Being a freelancer can sometimes be a lonely job, most freelancers work from home and post their ads online. And 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 are always supporting each other, sharing skills and knowledge so we can keep growing and learning together from one another.
To build this kind of healthy work environment we have to thank our amazing HR team, which helps us spread 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 it means to be a team player, the characteristics of team players, and how you can improve your teamwork skills to become a team player yourself!
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 of 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 at hand.
Once you are 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 at the same time. Fortunately, although not as easily 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 within the team 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 taking into consideration every idea before choosing the right path to 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 yours.
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 important to correctly hold your team accountable. When the communication flows, your team won’t hide anything from you.
Make sure you properly explain the importance of the actions of every one of them 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 4-5 tasks a day, but that doesn’t mean you’ll stick to those same tasks every workday. When a manager assigns a task, it’s because they think you have the skills to properly fulfill it, so you should readily accept any tasks your manager gives you.
This kind of flexibility will help you to 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 is what helps your team to keep their morale and motivation to face even the hardest issues. Your positive attitude will guide your team to the solution of the problem while keeping everyone calm and stable. A positive atmosphere will bring positive results.
Commitment
Show your team that you care about them and that you 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. And maintaining this positivity can radically increase morale and productivity.
The work of everyone in your team is worth something, let them know it.
How To Be a Better Team Player
Following the previous tips will lead you to the path of becoming a great team player. And as we mentioned before, is a path that is filled with benefits not only for you but for the company in general.
No matter your experience level or position, showing that you’re a team player is also showing 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 make sure that everyone is going towards the same goal.
- Respect each other’s ideas, tastes, values, etc.
- Become a problem solver. This doesn’t mean only thinking about solving problems on your own but also brainstorming ideas with your team.
- Celebrate teammates’ success. If a member of your team succeeds in the workplace, so do you. It means you are one step closer to completing a goal.
These are the tips and tricks we recommend you apply and follow to nurture a healthy workspace at your office.
As we said before, we owe most of our progress to our HR team, admins, and supervisors inside each team. Each one of them is always striving to be better and supporting each other to keep learning and improving.
That is the essence of our freelancers, we support each other and we grow together. So, if you’re interested in becoming part of 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 becoming part of our team is to fill out the information you’ll find right over 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 doubts or questions!
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