What Does it Take to be a Good Team?

1| Contribute Ideas
Being on a team is not a passive activity. A good team member does not sit back
and comment on every other team member’s work and ideas without contributing
their own. Not only is this counterproductive, you will be viewed as at best a bore
and at worst useless to the team.

All projects have a goal which is often stated as a problem that needs to be solved.
Whether intentionally selected that way or not, project team members usually bring
a broad diversity of thought and problem-solving approaches. As a good team
member, you must not let your problem-solving abilities and unique way of looking
at things lie stagnant!

An effective team member does not remain silent and hold their ideas back when
the team is working on possible solutions and needs ideas. While it is incumbent on
the project manager to ensure the existence of an environment that encourages
and expects participation from all team members, it is the responsibility of the
team members to actually speak up, participate and provide input to the process.

2| Know Your Role

In team sports, each player has specific assignments and responsibilities. In

American football, it doesn’t make any sense for the center to call and execute the
plays when it’s the quarterback’s job to do so. In soccer, a foul is called if any player

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What Does it Take to be a Good Team?

other than the goalie touches the ball with their hands when it is in play. Similarly,
when you are a team member, it doesn’t make any sense for you to take on
another team member’s role or assignments and it can be quite counterproductive
to do so.

There are two areas of role assignment that are critical to the success of project
teams. One is a general role based on a team member’s area of expertise and/or
responsibility to the process being improved. The other area is more specific and
takes the form of task assignments in the project work plan, often with time
constraints and due dates. Team
members will be assigned and given the opportunity to provide input to any
number of specific tasks that have to be accomplished.

It is the responsibility of all team members to take part in the process of defining
tasks that are assigned to them and to ultimately take full responsibility for those
tasks.

3| Practice Active Listening and Observing

You should be using your input devices (ears and eyes) as much as or more than
your output device (mouth). This doesn’t mean simply listening and watching for a
pause in someone else’s talking so that you can jump in with your own thoughts
and ideas.

Active listening and observing means judgment and counterargument is suspended

while others are communicating their ideas, ensuring an unfiltered and unbiased
pathway to the brain. It also means that listening and observing occurs even when
not being directly communicated with. Watch team member’s body language as
they participate (or not) in team meetings. Listen for underlying messages – without
becoming a conspiracy theorist – as team members express themselves.

A wise person once said, “It is better to keep your mouth shut so that people
wonder whether or not you are a fool rather than opening it and removing all
doubt”.

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What Does it Take to be a Good Team?

4| Communicate Effectively

As well as you may understand that great idea you have, the task you have just
completed or the point you are trying to make, count on other team members to
not have that same level of deep understanding you have and don’t make them out
to be not as smart as you for not having that level of understanding. There are two
types of communication, verbal and non-verbal.

Spoken and written words are used in verbal communication. Make sure you avoid
jargon and slang and that you use proper grammar. Avoid redundancy by being
clear and precise. If repetition is necessary, use a different example. The volume
and modulation of your voice can convey many different meanings. Take care to
not unintentionally alienate your audience or the one you are conversing with.

Non-verbal communication has to do with gestures, posture, movements and facial

expressions; in other words, body language. Some examples: Standing with your
arms crossed in front of you signals that you want to maintain distance. If you do
not establish eye contact, it will be difficult for your statements to be taken as
believable.

5| Be a Team Player

You are not on a project to accumulate personal accolades and, while you may have
contributed substantially, the success of the project is not an individual
endorsement or acknowledgement of your outstanding skills.

This is not a complicated endeavour. A team member who follows these few simple
guidelines will be known as a team player:

• Acknowledge the good work of others but don’t be melodramatic about it

• Downplay your own role in the success that is achieved

• Take responsibility when things don’t go well

• Offer assistance but don’t butt in or make a big scene if it is declined

• Offer constructive suggestions when appropriate but don’t make that the
single thing that you are known for

• Adhere to the five other principles presented here

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What Does it Take to be a Good Team?

6| Avoid Finger Pointing

Don’t get involved in “blamestorming”. It’s pretty easy to identify who is responsible
for something not going well, especially if it isn’t you!

Your project team is tasked with fixing a broken or inefficient process. When
working to identify the root cause of the problem, avoid blaming people because
it’s more than likely that the process rather than the individual doing the work is at
fault. If the team assigns fault to another team member and it is later discovered
that the fault lay elsewhere, all those who participated in the finger pointing will
look rather foolish and damage will have been done to team cohesiveness.

You may be called up to help identify what went wrong and why, but leave it to the
project manager to determine if the “why” is because of another team member’s
failing.

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