Qualities of a Team Player - COMPETENT

We are continuing to learn and grow in 2014 by developing teamwork skills utilizing the lessons contained in John C. Maxwell’s book titled The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player. This book carries the subtitle “Becoming the kind of person every team wants”. Developing a better team always begins with the individuals. To improve the team, improve the individuals on the team.

Quality #5: Competent - if you cannot, your team will not.

"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor." - Vince Lombardi

"People forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it." - Howard W. Newton

"Building the team is as important as producing the product." - Bob Taylor

Highly competent people have some things in common:

1. They are committed to excellence.
   1. "Success bases our worth on a comparison with others. Excellence gauges our value by measuring us against our own potential. Success grants is rewards to the few but is the dream of multitudes. Excellence is available to all living beings but is accepted by the few." - Dale Carnegie
2. They never settle for average.
   1. It's hard to develop competence if you are trying to do everything. Pick an area in which to specialize.
   2. What is the one thing that brings together your skills, interests, and opportunities? Whatever it is, seize it.
3. They pay attention to detail.
   1. "Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves." - Dale Carnegie
   2. It means doing the last 10% of whatever job you are doing.
4. They perform with consistency.
   1. "...inspiration is easy. Implementation is the hard part." - Bob Taylor

To improve your competence:

• Focus yourself professionally
• Sweat the small stuff
• Give more attention to implementation

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Qualities of a Team Player - COMMUNICATIVE

We are continuing to learn and grow in 2014 by developing teamwork skills utilizing the lessons contained in John C. Maxwell’s book titled The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player. This book carries the subtitle “Becoming the kind of person every team wants”. Developing a better team always begins with the individuals. To improve the team, improve the individuals on the team.

(c) Renjith Krishnan

Quality #4: Communicative - a team is many voices with a single heart.

"Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people." - William Butler Yeats

To state it bluntly, you cannot have teamwork unless you have communicative players. Without communication, you don't have a team; you have a collection of individuals.

If you evaluate a good team, you will find that its players have some common characteristics. Communicative players:

1. Do not isolate themselves from others.
   1. The more teammates know about each other and about the team's goals and methods, the more they will understand.
2. Make it easy for teammates to communicate with them.
   1. If you look at good leaders and impact players on a team, you will find that they not only stay connected with their teammates but they also make sure their teammates are able to make contact with them easily.
   2. Open communication fosters trust.
   3. If you can include others, do. Certainly you need to be discreet with sensitive information, but remember this: people are up on things they are in on.
3. Follow the twenty-four hour rule.
   1. If you have any kind of difficulty or conflict with a teammate, do not let more than twenty-four hours go by without addressing it.
   2. "Friendship is a slow-ripening fruit." - Aristotle.
4. Give attention to potentially difficult relationships.
   1. Relationships need attention to thrive.
5. Follow up important communication in writing.
   1. The more difficult communication becomes, the more important it is to work to keep it clear and simple.
   2. That often means putting communication in writing.

To improve your communication:

• Be candid.
• Be quick.
• Be inclusive.

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Qualities of a Team Player - COMMITTED

We are continuing to learn and grow in 2014 by developing teamwork skills utilizing the lessons contained in John C. Maxwell’s book titled The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player. This book carries the subtitle “Becoming the kind of person every team wants”. Developing a better team always begins with the individuals. To improve the team, improve the individuals on the team.

Quality #3: Committed - there are no halfhearted champions.

"Ordinary people with commitment can make an extraordinary impact on their world." - John C. Maxwell

It is not an emotion; it is a character quality that enables us to reach our goals.

"Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it." - George Halas, former owner of NFL Chicago Bears.

There are some things every team player needs to know about being committed:

1. Commitment usually is discovered in the midst of adversity.
   1. As NFL Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi said, "The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender."
   2. Committed people do not surrender.
2. Commitment does not depend on gifts or abilities.
   1. Commitment and talent are unconnected - unless you connect them.
3. Commitment comes as the result of choice, not conditions.
   1. When it comes right down to it, commitment is always a matter of choice.
   2. Far too many people think that conditions determine choices. More often, choices determine conditions. when you choose commitment, you give yourself a chance for success.
4. Commitment lasts when it is based on values.
   1. Anytime you make choices based on solid life values, then you are in a better position to sustain your level of commitment because you do not have to continually reevaluate its importance.
   2. It is like settling the issue before it is tested. A commitment to something you believe in is a commitment that is easier to keep.

To improve your level of commitment:

• Tie your commitments to your values.
• Take a risk.
• Evaluate your teammates' commitment.

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc