Playing well with Others

By: Samantha Werry

Ever since I was a little kid, people always pushed playing with other people and making friends. When I was growing up, I was highly into playing sports and all sports for that matter. My coaches for soccer, basketball, volleyball, softball and every other sport I played pushed for people to play with others. When you have a good team and work well with each other, you can understand how they play, pass the ball when and where needed, and accomplish the goal of winning. My coaches always said, “There is no I in team.” Well in today’s workforce, you will be working with teams. Teamwork is the highest tool companies love to utilize and it drives the company to success. So take what you have learned from playing sports or being a team player in grade school and further that into the workforce.

In order to have an effective team, everyone must become a team player or a true teammate. People need to understand everyone’s skills and assets each one can hold inside the team. Everyone inside that team needs to realize why they are there, what they can do for the team, and how they can make those skills work well with the other teammates. Lisa was giving a lesson to us the other day in our meeting and made us as the question, “Why do you exist on this team?” You need to be able to answer that question with confidence in order for yourself and your team to be able to exercise your unique skills with the team.

When people talk about what they can do and how they can help the team, it creates communication, something every team needs. A team needs to be able to communicate freely with one another in order for them to maximize their products. Lets go back to the sports playing for a moment. If you are playing basketball and you are wide open for a shot, you would not stay quiet and let your teammate get the ball stolen from them. You should speak up and say you are open! Let your team members know your thoughts. Let them know the negatives and the positives. Remember, communication needs to flow and be helpful. If it becomes negative feedback, your team can start to fall apart. Team members need to learn to work well with one another to maximize everything from talking, to sending papers to one another. Make sure everyone is on the same page and things will flow easier. Remember, there is no I in team, so work as a team together.