Working on a team is a challenge. It is no doubt a necessity but it is something that is far too often ignored as a potential point of improvement. Each person on a team has their own unique set of experiences, skills, strengths, and weaknesses. The difference between an effective team and an ineffective one is based on how well the members recognize where each other excel. By getting a grasp on your own strengths and weaknesses, communicating them to the rest of the team, and working to find how to best support others (instead of finding how to be supported) a team can increase productivity and efficiency.
How we determine our own strengths and weaknesses is different for everyone. One effective way is to practice your skills solo - don't rely on anyone and see what you can get done. Try new tasks or doing old tasks a different way and look for things that you enjoy doing and are good at. We can also try working with different teams often. As long as there is good communication, finding out how to adapt ourselves to support teammates is something that we can consciously pay attention to in order to discover what works best.
It is also important to know that it's important to practice things that we WANT to practice or learn. If you want to understand more about certain processes or develop a new skill, then just by letting your team members know that you want to learn you can start being included in discussions surrounding that. Most of us naturally like teaching - and teaching is a fantastic way to further develop your own skills.
The most important part of this process is communication. Make sure you put in some effort to understand what your team members are good at and what they want to practice. As a potential action item, take some time this week to let your teammates know something that you want to get more experience with and ask how you can better support them.
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