Transformational Principles of Excellent Team Players

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” - Rosalynn Carter

The future is here and now! It is not an elusive someday or one-day event and it is impacting your life even as you read these words.

Your future as an individual at work, calls for you to be a leader whether you manage or lead a group of people or not.

What do I mean? Well, gone are the luxurious days when we could afford to take a back seat and await instructions from those at higher levels of the organizations. With business and technology accelerating at the pace they are at, every single person within an organization has to play the role of a leader by being an Excellent Team Player.

As an Excellent Team Player you have step up and start to make the impact you need to - to make the impact your future demands of you.

This calls for you to observe the following transformational principles if you will…

1. Get fully involved

This will require you to step into and be fully engaged with every activity that goes on within your area of impact. By area of impact I refer to everything that takes place within and without your organization that has even a remote implication on your work. This requires that you keep yourself fully informed and abreast of everything that related to your work function. It requires that you constantly increase your domain expertise and enhance your core-knowledge base. It requires that you take massive immediate action throughout your workday and up your competencies on a daily basis with the intention of boosting your efficiency and effectiveness levels.

2. Take full responsibility

Being an Excellent Team Player requires that you take fully responsibility for what is going on with or to you and play a proactive role to set things back on track. You can do this in a variety of ways. One is to give up your tendency to blame, complain, be in denial or give a host of excuses. This is not an easy step and yet one of the most personally fulfilling and rewarding ones. An Excellent Team Player is one who has given up his position, stance and argument for why something is not done or cannot be done and instead takes responsibility to make it happen. Taking responsibility does not necessarily mean going it alone, it means you are willing to be the source of power to rally people around, gain their buy-in and making things happen.

3. Simplify, simplify, simplify

In an ever increasing world of complication an Excellent Team Player simplifies incessantly wherever and whenever possible. This includes making it easier for everyone to do their job easier, faster and better. Eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy, processes, red tapes and time wasters are the Excellent Team Players daily focus. Also communicating simply is a prerequisite in assisting people to get the message clearly so that they can do their job as crisply as possible.

4. Choose to be important

Excellent Team Players are clear on how what they are doing makes the difference in the organization delivering on its promises. They attach great meaning and purpose to what they do on a daily basis no matter how basic, intricate, unspectacular and spectacular they might think what they do is.

5. Communicate exceptionally

Take the initiative to instigate open and clear communication with everyone. Be it top-down, bottom-up or side-to-side. An Excellent Team Player is not one who bites his tongue and keeps silent when there is a pressing need for something to be communicated. An Excellent Team Player also communicates with the highest intention to assist and serve; not to take pot shots and criticize. Part of an Excellent Team Player repertoire should be close communication. By close communicatio
I mean a high frequency of communication to keep things at close quarters even if the person being communicated with is halfway across the world.

6. Be self-motivated and inspired

An Excellent Team Player does not wait for a morphine jab from others be it subordinates or superiors to get high on the job. An Excellent Team Player keeps a very clear focus in mind when it comes to their reasons and purpose to be an important part of the organizations machinery. Excellent Team Players keep themselves on task and purpose and allow themselves to be self-motivated and inspired while doing their job. This also involved keeping other self-motivated and inspired and not raining on their parade by being a wet blanket, hindrance or obstacle.

7. Strive to be a leader in everything

An Excellent Team Player is a leader. Take personal leadership for yourself. Deliver on what you must and you'll discover you would have gained the freedom to do whatever you wish. Once people know that you dependably deliver on what you are held accountable for, work starts to become a pleasure as people leave you alone and no longer feel the need to supervise your every move. Next whether appointed to do so or not, Excellent Team Players assist others to fulfil their functions handsomely. Assisting another does not mean doing it for them. Assisting means making yourself available to support others to achieve their targets. While doing the above, Excellent Team Player develop themselves to be extraordinary learners which really brings us back to where we started - Get fully involved.

And so there you have it - The Transformational Principles of Excellent Team Players. As you come to the end of this article ask yourself, “Where do I stand?”

If you find that you are falling short in some of these areas, don't fret as you now have the opportunity to do something about it. If you find you are already applying some of these principles take great joy in knowing that you are on track. Either way having read this you already have a chance to be an Excellent Team Player. After all, your future calls for you to be an Excellent Team Player right now. nn===============================================================

The author, Manoj Sharma is the Founder and Managing Director of DifferWorld Pte Ltd - a People Potentialization, Education and Development Company founded in Singapore.

Mr. Sharma is also the Creator of KNOWING - A Transformational Experience™, Learning Energy Technologies™, The MONTICLES People Development Courses™, KNOWING C.E.O.™, KNOWING Corporate, Executive and Life Coaching™ amongst other transformational works.

For more articles or if you'd like to transform your finances, career, business, relationships and life please go to www.DifferWorld.com or drop us an email at info@DifferWorld.com and also ask for details for KNOWING - A Transformational Experience" and our other courses.

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