The Essential Skill of Being a Good Team Player

Like in almost every sport, every business that thrives to be successful out in the field, needs a team. The team is the essence of a wonderful and successful company. We might not have gotten this far this soon in the smartphone industry, without companies like Samsung or Apple. And what has gotten big successful companies so far? A well-rounded team. Someone might have a business idea, but what they need to make it actually work, is a team. In the book ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’ by Patrick Lencioni, we follow a fictional story of a company that is struggling to grow and find customers. The problem is not in its offerings, the problem is the lack of good teamwork. The executives are working towards the same goal, but not together. As the story goes, Lencioni brings up five dysfunctions of their team; absence of trust, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results. In this essay, I will examine the second one in more detail, fear of conflict.

This far in my studies, as I’ve done hundreds of hours of teamwork, I can safely back up my belief, that fear of conflict is one of the worst qualities a team member can own. Although, it’s human to avoid conflict, it just doesn’t work in a team setting. See, when people start to avoid conflict in a team, the team starts to pursue things that first of all might not work, or second of all might cause the team to focus on a subject or matter that has nothing to do with the actual goal of the team. People tend to want to please other human beings around them, since it makes them feel safe and sound, but as I’ve stated before, in a team setting, all it does is harm. Because people might not realize the part that their great idea is lacking if no one has the courage to say it. It’s actually kind of funny to think, that all the great businesses that have risen throughout the years, have had very big difficulties in the start. It is normal, that conflict creates discomfort between team members, but it’s also normal that after any conflict there will be peace again. If a team is successfully debating at the start and people share their ideas and opinions, the resulting idea that survives everyone’s opinion becomes the leading and best idea the team could ever have come up with. And when the members are not afraid of speaking up, and occasionally affecting conflict, the idea will roughen up, and it will become even better.

It’s safe to say that it’s easier said than done, but I think people should practice on giving out their opinions and learn how to go through a conflict with an outcome that suits the teams goal. I wish I had read this book before starting my team studies, since it might have been much easier to work in a large group of people, and achieve the team goal through pitch perfect ideas.