What Makes a Team Succeed or Fail?

Case 1: The Group Project

Scenario: Anna, Mark, and Sarah are working on a history presentation together. Anna does most of the research, Mark is great at organizing, and Sarah is supposed to put everything into a slideshow. Two days before the deadline, Sarah hasn’t started her part yet. When Anna asks her about it, Sarah says, “Don’t worry, I’ll get it done.” But the night before the presentation, she still hasn’t finished, and Anna and Mark are scrambling to complete the slideshow.

Question 1: What went wrong in this team? 

Case 1: The Group Project

Scenario: Anna, Mark, and Sarah are working on a history presentation together. Anna does most of the research, Mark is great at organizing, and Sarah is supposed to put everything into a slideshow. Two days before the deadline, Sarah hasn’t started her part yet. When Anna asks her about it, Sarah says, “Don’t worry, I’ll get it done.” But the night before the presentation, she still hasn’t finished, and Anna and Mark are scrambling to complete the slideshow.

Question 2: If you were part of this team, what would you do differently to make sure this doesn’t happen? 

Case 2: The Basketball Team

Scenario: Jamie is part of a basketball team where everyone has a clear role—he’s the point guard, Chris is the shooter, and Luke is great at defense. During a big game, Jamie stops passing the ball to Chris because he thinks Chris has been missing too many shots. Jamie starts taking the shots himself, even though he’s not as good at shooting. The team ends up losing the game, and Chris is upset that Jamie didn’t trust him.

Question 3: What’s the main issue with this team? 

Case 2: The Basketball Team

Scenario: Jamie is part of a basketball team where everyone has a clear role—he’s the point guard, Chris is the shooter, and Luke is great at defense. During a big game, Jamie stops passing the ball to Chris because he thinks Chris has been missing too many shots. Jamie starts taking the shots himself, even though he’s not as good at shooting. The team ends up losing the game, and Chris is upset that Jamie didn’t trust him.

Question 4: How could the team have handled the situation better? 

Case 3: The Charity Event

Scenario: A group of friends decides to organize a charity event to raise money for a local shelter. Emily takes charge and sets a goal to raise $2,000. She assigns everyone tasks: Sarah will handle social media, James will work on the event schedule, and Kevin will make posters. After a week, Sarah and James are doing great, but Kevin has barely started on the posters. When Emily asks why, Kevin says, “I didn’t really think the posters were important.” The event happens, but they don’t reach their goal because not enough people knew about it.

Question 5: What is the biggest problem this team faced? 

Case 3: The Charity Event

Scenario: A group of friends decides to organize a charity event to raise money for a local shelter. Emily takes charge and sets a goal to raise $2,000. She assigns everyone tasks: Sarah will handle social media, James will work on the event schedule, and Kevin will make posters. After a week, Sarah and James are doing great, but Kevin has barely started on the posters. When Emily asks why, Kevin says, “I didn’t really think the posters were important.” The event happens, but they don’t reach their goal because not enough people knew about it.

Question 6: What could have been done to improve the team’s chances of success? 

Case 4: The Debate Team

Scenario: The debate team is preparing for an important competition. They are well-practiced and have a clear strategy, but during the competition, one of the team members, Jordan, completely freezes and forgets their argument. Another teammate, Taylor, jumps in and starts arguing a point that wasn’t part of their strategy, which throws the rest of the team off. After the debate, the team is frustrated, and no one is really sure where things went wrong.

Question 7: What’s the key issue here? 

Case 4: The Debate Team

Scenario: The debate team is preparing for an important competition. They are well-practiced and have a clear strategy, but during the competition, one of the team members, Jordan, completely freezes and forgets their argument. Another teammate, Taylor, jumps in and starts arguing a point that wasn’t part of their strategy, which throws the rest of the team off. After the debate, the team is frustrated, and no one is really sure where things went wrong.

Question 8: How could this team improve for the next competition? 

Case 5: The Volunteer Group

Scenario: A volunteer group is working together to clean up a park. There are 10 people in the group, but after the first hour, some members start to lose focus. A few start chatting, a couple of people take a long break, and by the end of the day, only a few people have done most of the work. Those who worked hard are frustrated that others didn’t take it seriously, while the rest feel like they were just there to hang out and didn’t know how important the work was.

Question 9: What went wrong in this teamwork situation? 

Case 5: The Volunteer Group

Scenario: A volunteer group is working together to clean up a park. There are 10 people in the group, but after the first hour, some members start to lose focus. A few start chatting, a couple of people take a long break, and by the end of the day, only a few people have done most of the work. Those who worked hard are frustrated that others didn’t take it seriously, while the rest feel like they were just there to hang out and didn’t know how important the work was.

Question 10: How could the team leader have prevented this? 

Case 6: The School Newspaper

Scenario: The school newspaper team is putting together the latest issue. Emily is the editor-in-chief, and she’s great at organizing. However, she tends to make all the decisions without consulting the rest of the team. When the issue comes out, some team members feel that their ideas weren’t represented, and they start to lose interest in working on future editions.

Question 11: What’s the main issue in this situation? 

Case 6: The School Newspaper

Scenario: The school newspaper team is putting together the latest issue. Emily is the editor-in-chief, and she’s great at organizing. However, she tends to make all the decisions without consulting the rest of the team. When the issue comes out, some team members feel that their ideas weren’t represented, and they start to lose interest in working on future editions.

Question 12: How can the editor improve teamwork in the future? 

Case 7: The Group Science Project

Scenario: A group of four students is working on a science project together. Each person is assigned a specific role: Jamie will gather the research, Alex will build the model, Leah will design the poster, and Taylor will give the final presentation. Everyone does their part, but on the day of the presentation, Taylor hasn’t practiced, stumbles through the speech, and the group’s grade suffers because of it.

Question 13: What was the main problem here? 

Case 7: The Group Science Project

Scenario: A group of four students is working on a science project together. Each person is assigned a specific role: Jamie will gather the research, Alex will build the model, Leah will design the poster, and Taylor will give the final presentation. Everyone does their part, but on the day of the presentation, Taylor hasn’t practiced, stumbles through the speech, and the group’s grade suffers because of it.

Question 14: What should the group have done differently? 

Case 8: The Art Club Mural

Scenario: The Art Club decides to paint a mural at school, but half of the team members disagree on the design. They can’t agree on what colors to use or what the mural should represent. Because they spend so much time arguing, they never start painting, and the mural doesn’t get finished before the school year ends.

Question 15: What’s the biggest issue with this team? 

Case 8: The Art Club Mural

Scenario: The Art Club decides to paint a mural at school, but half of the team members disagree on the design. They can’t agree on what colors to use or what the mural should represent. Because they spend so much time arguing, they never start painting, and the mural doesn’t get finished before the school year ends.

Question 16: What could the team have done to finish the project?