How to Tell if You’re a Team Player at Work...or Not

In a previous blog post, we addressed the importance of helping your colleagues and co-workers on the job. That’s because the more that you help them, the more that you’re really helping yourself, both in your current job and quite possibly overall with your career.
 
However, there’s a difference between thinking that you’re a team player and knowing that you are one. After all, it’s nice to think that you are, and the idea of something is almost always better than the reality of it.
 
You’ve heard some of the phrases that people use, including the following:

• “There is no “I” in TEAM.”
• “Teamwork makes the dream work.”

 
These are pleasant platitudes, but that’s all they are. They’re just words. True teamwork demands action, more specifically targeted action that has a purpose.
 
The first step in being a team player is realize that everybody has a role to play. Nobody can fill every role, so it’s important to not only recognize the role that you play, but also the roles that other people play. The next step is realizing how these roles fit together and complement one another.
 
Here are some questions to help you gauge how much of a team player you are:

• Do you always give your best effort, no matter what your role is or what needs to be done?
• Do you communicate well with those around you, both verbally and non-verbally?
• Do you work to be cooperative with others, regardless of the situation or the people involved?
• Are you receptive to other people’s idea . . . or do you usually reject them?
• Do other people think of you as dependable, especially in a group setting or a group situation?

 
How many of these questions are you able to answer “Yes”? All of them? Most of them? None of them?
 
Ultimately, being a team player on the job and in the workplace setting is not easy. It requires hard work—time, energy, and effort. And it requires these things on a consistent basis.
 
So be prepared to put in the work and the effort necessary to be the kind of team player that helps your co-workers excel and your employer be successful!
 
Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%.
 
Contact us today to find out more about the employment opportunities that are available in your chosen field!