Teamwork and Being Part of a Team
“Teamwork makes the dream work” as quoted by John Maxwell means many different things to different audiences. There’s a lot that goes into teamwork and each teammate has a role they play. You probably chose your team sport because you like it, but also because it fits you characteristically.
Many extroverts choose team sports because it feeds their need to be with and around people. Extroverts are generally talkative, sociable, friendly, enthusiastic and out-going. This probably makes pretty good sense but it is more than that – what else do you need to think about when it comes to being a part of a team? You need to be a teammate who is going to work together with others to achieve teamwork.
Your job as a teammate
Being a teammate means being one part of a team. Right now, this may be an athletic team, but these skills are also applicable to school and work. There are teams everywhere so it’s important to develop your skills so that you are effective in all team environments.
Some important characteristics of being a good teammate include:
- working toward a common goal
- cooperation
- socialization
- accountability
- dealing with loss
- having fun
Teamwork
You can be a teammate but not put in the time to do teamwork. An example is that as a teammate you may be there to socialize and have fun but not be able to cooperate with others on the team and work together to achieve a common goal.
A team is always made up of a diverse group of individuals (sport, school, work, etc.). In order for those individuals to be an effective team, they have to figure out how to mesh their unique skill sets and personalities. Many times, this is the leader’s job (coach, teacher, or supervisor) but it is also the job of a team captain.
Building teamwork can be challenging and fun. It’s challenging because you must figure out how to use all the uniqueness you have even though that uniqueness is also going to cause challenges. However, when a team understands each other and learns how to build relationships, teamwork comes more naturally and is much more fun.
Thinking about teamwork, building it, and supporting differences is the only way to build an effective team. This is how everyone grows and learns. It’s easy to just be you but when you have to be you and envelop different thoughts on other ways to do things, you grow and expand. Your way is not the only way and in fact, it is only one way! If you have a team of 15 people, there are 15 ways to do something.
Teamwork skills
Many great skills are required to develop teamwork including:
- Organizing and planning
- Decision-making
- Problem-solving
- Communication skills
- Persuasion and influencing skills
- Feedback skills
- Conflict resolution
These skills aren’t inherent. They take a conscious effort to develop. Coaches and captains need to help bridge the learning. It’s important to make sure that practices are designed in a way where everyone has an opportunity to develop and practice using these skills but in their own way. For example, each athlete on your team will have a very different way of communicating or problem-solving. No one is wrong.
Teamwork skills also help athletes develop the mental skills necessary to perform optimally during competition. For example, if you are given the opportunity to work on decision-making skills, the likelihood is that you’ll have lower anxiety around making decisions during competition.
Teamwork skills and mental skills are also a big part of developing character – confidence, resilience, engagement, respect, and toughness. See Positive Mental Character Builds Champions.
Leadership
Character helps determine the kind of leader you will become. When you develop teamwork skills and mental skills, you are also developing leadership skills. These skills are transferable to business. Being part of a sports team is seen as a positive in the eyes of many companies. They will generally hire someone because of their sports experience because it includes all of these other skills that are important for business. Many athletes come with these skills while other employee’s may have less experience with them and lacking these abilities.
The most important thing to remember about the skills associated with teamwork is that you have to consciously work to build them and everyone comes with a different set of them.
