Career Excellence through Teamwork

Getting ahead in the corporate world requires being able to balance between individualism and teamwork. Inititiave and indivudualism, two very American qualities, are important traits to have. Especially when it comes to getting noticed by recruiters and generating job leads. This week's tip is focused on teamwork, which really comes into play mainly after you've landed a job. If you're still looking for a better position, we recommend increasing your flow of job leads first by using a service like ResumeDirector or ResumeArrow. With ResumeDirector, you can have your resume posted on over 90 job sites at once, including sites like Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder, etc. To find out more, visit this web address:
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Excelling at Teamwork

While initiative and individualism come naturally to most Americans, teamwork often does not. As Americans, we're taught as children that other people will not look out for us, to look out for #1, etc. Baseball, the most American of sports, is unique in that each player gets their own chance at bat to show their worth as an individual. Compare this with popular sports in other countries, such as soccer or ice hockey, where team dynamics are paramount. While individualism is helpful in many aspects of career management - such as asking for a promotion, having the drive and impetus to surpass accomplishments of co-workers, etc., it can sometimes get in the way when it comes to working on projects as a team.

If you could boil the essence of successful teamwork down to one concept, it would have to be that of equality and respect. Teams function best when their members respect each other. As an indivudal member of a team, the best way to get others to respect you is for you to first demonstrate your respect for them. Even if you have more seniority, make more money, etc., everyone wants to be treated with dignity and in a way that makes them feel good. Effective leaders know this and take great pains to treat people they lead with a high degree of dignity and respect. But even if you're not in a leadership position per se, adopting such a philosophy can go a long way toward improving your effectiveness in teamwork situations.

Key points to keep in mind when working with other people on your team:
- Be respectful of other peoples' time. Ask to discuss plans or work together at a time that is convenient for the other person. If some work can be done without the other person present, it should be done that way. Likewise, with meetings, if not all team members need to be present for a particular discussion, have that discussion with those people separately. No one likes to feel like their time is being wasted.
- Listen. One of the best ways to gain other peoples' respect is by honestly listening to what they have to say. Giving someone a chance to complete their thought, and summarizing what they said so they know you understood them, will increase the level of respect and trust they have in you.
- Respect others' opinions. Using diplomatic language to discuss another team member's ideas, and presenting your own ideas as an alternative suggestion rather than attacking their ideas emotionally, will win you respect from all parties.

Teamwork Example: The Japanese Subway

A great example of teamwork and respect for others can be seen in how the Japanese subway system operates. Even though it has more riders than the New York City subway system, the Tokyo subway system is able to provide faster and more reliable service because of small cultural differences. For example, subway cars hold more people because riders use all possible space in subway cars, squeezing themselves in next to other people. Rather than jumping into a subway car at the last minute and holding doors open, thereby delaying the train, Japanese riders will let the train go and wait for the next train to arrive.

The agency that runs the subway system realizes their role in the teamwork of Japanese society so they invest every possible effort in making trains run on time. If a train is delayed at a particular station, the manager will hand out late slips to the passengers which they can present to their boss or teacher. Even people who are going through terrible personal problems are expected to put the needs of others first: if a passenger commits suicide by jumping in front of a train, their family is fined for any train delay that is caused.

Of course this paints an extreme example of teamwork, but seeing as how teamwork on a large scale has been so effective in propelling the Japanese economy forward, it does provide an interesting example at the micro level to see how it works and possibly take from it inspiration that can help improve our own effectiveness in teamwork situations.

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