• Leadership

  • 21 Ways to be a Great Teammate

    1. Sweat More

    - As a team member, one of the things you control every day is your effort. When you work harder and sweat more, you bring out the best in your team. 

    2. Remember, Well Done is Better than Well Said

    - There's nothing wrong with words. Sometimes we need an inspiring message. Sometimes we need to be challenged and encouraged. Well said is important, but well done is always better. Set the example in all that you do, so when you speak, people will listen because you have earned their respect by what you have done communicated with your actions.

    3. Choose to be Humble and Hungry

    - Humble and hungry are a powerful combination. The minute you think you have arrived at the door of greatness, it will get slammed in your face. The key to success is to be a lifelong learner who continuously works hard to improve. When you stay humble and hungry and focus on the process, you will love what the process produces.

     4. Pursue Excellence

    - Each day it's important to wake up and strive to be better today than you were yesterday. Identify what you need to work on to get better and focus on improving each day. Don't settle for average. Instead, chase greatness. Realize that everyone wants to do what they to do what the great ones do but very few are willing to do what they did to become great. Be willing.  Be humble and hungry. Pursue excellence. To help yourself and your team, implement the 1% rule, which says that a little more time, energy, effort, practice, focus, and care can bring big results. If you can push yourself to give just 1% more during each practice, each game, each film session, each class, each homework assignment, and each project, over time you will see big results. 

     5. Share a Postive Contagious Energy

    - As a team member, you not only control your effort, but you also control your attitude. One of the most powerful things you can do to be a great teammate is to stay positive and share your positive energy with others. Research shows attitudes and emotions are contagious, and each day you can either infuse your team with positive energy or infect them with negative energy.  You can be a germ or a big dose of vitamin C. When you share positive energy, you can enhance the mood, morale, and performance of your team.

    6. Don't Complain

    - There are times when things don't go our way. There are situations that seem unfair. There are moments when we feel we have a right to complain. But complaining causes us to focus on everything, but being our best. When you work hard, stay positive, and do what the team needs, things always seem to work out. To be a great teammate, don't complain and stay positive. You can't always control how you respond and this determines the outcome.

    7. Do it for Your Team, Not for Applause

    - Great team members always put the team first. They work hard for the team. They develop themselves for the team. They serve the team. Their motto is whatever it takes to make the team better. They don't take credit; they give credit to the team. They have an ego and want to be great, but they give up their ego and serve the team, in order to be truly great.

    - It's not easy to put the team first, but if you want to be a great teammate, it's something you must work on. In today's self-consumed world, you have to work as hard to be a great performer. In the end, your team doesn't care if you're a super-star. They care if you are a super teammate, and when you put the team first, you become a superhero in their eyes.

    8. Show You Are Committed

    - If you want to be a great teammate, you can't just talk about how committed you are. You must demonstrate your commitment in all that you do. And always remember: If you want commitment, be committed.

    9. Never Take a Play-Off

    - Most teammates are not consistent. They have good days and bad days. One day they are in a good mood, and the next day they are in a bad mood. One day they are saying nice things about a teammate, and the next day, they are badmouthing someone.  One day, they give a great effort, but the next day they laugh and goof off. When you are inconsistent, your team doesn't know what to expect from you, and it makes it difficult for them to trust and count on you. Be the kind of teammate everyone knows they can trust and count on.

    10. Hold Yourself and Your Team Accountable

    - To hold your team accountable, you first have to hold yourself accountable. When you can expect the best from your team, and when you do expect the best form your team, they will rise up to meet your expectations. To be a great teammate, you must hold your teammates accountable for the high standards of excellence your culture expects and demands.

    11. Treat Everyone with Respect and Expect Everyone to do the Same

    - To be a great teammate, it's important to respect and value each person who they are, not what they do. When you respect everyone, everyone will respect you.

    12. Give All and Take Nothing

    - To be a great teammate, decide to be an energy fountain instead of an energy drain. Don't take anything positive away from anyone. Make your team better by giving the best within you to bring out them. When you do, they'll never forget that way you made them feel.

    13. Communicate

    - To be a great teammate, it's essential to communicate with your team members, collectively, and individually. Communication builds trust. Trust generates commitment. Commitment fosters teamwork, and teamwork delivers results. Without communication, you can't build trust and relationships necessary for great teamwork.

    14. Connect

    - As a teammate, one of the most important things you can do is connect with your teammates. After all, you can be the smartest person in the room, but if you don't connect with others, you will fail as a team member. Don't just communicate: connect. Get to really know your teammates.

    15. Become a "Come With Me" Teammate

    - If you want to do good, focus on making yourself better. If you want to be great, focus on making yourself and your team better. How you are with your team, identify who would benefit from your leadership, help, encouragement, and time and invite them to do something positive with you. Do this often, and over time you'll leave an incredible legacy.

    16. Practice Selfless Compassion

    - You can't be a great teammate if you are selfish. Great teammates are selfless. This doesn't mean that they think less of themselves; it means they think about themselves less. They are more focused on others and think about how they can serve others. Always remember, you don't have to be great to serve, but you have to serve to be great.

    17. Show You Care

    - Great teammates care more about their effort. The care more about their performance. They care more about how they are impacting the team. And, most of all, they care more about their teammates. When you care, you will build a team that cares, and a team that cares will accomplish amazing things TOGETHER.

    18. Be a Loyal Friend

    - A loyal friend and teammate is more precious than a diamond and more valuable than gold. They are very rare.

    19. Love Your Team

    - Love is truly the greatest leadership principle and team-building strategy on the planet and if you don't have it, you can't share it. The truth is, if you don't love your team, you can never be a great teammate. While many average players want their teammates to love them, you can become a great teammate by loving your team in spirit and action.

    20. Sacrifice

    - You must be willing to give some of yourself for the greater good of the team. You have to be willing to sacrifice what you want for what the team needs. You have to decide to move from selfishness to selflessness. We live in a world where everyone wants to be great, but in reality, only through service and sacrifice will anyone become great. This means you may have to play a different position than you're used to. You may have to dive for a loose ball in lacrosse or execute a pick to allow your teammate to take the shot or the pass. It means that you are the star and sometimes you help the star.

    21. Leave the Place Better Than You Found it

    - When you arrive at Wilsonville Lacrosse, by the time you graduate, take the ownership in knowing that you contributed to making it better than when you arrived at Wilsonville.