26.0 What Makes You a Team Player?

26.1 What is "What Makes You a Team Player?"?

A team is a group of people working on a mutual goal. Nevertheless, having a mutual goal alone is not sufficient to make the team work productively harmonious. There are various perspectives on how we can identify a team being good or bad. We will discuss on these five elements: communication, support, recognition, goal mutuality, and motivations.

26.2 The Elements to be a Great Team Player

26.2.1 Communication

Communication is vital to work in a team; be it we are in a small sized team or even a giant sized team. Communication acts as a tool to transfer and exchange messages. A deficiency in communication will very likely lead to higher possibility of miscommunication. A thumb rule in communication is to not assume, and messages need to be understood between all team players.

26.2.2 Be Supportive

When working in a team, we must be clear that each team player is different to another. There are likely three types of team player: one who is a jack of all trades, one who is an expert in selected niche functions, and one who is an average. It is important to be supportive to each other. When a difficulty arises to a team player, another should either assist or train. There are two ways to be supportive in a team: (1) assign team players who are experts in niche functions, or (2) assign team players to be knowledgeable in all functions. There are pros and cons for both. The main idea of being supportive in a team is to support when any team player needs assistance.

"A team is as strong as its weak member." Trisha from Leighton Contractors.

26.2.3 Give Recognition

When the team achieves a milestone, celebrate. It can be in the form of words of encouragement or even a party celebration. Do it in any way suitable, but remember to give recognition. Recognition needs not only result from a positive outcome, it can also result from a negative outcome. A great recent example would be Tony Fernandes - Group CEO of Air Asia Berhad - when he showed empathy to the affected families and gave recognition to his team in the QZ8501's flight crash news release.

26.2.4 Mutual Goal

A team needs a goal for them to work well. Without the transparency of goal being communicated, team players will be at a loss. It is very important to have all team players to strive for the mutual goal because this relates to the sense of purpose. How do we feel about putting efforts into something without having the connection to the purpose? We will be at a loss, and not knowing how it will benefit anyone. Therefore, it is important to have both short-term and long-term goals communicated to each other.

26.2.5 Motivations

The element of motivation is very subjective, and often it is personal. While having a mutual goal undoubtedly acts as the primary motivation, it unnecessarily means the strongest. Identify motivations that keep us to be productively engaged. Few of the common motivations are having a good working relationship with other team players, having the team leader as a mentor, and producing great results in the tasks given. When we are motivated, we exude positive vibes and that will affect other team players positively.

26.3 Bonus - Managing a Team

When one is a manager, it is important for us to be mindful that our role is not to manage but to lead. In leading a team, it is fundamentally important to create a sense of high engagement within and without the team for the team players to understand that each of them is important.

I hope this article benefits you as much as it has benefited myself, wa la hawla wa la kuwatta ila billah. Insha'Allah, the next topic will be posted in the near future.