The Journey of Many.

Dependent on all.

Asides from our skills and expertise to deliver on our KPIs, one other very essential attribute to advancing our career, is our ability to work with people.

• Our ability to function within a cross-functional team. 

• Our ability to collaborate with people.

Collaboration here entails consistent communication within and across teams to ensure business alignment and actually deploying your skills to execute your deliverables.

I've witnessed more scenarios than one where an employee or even an independent freelancer who is adequately skilled isn't getting as much referral and recognition as they should because they are not good team players.

And so while some people might argue that employees can still get by without, the truth is, the entire team and productivity will not be at their optimum level.

The workforce of this century thrives on the cross-functionality of teams. It is rarely solo execution. And so while you may be exceptional at your job, your inability to work well with people can largely hinder your career advancement.

Following the effect of COVID-19, this soft skill has become even more critical now that a large percentage of organizations have embraced the fully remote or hybrid work structure. With teams working from across several different countries and continents, it is pertinent that a skilled worker takes seriously the art of mindful collaboration and team-play. 

Now, while a number of technical workers might object as to how they do not require this skill to thrive in their careers, I agree that certain roles require collaboration and team-play in a larger percentage than the others.

A developer for example may not see the need to be an excellent team player. However, for a developer to deliver on his target, he must work alongside other developers on the tech team, and of course the Product Manager. Unless you are building a product, solely, you must collaborate with your team to build and implement user stories as shared by your Product Manager and to suit the requirements of the stakeholders. And of course, there will be several iterations for projects even after they go live.

Business Development Officers or Product Specialists, on the other hand, require a larger percentage of the ability to collaborate and communicate with individuals on whom the success of their roles is dependent. 

Why?

On a daily basis, they interact with several stakeholders. Ranging from customers to business partners, to stakeholders, to management, and of course internal communication within their direct team. It is a long and arduous list of communication lines, and if they are not adequately skilled in collaboration and team play, will realize in no time how much of their deliverable actually depends on it.

“For every day you get out of bed to work, and intentionally fail to handle your deliverables, thereby hindering that of a colleague or colleagues, you may not just be showing traits of a bad worker. You also show traits of being a bad teammate who prevents others from doing their best work.”

As we celebrate workers this month, it is a good time for every single one of us to ruminate on our work ethics. Identify where we fall short, put things in place to address them, and generally strive towards being a better colleague.

Cheers to all workers contributing their quota and giving their best.