Most people consider themselves team players. Many of their team-mates disagree.
Patrick Lencioni, in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, does a deep dive into what produces highly functional teams as well as what creates dysfunction. He lists behaviors that derail the best of intentions as 1. Absence of trust. 2. Fear of conflict. 3. Lack of commitment 4. Avoidance of accountability and 5. Inattention to results.
In For Your Improvement, A Guide for Development and Coaching, Mike M. Lombardo and Robert W. Eichinger describe common characteristics of high performance teams: A shared mindset and common vision; you trust each other, pitch in and help even though it may be difficult for you. You’re honest with each other and talk about problems directly without going behind each other’s back. You have the collective talent to do the job and know how to operate efficiently and effectively. You have good team skills, run effective meetings, have efficient ways to communicate and have ways to deal with internal conflict.
What does this have to do with your ability to get a job and keep it? Plenty. Interviewers look for team players who know when to stand up and lead, step back and follow, and step in when time is short and deadlines are pressing. They want independent self- starters who perform interdependently. They want employees who are emotionally aware, supportive, considerate, open to learning, willing to change, and ready to help when the need arises.
Interviewers are cognizant that their organization’s success requires employees with the willingness to collaborate and use their collective wisdom to be visionary and bottom line; their analytical abilities to evaluate risk and reward; their clarity, passion, and trustworthiness to lead others through change; and their operational skills to streamline function and simplify process that gets the team where it needs to go on time and under budget.
Just as there’s more to a job than an advertisement can explain, there’s more to you than your resume can describe. Because of that you’ll have to prove yourself in more ways than your resume can testify. You’ll need to make your case by providing the evidence that supports your statements. You’ll need to use the right words, tone and inflection to tell a story that’s as compelling as it is engaging.
Talking a good game won’t land the job unless you have the stats to prove your worth. Prepare for your networking meetings, phone screenings, and interviews by reconstructing examples of your most challenging experiences and highlighting the roles you’ve played as an individual contributor and a team player.
Keep in mind, the interviewer is looking for individuals who possess specific skills as well as characteristics that indicate their ability to lead self and others, manage tasks and processes, and to at all times, be a team player.
How can you incorporate all this in an interview? Let’s say that you’re asked to describe a situation in which you performed at your best. You’ll come across as a team player when you share credit with those who blocked, tackled, and provided support as well as encouragement.
If you’re asked to provide an example of a situation in which you didn’t succeed and describe the reasons why, you come across as a team player when you accept responsibility for the role you played instead of blaming your teammates.
Regardless of your age, gender, nationality, or experience, the company that hires you expects you to be as committed to your work as you are to the people with whom you work. They expect you to recognize that mutually supportive, goal focused teams that pull in the same direction consistently outperform any one of the individuals who play on them.
