How to Play Well With Others: At Work
Team work is important, we all know that. But not everyone is born with the teamwork gene. They may think they are (which is annoying), but are they really? You know who I’m talking about. It is generally the one you joke about over drinks with co-workers, or the one you conveniently forget to invite to lunch.
Lets analyze this person. We don’t know why they never learned to play well in a group, maybe their parents thought they were too special but, we can discuss what it is they do that really annoys us. Here is my short list of how NOT to play well with others. The epitome of the annoying, hated, mistrusted, coworker is someone who:
1) Never Shares the Glory: Very rarely, I’ll even say never, do you accomplish something in the work setting, completely by yourself. Unless you are a sole proprietor as well as the only worker, someone helped you. They may not have been up till midnight helping you create an awesome algorithm, but they might have been picking up extra tasks allowing you to concentrate more on your goal.
The fact is, if you don’t respect and acknowledge those who help you, nothing will grow but animosity. Sharing your success will encourage people to work with you in the future, build trust, and instill pride. And listen here glory hogs, an email saying thank you for your help, after you have already taken all the credit from the head boss, doesn’t count!!
2) Always goes above you to show your faults: What a killer. Nothing makes you want to strangle a coworker more than when you find out they have gone above you or around you. Yeah, a teammate totally just spent 5 hours on a spreadsheet and screwed it up in the end, but that is not a reason to tell the leader that a teammate screwed up.
Just like you share in glory you must also share in failure. If a teammate screws up, the whole team learns from it, accepts, and works to avoid it. No one likes a Narc. Unless it’s Jason Patric.
3) Is totally not fair (dishonesty): These two go hand in hand. However, they may be the most difficult to achieve and one of the most irritating and most often quoted team problems. Its hard when you have to tell your good friend and golfing buddy, their idea sucks and your going with someone else’s.
I always take solace in that if someone is a true friend, they will forgive you. In the end the team will respect you for being fair and honest. Be clear about your intentions and motivation. Often times someone may come off as playing favoritism in which there really is none. This can be solved when you share honestly with your team why you support one path over another.
4) Always bashing your idea for theirs: Lobbying itself is fine. If you think you have a good idea, you should lobby it, you should spread it, go work for your cause! But don’t ever do it in secret. If your path is righteous and true, there is no need to hide it and make backdoor deals. Lobbying in the dark is only going to divide a team and breed disgust.
5) Never laughs at my jokes: Even if my joke isn’t funny, laugh at it! Even if your laughing at the fact that it was lame. Maybe this is a personality trait some people just don’t have. But no one is going to want to work with you if you can find the humor in this.
That’s it. I just described the the person I hate when I work in groups. Think back to the last group you worked with, did any of the team members share these traits? am I missing one? Go ahead vent, it feels good. I promise you.
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Tags: Annoying, Coworker, Newlycorporate, Play, Teamwork, Well
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February 19th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Great insight! This part is my favorite:
“The fact is, if you don’t respect and acknowledge those who help you, nothing will grow but animosity. Sharing your success will encourage people to work with you in the future, build trust, and instill pride. And listen here glory hogs, an email saying thank you for your help, after you have already taken all the credit from the head boss, doesn’t count!!”
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February 23rd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Don’t forget the co-workers who go behind your back to sabotage you! (Just kidding)
I have always felt that the best defense against office politics is a good offense. Do quality work. Be on time. Play nice with others.
If you can stand behind what you do, then there’s no need to worry if someone artificially attacks because everyone will know that you do good work.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:16 am
[...] I say take these tests with a grain of salt. They may be fun, they may even fit you, but don’t let the results define you. If you didn’t fit the type you were looking for, don’t stress. Instead of trying to figure out your personality type why don’t you lay out your strengths and weaknesses. That’s going to help your career better than trying to figure out what personality types you work best with. [...]
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:34 am
[...] I say take these tests with a grain of salt. They may be fun, they may even fit you, but don’t let the results define you. If you didn’t fit the type you were looking for, don’t stress. Instead of trying to figure out your personality type why don’t you lay out your strengths and weaknesses. That’s going to help your career better than trying to figure out what personality types you work best with. [...]
May 27th, 2008 at 5:59 am
[...] How to Play Well With Others: At Work (@ newly corporate) Success in the corporate world depends on how well you get along with others. This article from Newly Corporate offers some tips on how to do better at it. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]