Mindvalley, a company known for its progressive workplace culture, actually instructs its employees to spend 5 hours of their working week on personal development tasks such as reading a book or learning a new skill. When every member of the team is committed to personal growth, this not only creates an awesome working atmosphere, but it constantly brings new information into the organization which assists creative problem-solving. This is particularly crucial in the Information Age, where industries are changing rapidly and certain skill sets are becoming obsolete overnight.Īs Robert Greene, author of Mastery, states: “The time that leads to mastery is dependent on the intensity of our focus.” Great team players make time in their weekly schedule for refining their talents and adding new tricks to their repertoires. If you’re content to let your skills stagnate, then you will never fulfill your potential as a strong team member in any organization. The ideal team player should be an expert in their chosen disciplines – they shouldn’t be expected to switch roles with one another when there isn’t a major overlap in competencies.įor the same reason that Hightower plays as a linebacker and Brady plays as a quarterback, putting individuals in roles where they can fully utilize their talents is essential if you want effective teams that function optimally. With this in mind, if you read most job descriptions, you could come to the conclusion that companies are only looking for outrageously extroverted sales people – for every single role! Likewise, a good sales rep can easily build rapport with prospective clients, but they might not be good at producing well-researched blog posts for the company’s website. If you’re a good copywriter, you might excel at crafting thoughtful words in solitude, but perform badly when forced to interact with clients face-to-face. Good leaders know how to delegate effectively, while bad leaders give inappropriate work to the wrong workers. Strong teams benefit when individual members are fully aware of their strengths and weaknesses, but it’s especially important that leaders understand the key attributes of their subordinates. However, when you’re brutally honest about your weaknesses, you can finally accept them and hone other skills that will make you extremely valuable to your employer.

When you follow this path, it’s hard to rise above mediocrity. In the modern era, we’re conditioned to improve our weaknesses rather than doubling down on our strengths. As legendary entrepreneur and YouTube star Gary Vaynerchuk says: “Self-awareness is being able to accept your weaknesses while focusing all of your attention on your strengths.” In order to be a great team player, it’s crucial to have an unbiased awareness of what you’re good at and what you suck at.

Don t want to be a player no more