On 25 November 2015, CyHRMA in collaboration with the University of Cyprus held an open lecture/presentation on “Teamwork & Communication”.Haris Tapakis was the presenter for this lecture, who is a Business Consultant and Trainer at HRm Consultants.

Initially, a general framework was set mentioning the current challenges on teams and the negative influence that these challenges have on team spirit in organisations, followed by definition on ‘Teams’. Participants, from different faculties, participated adding to the discussion with comments, while their questions gave the opportunity for further analysis.

The different team development phases were analysed in an effort to provide participants with a practical approach on what is happening in the real life working environment. Trust was an issue emphasised for its importance as a building block for teams and their development, followed by a brief analysis on team creativity. In the last half of the presentation interpersonal communication issues were analysed, as well as, the importance of communication in the working environment. At the end, different behavioural types were discussed and ways to manage behaviour and communication with each behavioural type.

In general, this was an excellent opportunity to communicate with students from various faculties and create a basic understanding for these two interrelated topics, teams and communication. As always, the greatest challenge is to create practical understanding for the participants based on theory. Participants’ questions and comments allowed for further discussion and analysis.