From an article I read regarding hiring employees, I have edited to fit a sports team environment. Really hits home for coaches. IDENTIFYING THE TEAM PLAYER Does a team member make those around them better, or do they make them worse? People can be molded into becoming team players. However, that task is not easy if they don’t have some natural team player tendencies. Somewhere along the way I realized I was expending far too much energy on what would frequently generate mediocre results. If not, very poor results. All to produce only the occasional quality team player convert. At the same time taking precious time away from moving the team forward as a whole. I finally realized I could find players who already had those natural team player traits. So, I began to concentrate my efforts on finding and identifying them in the preseason. Granted, it is a far different animal to deal with when you inherit preexisting team members. Beyond the obvious fact you need players who are positive in nature, cooperative, proactive, open to change, and will do what is best for the team, not the individual. I find it much easier to deal with players who may be a bit less skilled, less experienced, who make meaningful efforts to function with a team environment, than I do with skilled, more experienced players who make little to no team effort. Most importantly my team can accomplish more with less talented team players than we can with highly talented players who function poorly with a team. I want players that make the others around them, and the team itself better. In making that assessment I look for these factors and ask myself questions such as these. -Do they project a positive attitude. -Do they consistently work hard? -Do they exhibit a tendency to assist other team members? -Do they frequently come to the assistance to other teammates without ever been asked to do so? -Are they openly willing to be cross trained? -How often do they appear unfocused or unengaged? -Do they constantly criticized teampolicy or procedure? Team players are gold! Make sure you identify them, and the specific acts that make other team members better. The way I look at it is: until someone becomes a team player, they are not truly a part of the team.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 05:55:29 +0000
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