Being a great teammate is about how you work with the rest of your team, your manager, and your organization to satisfy your customers. That means that you are focused on others—whether your teammates, the organization, or your customers. That is wonderful—and remember that you can be externally focused and engaged and still get what you need from your working experience. Thinking about your needs doesn’t make you selfish. Ask yourself these questions:
■Why do you work?
■Why do you have the job you currently hold?
■Where do you want to be in a year? Or five years?
If you’re honest, the answers are intensely personal. You work to keep a roof over your head. You have to support your family and maintain and hopefully improve your lifestyle. And, if you are at the beginning of your career, the answers will likely be very different than if you are at the end of your working life.
Whatever the question, the answer ultimately is about you. We are all driven by what’s important to us as individuals. Why do we work hard and focus on productivity? Some of it is enjoying and being challenged by the work, but if we don’t meet or surpass standards, we won’t be employed very long. If it’s not interesting, or we think it is dull and won’t get any better, we might keep plugging away, but we won’t be as engaged, productive, or proactive and won’t be thinking about the long-term potential for our careers and lives.
Why do you take on that extra work or volunteer for that project? It’s important to the team, but you’re probably interested in it. And maybe you just love a challenge. There might be a promotion or a bonus in it for you.
If you’re a contractor, you know that finding satisfying work with good people isn’t easy, so you want to make sure you maintain the relationships that enable you to find work you enjoy and keep the contracts coming. If you don’t enjoy this particular engagement, you might be looking for another opportunity while working on this one. While there is nothing wrong with that, it’s still in your best interest to give 100 percent to this less-than-awesome engagement even if you have your eyes open.
In the following chapters, you’ll read a lot about taking care of yourself and planning for your future in a mindful, ethically responsible way. You might feel uncomfortable thinking this way (especially if your employer paid for the book!), but let’s ask some final questions:
Who cares about your work as much as you do? Who is most invested in your future?
Focusing solely on today while ignoring the future is a big reason people quit reaching out, building connections, learning new skills, or caring about their tasks, teammates, and ultimately, jobs.
As you read further, remember:
■It’s okay to look at your work now and think about the future.
■It’s okay to balance your work and your personal life in a way that works for you and your family.
■It’s okay to plan now for the next step of your working life, whatever that is.
In fact, if you don’t, who will?