Photo by Stasiu Tomczak
“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
Vince Lombardi
In Catalonia, we have a very special tradition called “castells” (“castles” in English) in which a group of people attempt to build a human pyramid with their bodies to create pre-designed structure that may reach up to 10 floors.
“Castells” are a wonderful example of team working.They rely on their “colles” (group) which consists of people from different cities and backgrounds. The collas must have people with different body types: from strong men in charge of holding the “pinya” (base) to the “enxaneta”, a small girl or boy who crowns the tower and salutes the crowd. As you can imagine and see on the picture, the effort of each and every component of these groups is essential. If someone fails, the whole structure comes down.
Like “castells”, startups are a “colla” a group of people working together to “fer pinya” and achieve common goals — The success of the individuals lies directly on the success of the company and working as a team is the only option.
But not everybody is capable to be a good team player –some people feel more comfortable working on their own. Are you a team player? What are the main skills needed to be part of a team? I’ve gathered a short list of qualities every good team player should have:
1. Goals. Working in a team means your personal objectives subordinate to the team needs. To be a good team player, you will need to set your own personal ambitions aside and give your best to accomplish the team goals first. Remember: you may be the best player, but when the team fails, you fail with it.
2. Find your place in the team. Like everybody else, you have strengths and weaknesses. When entering a team, make sure you define your role and figure out how you can use your strengths to collaborate with your teammates and how can they compliment your weak spots.
3. Accept different opinions. No matter how brilliant and self-confident you are, you simply don’t know it all. Each person has a particular background and point of view. Open your mind, pay attention to what the rest of the team has to say and consider their opinions before accepting or rejecting them. Debate and discussion can only be positive for the team and will help you to learn how to face problems from various perspectives by increasing your creativity.
4. Empathy. Emotional intelligence and empathy are key words when talking about team working. In a team, occasional discussions and arguments are inevitable. Keep calm and put yourself in the others’ shoes. Try to solve any issues with a relaxed and rational conversation.
5. Learn from others. One of the benefits of team working is that you are always learning from other people –what they say and what they do. Open your eyes and be receptive to everything.
6. Show respect. Startups are typically formed by people from different countries and cultures, some of which may be completely different to yours. Learn from everyone and leave all judgements outside. The world is full of diversity, anywhere you work you will have to be alongside people with different political and religious beliefs and it’s possible you won’t like some of your teammates. But remember to be yourself, be respectful to all, show interest for their customs and opinions and embrace diversity!
7. Be generous. In the same way that you can learn from others, they can also learn from you. Be generous and collaborative, don’t fear to share your knowledge, specially to the newcomers. Apply some karma here, if you give, you will receive.
8. Enjoy. Working in a team could be one of the greatest things that could happen to you in your life, make sure to build relationships outside of the office, have some beers with your peeps and share a few laughs. Let’s not kid ourselves, not everything is work.
So, what do you think? Are you a great team player?