Being A Team Player
Early on in my career, I strived to be a team player. That descriptor was regularly part of the positive reviews I got.
As I got more senior, I valued working with more junior people I considered team players. It was regularly part of the positive reviews I gave.
It’s still something I value about myself and that I value in people I work with.
But at some point, I realized I didn’t love all parts of my definition of “team player.”
I liked these parts:
Being collaborative
Contributing to the success of the team
Being reliable, responsible, and accountable
Taking ownership over my work and my matters
Helping people when they needed it and getting help when I needed it
I didn’t like these parts:
Always overcommitting - feeling the need to take on too much work and being overly accommodating
Feeling hesitant to speak up when I disagreed with other team members or had a different perspective.
Feeling resentful for carrying more than my fair share of the workload
Struggling to delegate because I felt guilt or thought no one could do it as well
Judging other people who set boundaries or turned down work as “not a team player”
Expecting other people to work the same way I did and as hard and often as I did
That’s the problem with labels.
Sometimes, when the label sounds good, on its face, we don’t take a closer look at how we are showing up because of that label we’ve adopted or what assumptions we are making in connection with that label.
I still value being a team player. I still value others who are team players. But I have to pay close attention to what behaviors I’m including in that definition.
Are you a team player? Do you like your definition? All of it? Or are there parts you’d like to cut?
A ♥️ note to you: If you consider yourself a team player, but you also experience a lot of exhaustion, overwhelm, anxiety, or resentment, let’s chat. We can get to the bottom of what it truly means to you to be a team player and make plan for how you can start showing up in line with that definition. Sign up for a free call with me at jenndealcoaching.as.me/consult, and I’ll send the link directly to you. On the call, we will (1) talk about the changes you want to see in your life including a better day-to-day experience, (2) I’ll tell you how coaching can help you make them, and (3) you’ll decide whether you’re ready to move forward with changing your life.
