How To Be An Outstanding Team Player
The value of a team lies in the quality of its recruits. Team dynamics can be crucial to the development of an effective workforce; the success or failure of projects depends on the contribution of each team member. If your team contains more than one shrinking violet who won’t help to drive the agenda forward, your plans may not work out as successfully as you hoped. On the other hand, our job is to make decisions but if this is being hindered by personality clashes with one of your team it can make life difficult. Team players demonstrate many qualities that help their colleagues achieve success. Here are six of the most crucial attributes of a team player.
Communication is Key
Team players are good communicators. They will voice their opinion willingly and not hold back from expressing themselves forcefully and respectfully. They are listeners who can absorb information and should not flinch when receiving criticism, but use it proactively to improve their own performance. They share information and don’t hoard it to their advantage. They will let everyone else know of any developments as soon as they happen. They will also willingly volunteer tips and expertise.
They should be Reliable
Team players should be reliable. The first to arrive and the last to leave, they complete their tasks on time and don’t expect other team members to cover for them when things don’t go as planned. They maintain their pace and don’t allow their concentration to drift. They also treat the other members with respect and courtesy.
Be Active Participants
Team players should be active participants; when meetings are scheduled they should have all of the relevant information at hand and present it with enthusiasm. They volunteer rather than waiting to be picked for assignments. They will volunteer a bit of extra time to develop a new idea (even if they don’t agree with it) and adapt their own opinions for the good of the team. If anything is unclear they will be the first to ask for clarification.
There to Help Solve Problems
Team players are problem-solvers. Instead of producing a series of excuses or finding scapegoats for the difficulties that the team face they will confront these head-on and ask for solutions to overcome these problems. They remain focused on the team’s goals and do not let their own ambitions override these. They will compromise and sacrifice rigidly-held opinions for the good of the team.
Are Committed
Team players demonstrate commitment. Staying after hours to help a colleague with a project, participate in social functions with the rest of the company, and do not ask for special favours. They are also flexible enough to react to changing circumstances without placing undue pressure on the rest of the team.
Finally You Can Have a Joke with Them
Team players have a sense of humour. Levity buoys morale during tough times and helps build camaraderie. It is significant that many of the top CEOs of major corporations are famous for their sense of humour. Humility and humour make the working environment a lot more creative.
About the Author: This post was provided by a leading Human Resource Software provider.
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Photo Credit: John Spooner
Do Small Businesses Really Need Team Building?
When you think of staff team building or activity days, you most commonly picture large corporate companies, or at least reasonable sized office-based businesses. Indeed team building is often marketed as a way of “re-establishing” communication channels between a growing team, or as a way to build interdepartmental relationships. But how can small start-up businesses also benefit from team building events?
Getting Out of the Office
One of the key things that new businesses have in their favor is their incredible levels of energy and determination. When you have nothing to lose and everything to prove, the drive within a new team can be staggering. However, all this energy needs to go somewhere and staying cooped up in a small office can be highly counterproductive. You start going after every lead possible and exploring every available business avenue all at the same time. What people need in this situation is to gain a bit of perspective and team building events provide this opportunity. Not only do they help staff learn how to channel their energy, but also provide some time for everyone to step back and take a better look at the direction the team needs to go in.
Staff Bonding
Anyone who says that fledgling companies don’t require team bonding is talking rubbish. By the very nature of new businesses, there are often individual members coming together to work with each other for the first time. It would be foolish to think that everyone can just ‘click’ and learn how to work with those around them instantly. These things take time and experience, and team building can help everyone get off on the right foot and act as a catalyst for the bonding process. Staff within small businesses often have better out-of-work relationships as well. That is to say, team members are more likely to spend time with each other outside of work when a company is of a modest size. With this in mind, it is good to build these friendships early on using team building because camaraderie and well-rounded team cohesion can really help small businesses through tough times.
Establishing Hierarchy
There is a natural hierarchy that takes place in every walk of life, from lions on the African savannah to the players on a football field. Despite what some people say, it is both necessary and unavoidable, and it will occur within any workplace environment. Most businesses often implement their own version of a hierarchy in the form of an organizational chart, or responsibility structure, but these are not necessarily representative of true power distribution. If you have structured your business properly it will be natural leaders who have the managerial roles, but there are power struggles that go on between colleges of the same level all the time. What team building events do is facilitate the understanding of where everyone’s position is in the wolf pack. Contrary to what you may think, people are happier when they know where they lie in the pecking order (for want of a better phase). Conflicts occur when there is no clear understanding of how the formal and informal power is distributed. A good organizational chart and regular team building activities help achieve this understanding.
About the Author: Duncan is an internet marketing and business blogger who represents a team building company. He often writes about team cohesion and business structures.
Photo Credit: lumaxart
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