Steve Jobs said “Great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.” And that coming from a man who made a name for HIMSELF.
One of the most common questions you get asked in an interview is “Do you consider yourself to be a team player?” Do you? (And even if you don’t, will you say so?)
In my search to provide a balanced response, I asked a couple of people this question over the past 2 weeks and received interesting responses! Anything from “yes of course!” to “that depends on the rest of that team!”.
Being a team player is listed as a sought-after leadership skill by leadership authors and / or experts. Researching this a bit further, I found that “being a team player” refers more to the individual in question demonstrating behaviours such as embracing collaboration, holding themselves accountable and being flexible. These behaviours also being classic competencies encouraged as part of the Relationship Management quadrant of Daniel Goleman’s EQ framework.
Back to our question: do I really have to be a team player? It depends. I choose to be a team player because I recognise the value of teamwork and surely I cannot expect effective teamwork without modelling the way?
Enrol in the course: Do I really have to be a team player?
