In many workplaces, people feel pressure to stand out. Being called a "team player" can sometimes sound as though personal achievement must take a back seat — or that good collaborative work may go unnoticed.
As a result, people may focus on making their individual contributions visible. Yet research suggests that collecting high-performing individuals does not automatically produce a successful team. A McKinsey study found that when people consistently put personal recognition first, their behavior can weaken trust and make collaborative problem-solving more difficult.
Google's Project Aristotle reached a similar conclusion. The strongest teams were not simply those with the smartest members. They were teams built on trust and attentive listening, where people felt comfortable taking risks and asking questions.
A large-scale study led by Nico Elbert of Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg also found that certain people consistently improve team performance by strengthening social interaction — even when they are not the most technically skilled members of the group.
Over a career that has included leading NASA's Psyche mission and directing UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, one lesson has become clear: The best teams are made up of people who can contribute as individuals while helping everyone around them perform better.
Five Skills That Help You Shine on a Team
The easiest place to begin is with your own behavior. These five practices can help you strengthen your team while demonstrating your individual value.
1. Speak clearly, calmly, and stay on topic
Stay calm, clear, and civil. When a situation becomes difficult, become even more calm, clear, and civil.
Keeping a discussion focused on the issue rather than making it personal helps teammates feel safer and collaborate more effectively. Christine Porath, a business professor at Georgetown University, notes that some people still believe leaders earn respect by acting tough and distant.
Research repeatedly suggests otherwise. Leaders who communicate calmly, clearly, respectfully, and courteously receive ratings that are 40 to 80 percent higher in social status and 23 percent higher in competence than those who rely on a harsh or distant communication style.
2. Recognize problems and take action
Recognizing and solving problems is at the heart of teamwork. Everyone should help identify problems, explain them clearly, and take action — even when an issue falls outside their usual responsibilities.
The NASA Psyche deep-space probe mission has a useful motto: "The best news is bad news brought early." When a problem is raised early enough, the team still has time to solve it.
Problems are often first noticed by the people closest to the work: the person managing a process, writing the code, or soldering a wire. A strong team listens carefully to those with direct knowledge of the task, regardless of their role or level of experience.
Creating space for people to report problems — and encouraging everyone to respond constructively — is one of the most effective ways to reduce risk.
3. Do not give up
When something goes wrong, look for the next step that still represents progress. Acknowledge mistakes calmly, learn from them, and keep moving.
Persistence shows that you are responsible, determined, reliable, and willing to face difficult situations. These qualities matter to both your own success and the success of your team.
4. Create quality in everything you do
In business, schedules and costs often receive the most attention, while quality is considered later. But quality does not belong only at the final stage of a project.
You can bring it to every action: how quickly you respond, how clearly you communicate, and how carefully you prepare even an early draft. Consistent attention to quality encourages others to raise their standards — and makes your own contribution stand out.
5. Become an expert thinker
Metacognition means thinking about your own thinking processes. Ordinary cognition helps you learn information and complete a task. Metacognition goes further: It helps you plan, monitor, evaluate, and improve the way you approach that task.
Every day, you follow familiar mental paths. You may organize a meeting, solve a problem, or learn something new in much the same way each time. Applying metacognition means pausing to ask how and why you follow those processes — and whether a better approach is available.
Deanna Kuhn of Columbia University describes metacognition as the gradual replacement of less efficient thinking strategies with more effective ones. In that sense, it is a continuing mental improvement program that can influence every part of your life.
Look for these five qualities in your own work, then bring them to your team. Helping others succeed does not make your contribution less visible. Done well, it can become the very thing that makes you the team's most valuable player.