Great teamwork isn’t merely about doing your part of the work.
Great team players bring out the best in their teammates and their team.
A great team player thinks of their role as:
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Co-creating an environment and culture where all players feel like they are a valued part of the team
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Developing and adopting shared habits that help include, align, and empower all team members
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Promoting joint ownership of the team’s commitments, activities, processes, and accomplishments
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Connecting team members with one another and promoting direct, respectful, and positive interactions between them
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Ensuring an equality in how team members take turns in conversations, which is key to boosting the team’s collective intelligence
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Listening, being curious, and asking questions
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Being flexible, accountable, and consistent
In many of our systems that continue to celebrate and incentivize the lone “top performer” or individual “superstar,” great team players seldom receive recognition, but it’s their generous contributions that unleash the great work of their teammates and their team.
Great team players are the linchpins who improve team collaboration, creativity, innovation, and performance. It’s great team players who make great teams.
