This spring, my online business students, mostly “millennials” (born 1981-1996) and Gen Z (born 1997-2012), broke into small groups to examine leadership and operations within select community businesses. They researched six cooperative Greeley organizations, interviewed principals, analyzed business strategy, and presented their findings on video.

Four teams visited in person. Two negotiated Zoom conversations with their selected organizations. Every group relied on electronic communication tools to assign responsibility, set (and adjust) deadlines, compare notes, submit progress reports, produce a final presentation, and complete peer reviews.

Thanks to enthusiastic owners, patient execs, and students’ obligation to share responsibility with “remote” classmates of differing motivations and learning styles, all lived to tell about it.

For a dozen years or so, in seated classrooms and “remote” learning platforms, I have subjected my innocent lambs to the dreaded group project. This insistence over their repeated (and reasonable) fears of their grade dependent on “free riders.”

My reasoning — that collaborating in teams while in college is good preparation for life and career, where, alas, lone wolves often find themselves on the outside looking in. And so, my students practice “teaming,” a soft skill illustrated by Amy Edmondson, professor of leadership and management at the Harvard Business School. (Stay tuned for an evergreen TED talk that nicely complements her teaching and writing.)

First, a global perspective on the role of learners, teachers, and mentors in the development of lifelong skills. Call it “Education 4.0” if you will (https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/01/skillsets-cultivated-by-education-4-0-davos23/).

Consensus may be forming on the “three most critical skills” that parents, educators, and business community are encouraged to keep in sharp focus:

• Problem-solving — creative, curious, analytical, capable of working independently and with others, reliant upon perseverance and critical thinking.

• Collaboration — respectful of evidence, open to persuasion, can offer honest, constructive feedback, quick to lower tension and resolve conflicts within any team.

• Adaptability — comfortable with uncertainty and unfamiliar circumstances, capable of innovation under pressure, welcomes change and opportunities to assess themselves.

My challenge has been to devise authentic opportunities for students to learn and demonstrate mastery in a “realistic” work group setting. Markers of success?

First, purposeful group projects help students develop crucial communication skills. Just as employees need to convey ideas clearly and concisely to colleagues, clients, and superiors, students practice giving and receiving feedback, sharing ideas, and working through conflicts.

Next, consider teamwork. At work, employees often pull together to achieve shared goals, using sophisticated tech tools to bridge physical distance. Similarly, “teaming” in school teaches students to rely on one another, playing to each member’s strengths.

Collaboration further challenges students to become adaptable and flexible. In both school and “the real world,” projects often require quick changes in direction, rewiring best laid plans. Ideally, multiple perspectives come into play. Among peers, inflexibility typically draws fire.

At best, group projects reinforce accountability. The workplace imposes deadlines, standards, and consequences set by superiors or by the norms of the group itself. Owning up to one’s responsibility is a coveted “work ethic.” It pays short- and long-range dividends.

Back to Professor Edmondson, whose “Teamwork on the Fly” draws on the dramatic rescue of 32 Chilean miners buried under a half mile of impermeable rock. After 15 years, her reflection on “ad hoc” teams remains a classic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3boKz0Exros).

In this video, we find that successful teams harness anxiety and take risks. They overcome the “culture clash” of different values, languages, and accessibility. Members are curious about what others bring to the challenge. Together they demonstrate “psychological safety.”

For my latest “company analysis” team project, I am grateful to Alpha Network Systems, Weiss Jewelers, The Garage Automotive Solutions, FNBO Centennial branch, Moffat Glass, and the United Way of Weld County. Insight from student teams:

• A business owner with acknowledged introvert tendencies now pursuing a business management certificate reveled in the team’s complementary strengths. That diversity and a positive team culture allowed her to “step outside my comfort zone” and “convey my business insights” in a supportive environment.

• A co-enrolled high schooler bound for a leading tech university found that delineation of specific roles and tasks made up for no in-person team meetings. She was able to trust her teammates, breaking down “the walls of distrust” in group projects and looking forward to applying these lessons in “‘big kid’ college.”

• Three members of a team with blended interests in technology, communication, and business learned to stay calm through setbacks, embrace change, and “not assume that people are being careless because sometimes life just gets busy.” While things did not always go smoothly for this group, “each time we hit a bump in the road, we figured it out together.”

As “benevolent dictator,” I delight in the discovery of students learning to rely on one another. May we all learn, at every stage of life and career, to humbly invite people in.

Cartier is a “seasoned” adjunct instructor at Aims Community College, focusing on leadership, engagement, and personal traits that underlie workplace success. He contributes to the systematic assessment of student learning. Views and opinions here are solely his and do not necessarily reflect those of Aims.