So, I am halfway through my Management BSc at Imperial College London, and one thing that has been emphasised to me is the importance of teamwork and the dynamics that enable a team to perform to the best of its ability.

We received team coaching from some of the best faculty and had the opportunity to dive into multiple team-building exercises!

My takeaways so far from being part of 3 different working groups are:

• Be flexible. Offer help when you can and have the space to but also don’t be afraid to say no when you can’t.

• The loudest person doesn’t necessarily have the best ideas. As someone who is quite vocal about ideas and thoughts forward, it’s been useful to better appreciate other points of view and ensure that we combine the best ideas for the best results.

• Punctuality. This can’t be mentioned enough. Balancing group tasks and meetings from the 3 groups has meant punctuality with deliverables and availability for meetings to be on point.

The above seem obvious but aren’t easily put into practice or noticed. Combined with the quick turnaround times for the Management course, it’s definitely been a very hectic and interesting year so far.

In terms of how I have been able to apply this to hiring, I have had to develop systems to allow for efficient and seamless communication where possible with hires. Hiring is a complicated process, and you don’t always find the right fit at first. Building the right team takes time, and balancing my desire to remain as closely aligned to being a solopreneur makes it a tough task. What has worked best has been the practice and advice received from completing modules at Imperial and working with at least 15 different individuals on group projects - the diversity of ideas and personalities has made me a better team player and more understanding of different ways to tackle the same issue.