How team work can benefit more than just your professional life

Everyone has experienced working as part of a team at some point in life. Whether you enjoy it or prefer to work alone, it undoubtedly has its benefits — one being that it can help you when studying! Even if you’re not part of a team of housing professionals in your day job, you’ve still got transferrable skills that will make you a great fit for the CIH Housing Academy.

Time management 

Working as part of a team involves a lot of planning, whether that’s finding the one time of day you’re all free for a meeting, figuring out how to split the workload according to everyone’s strengths, or leaving time to check over critical details before moving any further. The time management skills you use to juggle all of this can be just as useful when planning out your studies. Don’t be intimidated by the commitment required to undertake one of our qualifications — you already know how to manage your time from doing it so effectively every day! You can also read our blog on further tips for study which has more on time management. 

Communication 

Communication is a vital skill for anyone working as part of a team in the housing sector, but it can also be a vital skill as a learner. Whether you’re communicating with colleagues, tenants, other learners, or your tutors and trainers, you’ve already got the know-how to get the information you need in the best way possible. 

Problem solving 

A lot of your time as a professional might be spent thinking of ways to make a complicated housing system easier to navigate. Both your colleagues and the community you support appreciate your problem-solving skills, just as you rely on their input and assistance. Coming up with creative solutions with your colleagues during your day job will help you think outside the box when trying to understand more challenging topics during your studies. Don’t be scared to switch things up if they’re not working — try studying at a different time of day, consuming content in a different way, or explaining it to someone else.  

Retaining and sharing knowledge 

If your day job is in housing, you’re likely sharing knowledge and skills with your colleagues to strengthen your team. The everyday insight you’ve got from listening to tenants, residents, and your team will be invaluable to your studies. Even if you don’t currently work in housing, any experience working in a team will have equipped you with the ability to listen effectively and quickly retain information. 

Understanding diverse perspectives 

When you’re working with others, you’ve got to be able to see things from their point of view. Debating ideas together and building the best plan as a team will help you understand the diverse perspectives covered in CIH’s qualifications. You might not be in the same life position as everyone you meet, but the empathetic approach you use for team work is perfect for learning about housing too. 

Building new opportunities 

If you’re interested in taking a CIH qualification, you’re likely someone who looks to regularly better themselves both personally and professionally. Part of being in a team is pushing each other to do the best job you can, so you can use this ability to push yourself to get the most out of your qualification. It’s important to be ambitious — you never know where it might take you! 

It seems that team work really does make the dream work! You’ve already got the skills to successfully study with us, so check out our qualifications list or get in touch to find out more.