Teamwork

By Frankie

Teamwork is probably the most important skill you need for any career because most of the work you’ll be doing is in coordination with the rest of your team. Here are three ways that you can become a better team member, and I’ll explain how to develop these skills further!

Being Open-Minded

We all hate to admit it, but sometimes we’re wrong. And there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s how you adapt to your mistakes that truly matters. To become a good team member, you have to be able to hold yourself accountable for your mistakes.

This is why I talk about being open-minded, as very often, we can’t identify our wrongdoings ourselves and rely on other people to point them out. However, the usual reaction is to be a bit defensive. To become a better team, we need to be more accepting of our mistakes and learn from them. This ability to onboard feedback and adjust what we’re doing by viewing it from a different perspective is called being open-minded.

It’s great because a lot of the time, individuals have different experiences, skills, or backgrounds, which can shed new light on a situation and provide fresh insight. As everyone has different perspectives, including you, the best way for you to operate in a team is to share your input where you see fit and also be accepting of other people's advice to create a more harmonious team environment.

Building Trust and Managing Conflict

The second you start a new job, you need to prove yourself as reliable and trustworthy by going the extra mile for your first month or two. This is what I call the first layer of trust—“Working Trust”—and it ensures that your coworkers know that you can get the job done when needed, helping you garner respect.

The second layer of trust is knowing that your team members' intentions are good (they’re not at your throat when you slip up) and that you feel comfortable admitting mistakes, trusting they won’t pounce at you, and vice versa. This feeling of trust is essential for you and your team to cooperate and be able to challenge each other's ideas without it being seen as a personal attack.

Of course, depending on how your workplace is run, there are levels to how much conflict and debate you can have without seeming like an outlier. But to become an effective team member, the relationship of trust must be mutual, so you feel assured that you can rely on the rest of your team to get the job done. This trust helps everyone be at ease and creates a positive work environment.

Collaboration and Flexibility

Sometimes, things don’t go to plan, and in these situations, you’re going to need to be flexible and take up responsibilities outside of your comfort zone. This is vital because, in the world of work, the team’s performance matters more than any individual's. If a gap needs to be filled in another area of your department, being willing to take on that challenge makes you a much more useful team member.

However, teamwork isn’t just working around people—it’s about working together. This is why being able to collaborate is essential. When you’re working on a task with your peers, you need to be able to divide the workload to avoid stepping on each other's toes, but you also need to make decisions in cohesion with one another so that you can all agree and buy into the decision being made.

How to Develop Your Teamwork

The best way to improve your teamwork is simply to get involved with something that already exists, and you’ll end up practicing the aforementioned skills without even realizing it. Be actively receptive to feedback, and offer advice to others when you see fit—this will help your communication skills!

I’d recommend getting involved in a sports team, becoming a more active member within a school club, or better yet, working part-time. These experiences will give you hands-on exposure to teamwork in the workplace.It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.