Islam and Teamwork: Working Together Is Success

A team is a collection of people where each individual is a powerhouse
of talent, knowledge, expertise, skill and above all the right
attitude. The team is effective and powerful when it delivers the
quality and results. For this all individuals shouldmerge into the
team and add value. To add that value to the team, he / she should be
a team player.
A team player is one who has the right attitude andright direction to
work ina team. On the contrary, anon-team player is one who does not
share information, not being honest, not participative and above all
are those who do not extend cooperation. They do notbecome one with
the team. When team members do not come together with the team, the
focus of the team is lost and the results are not achieved.
A team player is one who takes up responsibilities that are outside
their role too. They do not feel that they have to perform tasks of
other team members during contingencies. The best part of being a team
player is, he / she never blames others and accepts their mistakes.
Apart from this a team player would also act as aguide to the juniors
who join the team.
However, being a good employee does not necessarily mean being a good
team player. Working in a team is the real challenge an individual
faces in the organisation. A team comprises of members from different
backgrounds who are together for a purpose.
When different individuals come together different values also come in
and there is enough scope for conflictto take place. The reasons for
conflict could be any one of the following reasons like not following
the instructions of the team leader, the team's efforts or
achievements not being recognised by the boss, blame game for the
mistakes that take place, individual achievements are not recognised
and being neglected, roles and responsibilities of the individuals not
defined clearly and difference of opinion or contradicting values of
any team member.
Strategic alliance
It is an art to exhibit the qualities of a good team player. A team
player is one who performs effectively and efficiently. Getting along
with everyone at work is considered as a skill. Being a team member or
a team leader per se is for the purpose of working together and
getting along till the objectives are achieved. It also means
friendship at work. Teams are made up of individuals that will, now
and then, differwith one another.
What makes a team aggressive in achieving the goals is the attitude to
take those differences and turn them into opportunities for
development rather than turn the teammates in opposition to one
another. We can call it as strategic alliance at the workplace for a
common objective.
Remember, to get help from someone we must have helped them before. It
is a give and take situation at work. Solet us put that as a forward
thinking action and lend the helping hand in our work place. Learning
to be nice to people around us does not cost at all. In particular, we
should not hesitate to ask for help from people who have rich
experience. Most of the time, we hesitate dueto being addressed as
ignorant or lacking knowledge.
We need to give and takefrom one another at workplace and be open and
receptive to new ideas. An employee can achieve his /her her best when
working in a team.Those of us who have worked in different teams
realise that working together closely as a team is difficult in
reality. All of us have had our share of difficult colleagues and
teams.
The guidelines
Team is above the individual in situations. As a team player we
mustremember to follow these guidelines.
*.Adapting to change
*.Not taking credit for the colleague's work
*.Learning to appreciate and recognising other members presence
*.Treating everyone with respect and dignity
*.Not involving the issuesthat are not significant to team's values
*.Meeting the targets or keeping the deadlines
*.Being a good communicator (special reference to listening skills)
*.Cooperating with others in the team
*.Sharing the information and knowledge that benefits all in a team
A team member enhanceshis / her value in the organisation by
demonstrating characteristics of committed players. Every individual
should understand that his / her work is an integral part of a larger
organisation and is binding on the company's overall performance.
Remember,if an employee is an unruly team player we cannot expect any
productivity from him / her in the team.
Conscience decision
Kevin Eikenberry has listed the traits that would help the individual
and team to have greater success. According to him effective team
members are: committed, focused on the team's objectives, supportive,
competent, collaborative, provide feedback, they are good
communicators, they value and build trust, they are proactive and
learners. It is only a conscience decision that brings in the team
player factor in every individual.
Even for a team to win a cricket match or a football match, we as
audience or spectators look at the strength of each player and the
coordination of activities in the game. It is the leadership and team
spirit which contributed for the success of the team. Let's recall the
old phrase "united we win, divided we fall" suites every team that has
to progress. Each and every team constitutes an organisation.
The end result of organisation depends on the performance of each employee.
"Coming together is a beginning; Staying together is progress; Working
together is success" said Henry Ford