Qualities of a Team Player - SELF-IMPROVING

We are continuing our growth 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 #14: Self-Improving - to improve the team, improve yourself.

"Perfection is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility. However, striving for perfection is not an impossibility. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts" - John Wooden

"Learn as if you were to live forever, live as if you were to die tomorrow." - Anonymous

People who are constantly improving themselves make three processes an ongoing cycle in their lives:

1. Preparation
   1. Napoleon Hill remarked, "It's not what you are going to do, but it's what you are doing now that counts."
   2. When individuals are intentional about learning something, they become better prepared to handle whatever challenges they meet.
   3. Adopt the attitude of a learner, not an expert.
2. Contemplation
   1. Time alone is essential to self-improvement.
   2. It allows you to gain perspective on your failures and successes so that you can learn from them.
   3. It gives you the time and space to sharpen your personal or organizational vision.
   4. And it enables you to plan how you can improve in the future.
   5. If you want to keep getting better, carve out some time to get away and slow down.
3. Application
   1. Musician Bruce Springsteen offered this insight: "A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be."
   2. Most people change only when one of three things happen: they hurt enough that they have to, they learn enough that they want to, or they receive enough that they are able to.
   3. Your goal is to keep learning so that you want to change for the better every day.

To become self-improving:

• Become highly teachable
• Plan your progress
• Value self-improvement above self-promotion

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Qualities of a Team Player - RELATIONAL

We are continuing our growth 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 #13: if you get along, others will go along.

"Relationships help us to define who we are and what we can become. Most of us can trace successes to pivotal relationships." - Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson

"Anyone who loves his opinions more than his teammates will advance his opinions but set back his team." - John C. Maxwell

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." - George MacDonald

"You can't make the other fellow feel important in your presence if you secretly feel that he is a nobody." - Les Giblin

Look for the following five characteristics in your team relationships:

1. Respect
   1. The funny thing about respect is that you should show it to others, even before they have done anything to warrant it, simply because they are human beings. But at the same time, you should always expect to have to earn it from others. And the place you earn it the quickest is on difficult ground.
   2. If you aren't sure about your teammates' hopes, desires, and goals, then you need to ask them. Get to know who they really are by asking the right questions and listening carefully to their answers.
2. Shared Experiences
   1. You can't be relational with someone you don't know. It requires shared experiences among teammates over time.
   2. You will never develop common ground with your teammates unless you share common experiences.
3. Trust
   1. Trust is the foundation of leadership.
4. Reciprocity
   1. For a team to build and improve relationally there has to be give-and-take so that everyone benefits as well as gives.
   2. Work to make connections with teammates.
5. Mutual Enjoyment
   1. When relationships grow and start to get solid, the people involved begin to enjoy each other.
   2. Just being together can turn even unpleasant tasks into positive experiences.

To improve your relationships:

• Focus on others instead of yourself
• Ask the right questions
• Share common experiences
• Make others feel special

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Qualities of a Team Player - PREPARED

We are continuing our growth 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 #12: Prepared - preparation can mean the difference between winning and losing.

"Spectacular achievements come from unspectacular preparation." - Roger Staubach

"It's better to prepare than to repair." - John C. Maxwell

"The man who is prepared has his battle half-fought." - Miguel De Cervantes

As the saying goes, "You can claim to be surprised once; after that, you're unprepared."

Preparation may not guarantee a win, but it sure puts you in position for one.

(c) Stuart Miles

If you want to prepare yourself so that you can help your team as it faces the challenges ahead, then think about the following:

1. Assessment
   1. Preparation begins with knowing what you're preparing for.
   2. And you need to determine what price you will have to pay to get there.
2. Alignment
   1. Good alignment makes success possible. Bad alignment makes success impossible - no matter how much you prepare.
   2. You can't just work hard. You have to do the right work.
3. Attitude
   1. To succeed in any endeavor, you must do your homework to take care of the mental aspects of your game.
   2. If you believe in yourself and your teammates, then you set yourself up for success.
4. Action
   1. Remember this: courage has no greater ally than preparation, and fear has no greater enemy.
   2. Henry Ford observed, "Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success."

To improve your preparedness:

• Become a process thinker.
• Do more research.
• Learn from your mistakes.

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Qualities of a Team Player - MISSION CONSCIOUS

We are continuing our growth 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 #11:Mission Conscious - the (BIG) picture is coming in loud and clear.

