Teamwork is something you can see in various professions, situations and relationships. Just imagine teams in sports, employees at a workplace or even different companies communicating with each other. What happens if you don’t do what you are supposed to? Other people are counting on you. Things in this world are like huge systems and people and their tasks in it are smaller components. For everything to run smoothly, everyone needs to fulfill their role. Keep in mind that everything you do is connected to others and influences them.

For example, my task is to write articles which have to be done by a certain day of the week. If I’m late then the editors cannot get them by the right time and because of that cannot do their job and give me feedback which leads to me not being able to do any corrections. In the end the texts would not get done on time and could not be published when needed. This is not in my interest. My relations with my colleagues would get worse since they cannot do their job because of me and not doing what my tasks are can cost me my job. In conclusion, it may affect my self-esteem in a negative way which can change many of my views and understandings and prevent me from feeling success later in life.

You might know the saying about the pot calling the kettle black (while they both are the same). It is so much easier to blame others and see the mistakes someone else does rather than analyzing our own behavior. There is a problem in the thing that people tend to look for someone to blame while it would be more productive to work together towards finding a solution for the issue at hand. It is common to expect much from others, that they will do their task faster and better. At the same time it is also easy to find excuses for yourself for not doing enough. It is human to think that your own misdoings are caused by a situation but others do wrong because that is who they are. Giving others a hard time while letting yourself off easy is not how things get done. We may forget that we are responsible for ourselves and our actions. Thus, it would be good if at first you make sure that your job is done.

Like I said, everyone has to do their part, because the only way to influence others is through one’s own actions. When seeing that everything is not the way you want, then before starting to evaluate others, look at the person in the mirror. The first thing to do is to assess yourself thoroughly and think whether or not you have done everything you had to and can do in order to lead to a positive solution. There is no point in starting to attack others. It only creates more tension and stress, which in turn creates even more problems. Just think about it, when someone comes to you with different accusations, it is not very pleasant to talk to them. In order to work out a situation you have to be able to work together.

By Joosep K. Kuljus