Selfless: 3 Tips to Become the Ultimate Team Player
Sports can be invaluable in teaching universal lessons. I played basketball for the better half of my life. So, when a work-study position opened up for a manager role for the men’s basketball team my freshman year of college, I knew I had to apply.
After a successful interview with the assistant head coach, I landed the job.
I learned a lot about being a team player and being a part of something bigger than myself. Here’s some of my advice on becoming a selfless teammate at your company.
1.) Leave Your Ego at the Door
Before I was even granted an interview, I was experiencing delusions of grandeur. During my senior year of high school, I had an exceptional basketball season. I was named to my conference’s all-star team and led my team to the state playoffs. For these reasons, I thought I was going to walk into the interview and convince the assistant coach to give me a tryout and I would easily make the team.
I was very wrong.
When I hinted at the coach to give me a chance, he and the head coach quickly shot down the idea. They shook their heads intensely and told me directly if that’s why I was there, then I could leave. The team was in need of a low maintenance guy that could handle the dirty work, even if that was literal which meant potentially handling tasks like doing the team’s laundry.
I swallowed my pride because I wanted to be around my passion for basketball, so I reluctantly agreed to the terms and got ready to start.
At the beginning, I struggled to accept my status within the organization. The whole time I couldn’t help but think I shouldn’t have been sitting on the sidelines, I felt that I deserved to be on the court. I would constantly compare myself to others on the team and wanted more.
This all changed one wintery morning.
The team often held practices at 6:00am before classes started. I always dreaded them because I lived off-campus and needed to wake up at 4:45am to get prepared for the day and make it there on time. When I woke up one early morning in December, everything was covered in inches of snow. Instead of pushing through, I decided to tell the coaches I couldn’t make it, minutes before practice was going to start, and went back to sleep.
The assistant coach found this to be unacceptable.
I saw him the next day and he pulled me to the side and explained how an absence can affect the rest of the team: when I’m not there to run the scoreboard, a member of the team had to pull their attention away to worry about it, which put them behind on what was being taught. When I didn’t show up, no one was recording their practice which meant they couldn’t analyze what areas players could improve. Essentially, I left the team out to dry.
Despite not feeling like I was an important piece to the organization, it turns out I was. Although I wasn’t the star of the show, the small responsibilities that I found to be trivial were actually a big factor in the team’s success.
The same could be applied to any role you work in. Although you may be working an entry-level position and think you are entitled to more, I recommend taking some time to reflect and let go of that mindset. You’re contributing to something that’s bigger than you.
2.) Do What’s Needed
This one is simple: be the best version of whatever is being asked of you.
This relates a lot to the first tip. However, this one differentiates itself because now that you rid yourself of an ego that prevents you from doing the tasks asked of you, you can focus on improving efficiency in your role.
In a work environment, you might not be in a role that contributes on a large scale. That’s fine! You’re there for a reason and what’s asked of you obviously will be different for the VPs and Executives.
Think of it this way: Could you imagine what would happen if all the janitors in your company decided to quit? It would be chaos! The company asks them to clean to make life more comfortable and safe for those around. The more they try to polish their cleaning skills and become better janitors, the better the company morale becomes.
We all contribute in different ways and your role is significant.
3.) Stay Ready
This one may conflict with tip number two, but hear me out.
Have you ever heard the phrase stay ready so you never have to get ready? Well, that should be your attitude for your company.
My role as a basketball manager came with a bunch of different responsibilities. This included recording game/practice footage, working the scoreboard, and helping on the court. At times, I would have to be on the court to help with drills. To be able to give my best effort, I stayed in shape and paid attention to the skill development they did, where players liked to get the ball in each, etc.
When the time came to help on the court, I was ready and could go up and down the court during practice to fill in as a practice dummy without getting winded.
Although this is more physical, the same applies to the workplace.
Let’s say you work in sales and are thriving with generating revenue for a company. You’re doing great, but are you ready to help your company with incoming salespeople by training them? Can you handle being someone who others can go to for help in your department? What if someone gets fired and you have to replace that production? You should never get stagnant in your position and should constantly be sharpening your tools/skills and challenge yourself to improve. At some point, you will be asked to do more than what you’re usually accustomed to. So, staying ready to help out a coworker or your employer at large will help ensure the company can count on you to deliver when it matters most.
In Conclusion
My time as a basketball manager wasn’t always easy, but it gave me the lessons necessary to be a part of a team. By following the guideline above, you too can become the team player your coworkers and employer can rely on!
