Is being a team player overrated?

I recently had a conversation with a frustrated sales manager of a new team. His standards and expectations are high and only matched by his enthusiasm and willingness to help others. Some of the team members he hired himself and some he inherited. We spoke about the team and their enthusiasm, work ethic, skill and teamwork. Currently his main concern was with several of the members undermining his authority and being a potential cancer to his organization.

This conversation made me think of the importance of teamwork, so I decided to ask the World through the popular social media site, LinkedIn. The question I posed was "Is being a team player necessary or overrated?" In a short period of time I received 23 answers which gave me some insight as to how others approached the notion of team work. The feedback from Linked In was fantastic and the quote I read in a chapter from "Three Feet From Gold"  helped me put it all together. The quote in the book was "Goals are aspirations until they become real. Then they become responsibilities."  When you reach the goal of owning a car, you take on the responsibilities of carrying a insurance policy and conducting regular maintenance. When you attain a goal of owning a house, among the many responsibilities you must pay school taxes, have homeowners insurance and pay utility bills. How does all of this pertain to being a team player?

When applying for a job or a promotion we have a goal...to receive an offer. At the point of receiving the offer we either accepted or declined it, right? If we accepted the position, it's reasonable to say that we have achieved our goal and now, according to the Napoleon Hill Foundation, we have a "responsibility". This responsibility could be by our own doing or one set forth by the employer in the form of expectations, rules or accountabilities. Hopefully, before you were hired, these rules and expectations have been explained to you; therefore, upon accepting the position you have also accepted the responsibility to live by them. If team work, collaboration, idea sharing or team selling is a prerequisite at your company or on your team, it is your responsibility to uphold those organizational values once you accept the position.

If you find yourself in a spot where you are asked to be a team player and support decisions for the betterment of the team, I suggest you look at the responsibilities you took on when you achieved your goal of being hired and see if they match the expectations set by your manager.

For those of you who have a "leave me alone" attitude and feel your only responsibility is to achieve your quota, try bringing in a deal the last day of the month and expect to bill it without the teamwork. Without the hlep of the people in administration who process the paperwork, the staff in the warehouse who setup your product or the delivery crew who lug it to your customer before 5:00 PM the same day.

I can't speak for every organization or industry, but I can tell you unequivocally, at Connecticut Business Systems, you will not last unless you are the ultimate team player.

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