"The secret of success is constancy to purpose." - Benjamin Disraeli

"He who has a 'why' to live for can bear almost any 'how'." - Friedrich Nietzsche

The four qualities of all mission-conscious players:

1. They know where the team is going
   1. Author W. Clement Stone stated, "When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it."
   2. That sense of desire - and direction - is as indispensable for a team to be successful as it is for any individual.
   3. It's difficult to maintain a mission-conscious mind-set on a team that lacks a mission.
   4. A team isn't really a team if it isn't going anywhere.
2. They let the leader of the team lead
   1. Mission-conscious team players who have committed themselves to a team allow the leader of the team to do the leading.
   2. Any time a team member hinders the leader, it increases the possibility that the team will be hindered in its goals.
   3. However, mission-conscious players understand what leadership expert Warren G. Bennis articulated: "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."
   4. For a team to win, the leader must be allowed to lead.
3. They place team accomplishments ahead of their own
   1. Teamwork always requires sacrifice.
4. They do whatever is necessary to achieve the mission
   1. If success can come to the team only by your compromising, trying something new, or putting your agenda on hold, then that is what you need to do.
   2. Good team players see more than the details of the moment. They are always conscious of a team's mission and act to help achieve it.

To improve your mission consciousness:

• Check to see if your team focuses on its mission.
• Find ways to keep the mission in mind.
• Contribute your best as a team member.

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Qualities of a Team Player - INTENTIONAL

We are continuing our growth 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 #10: Intentional - make every action count.

"You've got to think about 'big things' while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction." - Alvin Toffler

What does it mean to be intentional? It means working with purpose - making every action count.

It's about focusing on doing the right things, moment to moment, day to day, and then following through with them in a consistent way.

Anyone who desires to live with intentionality will have to do the following:

1. Have a Purpose Worth Living For
   1. Being intentional begins with a sense of purpose.
   2. "Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can." - Willis R. Whitney
2. Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses
   1. The truth is that people like to do what they're good at. Playing to your strengths rekindles your passions and renews your energy.
   2. You can't be intentional and effectively focused if you don't know yourself.
3. Prioritize Your Responsibilities
   1. Once you know the why of your life, it becomes much easier to figure out the what and when.
   2. "One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something." - Henry David Thoreau
4. Learn to Say No
   1. But you can't accomplish much without focus.
   2. If you try to do every good thing that comes your way, you won't excel at what you were made to do.
   3. Your goal should be to spend 80% of your time and effort on what brings high return to you and your team.
5. Commit Yourself to Long-Term Achievement
   1. ...most victories in life are achieved through small, incremental wins sustained over time. Being wiling to dedicate yourself long-term to the process of achievement, instead of to its immediate rewards, will enable you to be more intentional.
   2. The longer the time period you can plan with intentionality, the more you can get done.

To improve your intentionality:

• Explore your strengths and weaknesses
• Specialize in your specialty
• Plan your calendar with purpose

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Qualities of a Team Player - ENTHUSIASTIC

We are continuing our growth 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 #9: Enthusiastic - your heart is the source of energy for the team.

(c) jesadaphorn

"I feel sorry for the person who can't get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile." - Walter Chrysler

There is no substitute for enthusiasm. When members of a team are enthusiastic, the whole team becomes highly energized. And that energy produces power.

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"People can succeed at almost anything for which they have enthusiasm." - Charles Schwab

Think about people who bring an enthusiastic attitude to teamwork and you will realize that they:

1. Take Responsibility for Their Own Enthusiasm
   1. Successful people understand that attitude is a choice - and that includes enthusiasm.
   2. If you want to be positive, upbeat, and passionate, you need to take responsibility for being that way.
   3. Elbert Hubbard said, "The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today."
2. Act Their Way into Feeling
   1. You cannot win if you do not begin.
   2. Positive people are positive because they choose to be.
3. Believe in What You Do
   1. Believing in what you do and focusing on those positive beliefs will help you to act and to speak positively about what you are doing. That helps to spark the fire of enthusiasm inside you, and once that starts, all you need to do is to keep feeding the flames.
4. Spend Time with Other Enthusiastic People
   1. Denis Waitley says, "Enthusiasm is contagious. It's difficult to remain neutral or indifferent in the presence of a positive thinker."
   2. Enthusiasm increases a person's accomplishments while apathy increases his alibis.

To improve your enthusiasm:

• Show a sense of urgency
• Be willing to do more
• Strive for excellence

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc