A seasoned Architect, Kelechi Onyike, has posited that teamwork is a must, if one would succeed in any worthwhile endeavor in life.

Architect Onyike made this statement while delivering his lecture at a recent Town and Gown Seminar of the Department of Architecture tagged, ‘Team Work; A Winning Strategy,’ where he was a Guest Speaker.

Onyike, who is also the Co-founder and Managing Director, Podex Associates, decried the practice of most creative people, where they tend to hold back from sharing their thoughts and ideas with others in other to avoid criticism or theft of ideas; stating that sharing your ideas with a team and working with them to fine-tune it gets faster and more robust results

He advised students on the need to learn how to pull people into their team in other to grow in the industry. He shared his architectural journey in driving his notion of how essential team work is and how it has taken him far in his career. Adding that students should be passionate about building things that will outlive them.

Onyike stressed that knowing your ability is a sure way of building the confidence required to contribute into a team. He said there are people who are good in certain areas, not necessarily as Architects; but could be in project planning, graphics design, writing etc.

In conclusion, Onyike made more emphasis on the need for students to allow their works to be critiqued and even more importantly to learn to ask questions, which doesn’t necessarily have to change their ideas, but would refine it and make it better.

Earlier in her opening remarks, the Head of Department, Architecture, Professor Adedapo Oluwatayo, expressed her delight at the topic of the program being presented by the guest speaker. She noted that it was indeed a topic that the has come to stay in the heart of the student.

She stressed that despite being an architect, beyond technical skills, soft skills are good criteria to get jobs in practice. She expressed worry over some students, who rather than work as a team, would not share their ideas out of fear of having their ideas stolen. She encouraged the students to pay attention in other to glean from the experience of the Guest Speaker, who she described as very talented.

Others at the event include Senior Faculty and Staff of the Department.