5 Ways to Become a Team Player

We have been taught the importance of team work since our childhood in school lessons. You cannot survive alone, you have to co-ordinate and co-work with people around you. Team work always generates better results. You must learn to become a team player to enjoy your work. A team player is able to derive maximum from your work environment. An ideal team helps you to recognize and polish your skills.

A good team player is one who has self-knowledge, displays professionalism, respects the team, and effectively uses his communication skills.

Follow these 5 tips on how to become a team player to start falling in love with your work:

Share what you know

Everyone in the team has different work experiences which lead to difference in knowledge possessed, thought process and style of working. Be interactive and share with your team members whatever you know or find new. If you find a better way of doing things, tell it to your team, as it will benefit the team as a whole. If you find something that doesn’t work for you, share it with them so that they don’t repeat the mistake. The success of team depends more on collective intelligence than individual intelligence, so don’t keep it to yourself.

Encourage Everyone to Participate

When it comes to team work, every single team member is important. Everyone should and does have ideas, suggestions and opinions. Try to include everyone from the team in all discussions and meetings. Encourage an equal participation from all. It will lead to more ideas, richer discussions and thus a better result.  

Interact. Talk. Chat.

It is important to develop a comfort level with all the team members. It makes your work easier. Whether you work in a private cabin or share a coworking space, strike conversation with everyone, start with “how are things?” and listen what they say. Don’t do it for the sake of doing it. Become friends with your team mates. Help them with their problems at work in any possible way you can.

Make an Extra Effort

Become an inspiration to your team. Your team will get energy seeing you making efforts to finish work earlier than the decided time or delivering more than the expected from you. Work for longer hours if required to meet deadlines. Don’t procrastinate, that makes a negative impact on your team and you loose credibility in front of them. Instead, be on time with work and inspire them to do the same.

Adopt Professionalism

It is necessary to develop friendship with team members but when it comes to solving problems, be professional. Focus on the issue rather than an individual. Avoid gossiping, instead concentrate on facts. Don’t let there be teams within your team. Remember that work should not suffer at any cost.