Keep Up The Cooperative Spirit
Nobody wants to be that person who kills team vibes at work. You know the one—always hogging credit, dodging group projects, and somehow making everything about themselves. These behaviors might seem harmless, but they create ripple effects that tarnish career prospects. All in all, recognizing these patterns is the first step toward change. So, let's look at 10 signs that tell you're not being a team player.
1. Rarely Share Credit
Withholding credit can seriously damage team morale and productivity. Employees who fail to acknowledge their colleagues' contributions often appear self-serving and hurt collaborative relationships. Interestingly, NASA values "team humility" so highly that it's now a critical factor in astronaut selection decisions.
2. Avoid Collaborative Projects
Given that U.S. workers spend significant portions of their day collaborating, refusal to engage undermines both performance and perception. If you deliberately avoid collaborative projects, it signals poor adaptability and weak trust-building skills. Modern workplaces value team-oriented employees.
3. Talk Over Colleagues
Are you cutting people off during meetings? That hurts more than you think. Interruptions slash team problem-solving significantly. It’s also seen as a sign of low emotional intelligence. This includes a lack of empathy, poor self-regulation, and insufficient social awareness.
4. Don’t Offer Help
Employees who give proactive support earn higher peer ratings and faster promotions, while teams that hold on to mutual aid achieve stronger project delivery. Not offering help until asked may stall growth. Besides, lending a hand spikes oxytocin, the “bonding hormone.”
5. Resist Feedback
Getting defensive about feedback has the ability to restrict your growth. After all, it weakens peer trust and reduces opportunities for leadership. Furthermore, Google’s Project Aristotle proves that psychological safety, enabled by feedback, is central to high-performing teams.
6. Prioritize Personal Goals
Although it may not feel like a bad decision, prioritizing personal goals over team objectives creates misalignment. A considerable number of missed deadlines in cross-functional teams stems from conflicting priorities and may regularly appear as a negative marker in 360-degree reviews.
S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash
7. Undermine Colleagues
Team members who engage in gossip unknowingly ruin group efforts and erode trust. Undermining coworkers strongly predicts a toxic culture, which directly affects business performance. Some U.S. companies have lost billions in a year due to the consequences of poor workplace culture.
8. Don’t Celebrate Others’ Successes
Skipped celebrating a teammate’s win? That looks like envy—or worse, disinterest. A report by SHRM states that peer recognition may boost engagement by 10%. Oh, and here’s the fun twist: cheering for others lights up the same brain areas as getting praise yourself.
9. Withhold Information
You might think that keeping information to yourself is safe, but in reality, it negatively impacts your results. Even the Pentagon measures cohesion through information sharing. Teams that lack transparency duplicate effort, stall progress, and are less likely to achieve quarterly goals.
10. Blame Others
It has often been reported that blame-heavy teams perform worse under pressure, with lower batting averages in critical moments. Well, that’s because blaming teammates might protect your ego, but at the same time, it tends to weaken morale and cut accountability.
Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash
Now, let’s explore 10 practical ways to become a true team player.
1. Practice Active Listening
Practice the “listen-first” rule by holding back interruptions and asking clarifying questions. Pay attention to the speaker’s body language, tone, and facial expressions. You can also develop the skill further through LinkedIn Learning’s Improving Your Listening Skills course.
2. Keep Commitments And Follow Through
Being a dependable team player means learning to honor your promises and completing tasks on time. When teammates trust you to follow through, it strengthens collaboration and builds credibility. Dependability also builds your personal credibility and reputation within the group.
3. Ask For Inputs Before Making Decisions That Affect Others
When people are invited to participate in decision-making, they feel valued and invested in the process, leading to higher morale and initiative. This participation instills a sense of ownership as teams want to see the ideas and changes they've helped formulate succeed.
4. Be Punctual And Value Others’ Time
Sticking to schedules and meeting deadlines shows that you care about your workmates. When you're on time, it keeps everyone in sync and prevents delays. This seemingly simple action helps the whole team work smoothly toward shared targets.
5. Offer Growth-Oriented Feedback
Always use the SBI model. That is, explain the Situation, describe the specific Behavior, and show the Impact it had. This framework keeps your advice clear and fair. Remember, criticism doesn't always have to sting; it can genuinely uplift.
6. Respect And Adapt To Different Work Styles
You need to understand that everyone approaches tasks differently. This thought will help formulate a harmonious work environment. By adjusting your methods and valuing others’ perspectives, you enhance collaboration, encourage creativity, and ensure the team gives its best toward common objectives.
7. Be Transparent About Mistakes
It's okay not to be right all the time. Transparency around mistakes will only build your credibility and accelerate learning. Practice sharing lessons in retrospectives or team Slack channels. It encourages others to be honest about their challenges as well.
8. Rotate Leadership Roles
Don’t hog the lead role; share it. Take charge for one sprint, then let someone else step up. When groups rotate leadership, empathy grows and burnout drops, especially in cross-functional groups. Agile frameworks like Scrum can be used to define such roles.
9. Amplify Others’ Strengths
Teams that focus on identifying and leveraging individual strengths generally witness significant improvements in both productivity and overall profitability. A strengths-based environment encourages continuous growth and recognition. Observation and assessments help uncover what each person truly does best.
10. Share Useful Resources
If you’ve got a great article or template, try not to keep it to yourself. Drop it in a shared Google Drive or Notion page so everyone benefits. You can also store resources on cloud platforms for easy, anytime access across the organization.
