Be a Team Player

Patrick Lencioni wrote extensively about the importance and power of the team in his books "Five Dysfunctions of a Team", "The Advantage" and "The Ideal Team Player".  In "The Ideal Team Player", he describes that person to be "humble, hungry and smart".

The humble player offers and accepts apologies, admits mistakes, is willing to do lower level work to help the team and shares credit for successes.  The hungry person has passion for the mission of the team, does more than required at times, looks for areas to contribute, is willing to accept challenging tasks and feels a sense of responsibility for the success of the team.  The smart person understands how others are feeling during meetings, shows empathy, is an active listener, understands how their words and actions impact others and adjusts their behavior and style to fit the situation.

Ideal is a quality to strive for and hard to achieve.  Where are you on this journey?  What areas could you work on to move toward being the ideal team player?