Working Together - How to be an Effective Team Player

by Dian Azmi

To succeed in the workplace, you have to be a good team player, writes Dian Azmi.

The best way to understand this article is to imagine yourself having to pick a group of people to be part of your team. Ask yourself what the qualities are that you look for in people to ensure the success of your team. Only after going through the whole process will you know what it takes to be an effective team player.

The importance of being an effective team player is something you don’t need to question. Success depends entirely on individuals who are able to collectively work as a team. Imagine a football game and you will know exactly what I am talking about.

Each team member plays a specific role and has to play that role well. A good game is when ‘the star’ of your favourite team scores a goal. But, you know that it takes successful and effective passes from the other players for ‘the star’ to get the ball into the opponent’s goal. What makes a good team is more than the sum of individual skills – it takes team spirit and other factors as well.

Working Together

In the workplace, working together is an increasingly important ingredient for success. As a fresh graduate, experience is not something that you have. But actually, you may not realise that having been in Pandu Puteri, a sports team (and not necessarily at varsity level), you have already acquired some experience that is more valuable than you think – experience to work as a team! And guess what? In the workplace, it is essential to be perceived as a team player.

Being a team player will lead to recognition, while not being a team player will limit career and promotional opportunities. In fact, try to think of any job that does NOT require team work. Not that many? In fact, none. In today’s working world, you need to be seen as an individual contributor who works well in a team. But what does it take to be a team player? Here are a few key criteria:

1. Reliable

This simply means someone who is independent when it comes to work, but who also knows how to interact with other people towards a common goal. A reliable person ensures the success of your team as you know you can count on this person to complete his or her task.

2. Can Communicate

To work in a team, all players need to be able to communicate effectively with one another. There is no point in having a team player who can work, but CANNOT communicate, because working in a team means sharing the load and achieving the objectives collectively.

3. Good Listener

A person who can communicate well is also a person who is able to listen well. Only when you learn to sit back and listen to others will you be able to communicate back effectively.

4. Shares

You must not be selfish. The success of a team also depends on the ‘sharingattitude’ of team players. A successful team requires its members to share with one another the progress of their individual work so that each person knows the capabilities of others. This includes both sharing credit and not criticising other team members.

5. Cooperate

Cooperation is more than just good manners. From a teamwork perspective, it means working toward common goals. Doing your fair share, minimising conflict, and maintaining a positive attitude are all part of being cooperative. It’s important to realise that the most important result of your effort will be the accomplishment of the team’s goal. Whenever you allow your personal agenda to be your primary consideration, you increase the possibility that your actions will diminish the performance of the team.

6. Flexible

Ask yourself, when was the last time I demonstrated flexibility? It’s easy to claim that you are a flexible person – it exerts a great sense of freedom and space for exploration when you say that. However, it’s not that simple to judge yourself. How do you prove that you are flexible? In my opinion, when a team is looking for a team player with flexibility, it is looking for someone who can bend his or her individual ‘rules’, but not deviate from responsibilities. For example, you might want someone who is flexible in terms of time; someone who is willing and ready to work long hours to finish a specific task or when an urgent job comes up.

7. Problem-Solver

Every challenge starts with a problem to solve. To solve a problem, you need to understand what caused it in the first place. Unfortunately, not many people work to solve problems this way. When you work as a team, it’s actually a problem-solving exercise and, thus, it is only logical that you need to be a problem-solver.

A problem-solver is someone who is responsible and makes sure that a targeted goal is achieved and a task fully completed; a leader.

8. Committed

If you want to be seen as a team player, be sure to perform in such a way that other workers know they can rely on you. If you say a report will be completed by next Friday, make sure it is ready as promised. If you agree to attend a meeting, don't cancel at the last minute. When you make any type of promise or commitment, keep it.

It’s tough to be a highly functioning team if members lack commitment. But first, know what is expected of you and be reliable when delivering results.

9. Respectful

Respect is something that is earned. The same applies when you are in a team. The only way you will be respected is when if you respect your team members. Being on time for a meeting, for instance, shows that you don’t want to waste other people’s time. In the process, others are more likely to treat you the same way.

The really great news about giving respect is that it usually begets respect in return. If you consistently keep your word and do what you say you’ll do, people will rely on you more. It shouldn’t be hard to respect others even when you are competing with each other, and especially when you are working as a team.

10. Be Honest.

Honesty and trust are essential elements of teamwork. Also, if you really want to be trusted, don’t betray confidences. Successful teams build trust and are able to count on all team members. It’s very common when you enter an organisation for the first time to be caught in office politics. The best way to deal with this is to be honest and not betray your fellow colleagues. In fact, the easiest way is not to get involved and be discreet about office matters. Discretion might include refraining from passing along gossip or holding back from revealing data acquired during routine work.

For example, a discreet worker will not read a report about salaries and then tell a friend how much her co-workers earn. Discretion goes with trust. Knowing if and when to share information determines how you’ll be perceived. The same rule applies to a team. Any indiscretion is a distraction and will lead to team failure.

11. Team Spirit

Finally, you need to have energy and spirit to work with the rest of the team. Understand and remind yourself that all of you are working towards a common goal and demonstrate all of the above qualities. This will ensure that you achieve what your team has set out to do.

Joining the Team

No matter how you look at it, the ability to function as a team player is a key to success in almost any setting. Being a fresh graduate you have plenty of time in planning your future. Be sure to focus on building skills in this area.

Working with a team with all its quirks and difficulties can be very tough, but it’s the only way to go. Every individual brings a special skill to the table, and an effective team can identify those strengths and work with them the best way possible. We know that it doesn’t take individual skills to create success. It’s all in the team spirit, and we also know what it takes to become a good one. So, guess what? We are all team players, and most of the time, the better ones stand out to be known as ‘the stars’ of the team. So, let us all be stars!