Becoming a Team Player

Photo source: Katherine Riley

Football, as well as many other team sports, is not always about winning and scoring the goals. At the end of the day, team spirit and teamwork is what makes the team. Good teamwork partly requires a good captain. However, this job is also the duty of the teammates.

Becoming a good team player requires specific characteristics which need to be nurtured, as well as a good attitude. Essentially, these attributes can be applied both on the field and at the workplace.

Listed below are a few characteristics to develop:

Recognise your strengths

Everyone has something different to bring to the table. In order to be an asset to your team, identify your strengths and build upon them. We may sometimes feel that our strengths are less compared to others. However, if you develop them to the point of being the best in what you do, people will appreciate your greatness.

Be reliable

Some people may complain that they are never delegated any tasks. Unless we are absolutely sure that we have done nothing wrong, let us stop playing the blame game and take a step back. Evaluate the situation. Think from your team’s perspective. Have you been a dependable worker? Would you trust yourself with important tasks?

Be supportive

A supportive player influences the attitudes of his or her surrounding teammates and feeds the team spirit. Given in regular doses, a few words of assurance may increase the team morale, thus improving the overall performance of the team in the long run. In contrast, a team full of talented players with low morale would not be motivated to win.

Be adaptable

In every relationship, compromises need to be made. Likewise, the same goes for relationships in a team. Be ready to change yourself for the better to meet the needs of others, even though you may feel reluctant. Adjust yourself to suit whatever new directions set by your team leader. If you are willing to be flexible, you are sure to learn new things from your team. Do not be a pushover, but remember to open yourself to what others have to offer.

Be teachable

There is always something new to learn from the people around you. Having said that, lessons cannot be taught to a student who refuses to listen. Be open to receive constructive criticism from your teammates. If you possess a teachable spirit, you will definitely learn from your mistakes and become a wiser person at the end of the day.

As you go on to your coming week, remember that we cannot always rely on our captain for good teamwork and chemistry. As it is also our duty, let us prune ourselves to be better teammates to our team.

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