tasks.
Faculty also discussed ways to manage non-participation, such as beginning with larger groups, incorporating peer evaluations into grading, and preparing students for the reality that group membership can change—just as it does in the workplace.
Key Takeaway
The session emphasized that teamwork is not a skill students simply “pick up.” It must be taught, practiced, and reinforced. By allowing students to experience team dysfunction in a controlled setting and then guiding them toward better practices, instructors can help students build the collaboration skills they will rely on throughout their careers.
Join the Conversation
What strategies do you use to help students succeed in group projects? Have you tried structured role-play, peer evaluations, or team charters in your courses? Share your insights and experiences in the comments—we can learn as much from each other as our students do from us.
