How to be a team player?

ned_poreyra

I see this mentioned a lot in youtube videos about getting a job or interviewing, but I'm not sure if I understand what people really mean. There must be something tricky to it, because being a team player while working in a team sounds like an obvious and self-explanatory idea. No one gives an advice like "be clean and sober when you come to work", because it's obvious, then why do they give an advice like "be a team player"?

For me being a team player means:

1. Solve as many problems as possible in the shortest amount of time.

2. Don't create more problems.

So, if I'm a 3D modeler, my job is to create as many models as possible (as "no 3D models" is the problem I'm solving), up to the standard, as fast as I can. If possible, I shouldn't bother other people with problems I encounter (hence it would generate problems for them to solve).

I have rather terrible social skills (i.e. no social skills, I'm basically a robot), so I thought I'll ask here.

oglu

Some Artists out there does just ignore there Lead, Artdirector, Client and the pipeline.
Thats here sometimes a problem. But such "Teamplayers" wont work long at a studio.
The "im that good i know what im doing" attitude does work if you are a freelancer or working alone.
Some workflows or design decisions arnt that good, clever or fast but you have to follow the rules of the Lead, Artdiretor or Pipeline. A good teamplayer does find a way to communicate that there is a better way or design but does not ignore the Studio way of doing things.

CrackRockSteady

-the ability to give and take criticism with grace
-willingness to help other team members if needed, and have a good attitude about it
-ability to work with other team members and departments toward a common goal and make compromises if needed
-taking direction without having an attitude about it
-just generally being someone people want to be around.  You don't need to be super socially adept, but you do need to be able to work with other people daily without being a dick.

being a "team player" isn't really about making models as fast as you can or whatever...that's just your job.  It is about how you interact and work with other members of your team while you are doing that job.

Ex-Ray

ned_poreyra said:

If possible, I shouldn't bother other people with problems I encounter (hence it would generate problems for them to solve).

I have rather terrible social skills (i.e. no social skills, I'm basically a robot), so I thought I'll ask here.

In this example you are an individual and not a team player. You might have legitimately found a serious problem/bug in the workflow/pipeline that is worthwhile for the whole team to know about so you can all resolve it together.

Or you can share your problem to your team mate who may have already encountered that issue and provide the solution to you, because sharing the knowledge raises the entire team to the next level.

It's a significant soft skill that companies will go out and do team building activities.

Do you have any hobbies that involves other people? Perhaps you can go out of your comfort zone and do some charity/volunteer work so you can practise working as a team. Just an idea. 

zachagreg

I believe you're thinking yourself into a spiral here. It really isn't as hard as it sounds yet it is an incredibly valuable skill to have. Being a team player is following the rules set to you by your director, pipeline or the powers at be, much the way oglu has mentioned.

A part of following the rules though is to know when something isn't going either as expected or when something else can be done better. In that situation a team player would make these thoughts known to their higher ups that something can be improved. Of course  you need to also understand that pipeline changes and methodologies take time to research, test, implement and communicate to people. Just because you found something wrong doesn't mean you are fixing problems by now correcting that on your own while no one else is. If it is something substantial usually something will be done about it. If not there is a possibility there is just some differences in methodology that are being utilized.

A team player is one that makes it so that other employees lives aren't harder by you existing. When you deliver your models they are clean, you have gone through and made sure that there are not geo errors, topology errors or anything that someone would have to clean up down the road after you. If something unique had to be done for the specific model or instance you have annotated somewhere in the file or folder that a certain technique had to be employed. This again doesn't mean do it willy nilly, an example scenario being that we have a policy at my place to keep associated models in the same max file however when this can't happen do the scale of the asset. I send an IM to my manager notifying them, they okay it, I place a README in the folder containing the separate max files and how they will need to be imported to engine.

This way I've solved the problem of an asset being too large, and I made it so that no one has to go in and be confused or have a headache over what I had to do.

Another part of it is just being flexible and willing to help, you may not always have a situation where you can but offering goes a long way. You also may not always be working on the greatest thing at the moment, you might be making several variations of a tin trashcan. You might not like that, but it needs to get done and I guarantee you neither your boss nor teammates want to hear constantly about how you don't like to model repetitive or simple things.

poopipe

Everything @CrackRockSteady said. 

Also.. 
Not leaving your files in a shit state ranks pretty high on the list for me. 

The big thing is understanding that the things you make belong to everyone on the project - not just you. 

Taylor Brown

poopipe said:

...Not leaving your files in a shit state ranks pretty high on the list for me....

After spending a day correcting pivot points, scale issues, questionable UV's... This 100%.

oglu

poopipe said:

Everything @CrackRockSteady said. 

Also.. 
Not leaving your files in a shit state ranks pretty high on the list for me. 

The big thing is understanding that the things you make belong to everyone on the project - not just you. 

ohh yess.. 

Benjammin

ned_poreyra said:

So, if I'm a 3D modeler, my job is to create as many models as possible (as "no 3D models" is the problem I'm solving), up to the standard, as fast as I can. If possible, I shouldn't bother other people with problems I encounter (hence it would generate problems for them to solve).

I have rather terrible social skills (i.e. no social skills, I'm basically a robot), so I thought I'll ask here.

As someone who has painstakingly built social skills over the past couple decades, I understand the dilemma. 
1. Absolutely bother people with problems and questions, just do it in a way that isn't rude or aggressive. When you approach them, be friendly, ask if they have a minute. 
2. There's a big difference between being antisocial, and asocial. If you're quiet and introverted but friendly when approached, that's totally fine. 

Alex_J

Think before you speak. 

Silence is golden. Nobody hates the quiet guy who listens a lot and tries hard at work.

You'll develop opinions as you develop your  reputation. Keep opinions to self until your reputation can support them.

If you don't have anything nice to say, keep mouth shut. Nice means it makes a person laugh, smile, or relays critical information.

Try to find way to be friends and understand every person you meet. Many times your first impression will be off. Be more patient with others than you are with self.

Spend as much time considering others situation as your own. 

Don't complain. 

If you have nothing to do, find somebody to help.

Assume every person you meet has something important to teach you. 

Easy way to show respect is by asking thoughtful questions and actually implementing advice given.

Don't get into petty social dramas. If people talking shit, aim to keep focus on the mission. Don't try to solve dramas either, just set an example by being everybody's friend and staying above all that nonsense.

Be yourself. Getting along with others isn't a compromise of your character. If you feel it is, you either have a poor character needing some refinement or you may have some toxic coworkers. In any case, stay focused on mission and nobody can say a bad thing about you.