Being a freelancer can sometimes be lonely. Most freelancers work from home and post their ads online. Since they only have to worry about their skills and fulfill their schedule, you can’t talk much about teamwork there. However, that’s not the only type of freelancer there is. You can be a freelancer and a team player at the same time.
At Freelance Latin America, our teams of Freelancers always support each other, sharing skills and knowledge so we can keep growing and learning from one another.
To build this healthy work environment, we must thank our amazing HR team, which helps us spread the Freelance culture among all our freelancers!
Our healthy work environment wouldn’t have been possible without the HR team nurturing teamwork skills among our teams of freelancers. As you can see on our walls, we believe that teamwork skills are one of the core values our freelancers should have.
The reason is that achieving goals in the workplace requires collaboration. Whether you are currently leading a team, are part of one, or are preparing to join a new one, it’s a fact that developing strong teamwork skills can help you succeed in your career, no matter your level or industry.
In this article, we want to help you become a team player, starting from the basics. What does it mean to be a team player? What are the characteristics of team players, and how can you improve your teamwork skills to become a team player?
Without further ado, let’s begin.
What is a Team Player?
Being a team player means understanding that a task or project is no longer the responsibility of just one person but a whole team and focusing on actively contributing to their group to complete tasks, meet goals, or manage projects.
You become a team player when you start to care about maintaining a current flow of communication and feedback, actively listening to your coworkers, respecting their ideas, and aiming to improve the product or processes.
Once inside a team, success is no longer achieved by only one person but by the whole team because your team’s success is your success.
Qualities and Characteristics of a Team Player
Being a team player requires applying many common soft skills simultaneously. Fortunately, although not as quickly learned as technical skills, soft skills can be developed with enough time and practice.
These are some qualities you should start to develop to become a great team player!
Respect Boundaries
As a team, each of its members must have a specified role to fulfill. Each team member should understand their roles and work their duties to the best of their abilities. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask questions or give feedback on the work of the rest of the team, but you must trust their skills and respect the boundaries of your position.
Remember: To build a healthy workspace, feedback is supposed to be constructive, not destructive.
Collaboration
Being a team player means considering every idea before choosing the right action. When facing an issue, even though you might believe your idea is the right solution, you should still listen to all the ideas before pushing your own.
Even if you are the supervisor of your team, it doesn’t mean you’ll establish a dictatorship. On the contrary, you should always listen to your team’s ideas, search for compromises, and remain respectful if your work or ideas are criticized.
A happy team is a productive team, so try to look for ideas that everyone can agree with.
Accountability
It’s important to own up to your mistakes. Instead of focusing on giving excuses and covering for them, own them up, apologize if necessary, and look alongside your team for a solution.
If you are a manager or supervisor, remember that trust is essential to holding your team accountable. When communication flows, your team won’t hide anything from you.
Ensure you adequately explain the importance of each member’s actions and how they impact the entire group.
Learn from your errors and apply these tips, and you’ll earn more respect from your team.
Flexibility
Your main job may only focus on handling 4 to 5 tasks daily, but that doesn’t mean you’ll stick to those tasks every workday. When a manager assigns a task because they think you have the skills to fulfill it adequately, you should readily accept any tasks your manager gives you.
This flexibility will help you learn more about your team and help them. Be sure to look at every opportunity as a chance to learn something and become an essential part of your team!
Positivity
Here’s when a team player becomes a leader.
Maintaining a positive attitude during stressful times helps your team maintain morale and motivation to face even the most complex issues. Your positive attitude will guide your team to a solution while keeping everyone calm and stable. A positive atmosphere will bring positive results.
Commitment
Show your team that you care about them and are invested in them.
Showing your team that you believe in their skills, processes, and goals will let them know how important the team is for the company and you. Maintaining this positivity can radically increase morale and productivity.
The work of everyone on your team is worth something, so let them know.
How To Be a Better Team Player
Following the previous tips will help you become a great team player. As we mentioned before, this path is filled with benefits for you and the company in general.
No matter your experience level or position, showing that you’re a team player also indicates that you can grow and become someone reliable within the organization, increasing your chances for raises, promotions, and other earnings.
To keep improving your teamwork skills, you must not forget to:
- Offer your help when a coworker is overwhelmed or struggling to keep up with tasks.
- Actively listen to what your teammates say, and ask questions when you don’t understand.
- Communicate with your team to ensure everyone is pursuing the same goal.
- Respect each other’s ideas, tastes, values, etc.
- Become a problem solver. This doesn’t mean only thinking about solving problems independently but also brainstorming ideas with your team.
- Celebrate teammates’ success. If a team member succeeds in the workplace, so do you. It means you are one step closer to completing a goal.
We recommend you apply these tips and tricks and follow them to nurture a healthy workspace at your office.
As we said before, we owe most of our progress to each team’s HR team, admins, and supervisors. They are always striving to improve and support each other in their efforts to keep learning and improving.
That is the essence of our freelancers: We support each other and grow together. So, if you’re interested in joining our team, be ready to inherit these skills from your team so you can become part of the machinery that will take us all to even higher heights!
The first step to joining our team is to fill out the information you’ll find right here, and our recruitment team will contact you as soon as possible!
Remember that our team is always at your service, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or doubts!
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