Being a good teammate and knowing how to work in a team is not an easy task for some people. In this article I give some suggestions to try to improve how we communicate with each other and how to deal with some situations.
Who you are in the team: accepting your role
The first thing a person has to have clear when starting in a new team or project, is knowing what will be expected from them and the role to be done.
That will set the minimums and, sometimes, the maximums of your tasks. For instance: if your role is a project manager, the team will not expect you to write any code but it will “demand” you plan the deliverables properly.
There are some other, more administrative tasks that will be the same for the whole team. This is where we can make a difference and help our team leader. How? By not waiting for them to remind you what you have to do every period of time, for instance. Filling your timesheets before they have to validate them, accessing meetings on time, avoiding them to look for you to do those tasks... The team leader usually is a busy person with several meetings a day and, maybe, leading several teams. The way you can support them is also reminding your teammates of these tasks when the leader isn’t able to.
Is it your responsibility? Not really. Is it an extra effort to remember others' tasks when you do yours? Not really, also, but will help them arrive on time as it will avoid extra work for your team leaders!
That said, if you just want to do only your stuff, in order to avoid the team leader having to remind you every time, that’s enough support for them!
Managing your motivations
There will be people that think: "Why should I do that "extra" task?" or "I don't get paid for that, why should I do it?" or stuff like this.
The answer for that is easy: solidarity with your team. Because that's what we are. If one fails, the team fails. If we win, the whole team wins. Stop thinking as an individual because that's not the way. Let’s give an example: we have completed our front development tasks and we have a beautiful UI to interact with, but the back team couldn’t make it on time for several reasons and we have an uncompleted Web API that can't maintain what the UI shows nicely. What is the result? A dysfunctional and incomplete app that the final client will complain about and will want to be compensated for, but the worst of all will be loss of confidence with the team, the whole team.
On the other hand, this can help you to learn and to grow in a way that benefits you and your team. It helps you to learn how to be in charge of others, how to push them to be motivated and enable them to be productive.
Knowing your teammates and learning how to talk to each of them
This is an important point as there is nothing more real than the fact that everybody is different, has different circumstances and life outside of work. Everything can affect the mood of a person and it's impossible to think that it will not have side effects at work.
A suggestion: don't treat all people equally. Observe how that person behaves with other mates, learn about them and try to not cross a line that can be intrusive. Be patient and gain trust with each person step by step at their pace
Once you feel comfortable with each person, ask them how they feel. Sometimes that helps and sometimes they won't want to answer, but you have done everything you can.
Don't blame (even when there is no other option!)
Sometimes one member of the team lacks motivation, experience or knowledge, which results in extra work for the rest of the team as he/she can't meet the targets properly and forces others to finish the work or, even, redo it completely.
This is also one of those “extra tasks” you can do. Someone will say that it is a team leader’s task to keep the team motivated. But remember, we are a team, and if one piece of the team starts failing, the whole system will fail sooner than later. Help your team leader, support them to make sure the team doesn't fail. Because the side effects of this situation will affect your time, and nobody wants to waste time!
Think this way: what is more beneficial directly for you?
Blame that person and use your extra time to "repair" those things when they “explode”, which will result in double the time spent, yours and theirs?
Or trying to pay more attention to that person, asking frequently how is it going with their tasks, giving them a minor part of your day time to ensure things are rolling out daily with the best of your faces?
The answer is easy, the second. The second will make you waste less time, less patience and be more productive as a team. It will also help your team leader not to waste time monitoring that person. It also won't make you want to kill your teammate.
In any case, blaming a person is not a good idea, ever. It creates a bad environment and you won't make others work harder because you blame them. Maybe being the second type of person won't make them more productive either, but it's the best bullet you have to try in the position you are in. Look for other teammates to help you in the same way. It will always be easier for all if more people are helping instead of blaming or complaining.
But let’s be realistic, sometimes nothing works. A person doesn't have enough motivation to learn, work or help the team. When you and others teammates (even your team leader) have tried everything to make them work properly. That’s the point where the team leader should start giving warnings to that person. Warnings to inform them that it's not the way we like to work, and that way only goes in one direction. This is the last option that a person should have. If these warnings do not help the person to change their behaviour, nothing else will, and replacing that piece will be the solution. But this has nothing to do with you, that’s not your work, you have to try to help them in the best possible way.
Communication is a must. Listening, even more!
Yes, please. We are not robots. We have feelings and we can’t always be in a good mood. Or maybe there is something you do not agree with. Whatever, but talk about it!
If you let the mad ball grow up “inside” of you, the moment will come when you explode and perhaps you will take out your anger on someone who doesn't deserve it. When you see something that you think is not right, tell it. Have a discussion with your team, let them know your point of view, maybe they haven’t thought about a point you do have!
That’s why it is always suggested that people listen to each other. It does not matter if you are the one that has to make decisions or not, ask your team, ask for others’ opinions because they can bring you some options you haven’t even thought of.
Try to be open minded to accept that you are not alone in the team and things don't always have to be the way you want them to be. These situations are similar to when you have to negotiate with a client, you cannot impose your thoughts. Arrive at a middle point where all parts feel good enough to push everybody in the same direction!
Identify your "client" and your “providers”
This is a tricky one that I use to understand my work relations easier.
When we talk about “clients”, most of the people will think about the “ones who pay”. In some teams that are applying agile methodologies, the actual “clients” can be part of the team and they participate in some of the ceremonies. We are not talking about them (at least, not for all the roles).
Let’s give an example of a team with a business analyst/product owner, a project manager, a front team, a back team, an UX team and a person from the client side.
Our clients will be those to whom we provide our work directly. Our providers, the opposite and both will be with whom we will have to negotiate when a problem appears:
If you are a back developer, your client should be the front team, as they will be consuming what you do in the WebApi. And your provider may be the product owner as you will have to discuss the business logic behind the scenes.
If you are a front developer, your client should be the business analyst and product owner, as they will have to test and play with the application. And our providers may be the back team and the UX team, one will provide us the capability of data maintenance and the other the design we have to follow.
If you are a project manager, your client will be both product owner and the client itself, deciding when things have to be delivered. And your providers will be the whole team that has to complete the tasks they have compromised to have.
And so on for the others...
The target of all of this way of thinking is to see our teammates in another way. Without you, some of them can’t keep working, and without some of them, you can’t keep working. This makes the team seem like a wheel that, if any point fails, the wheel can’t advance.
Designed by Macrovector / Freepik
Key: Make others’ lives easier to actually make yours easier
More than a key, this should become a mantra. Let’s become a bit philosophical.
This life is short enough to make it more difficult than it already is. This is something that can be applied in any aspect of your life. If you can do something for anybody that will make their life easier, try it. Don’t leave yourself with the feeling of “what if…”, try it. Try it, do it and I promise that you will feel a lot better with yourself, even if you don't get to it.
In a work environment, this can be translated as: If you see that some part of the team needs help and you can and want to help them, do it. It will be beneficial for the whole team and it will make everything flow better.
Supporting the team: conclusion.
As we have seen in some of the previous points, there are minor things that will make no difference for us, but will make a lot to other people, not only the team leader.
Being a good teammate can go from just doing your stuff without waiting for others to tell you what you have to do, to going one step further when possible; or even, to be that person in the shadows that supports the team in every possible way to make the wheel advance properly.
Be one, or another, try to always contribute! Or at least, not be the problem!
Top comments (2)
Love it!
Love it. Like a soft skills manifesto