"Not my job, not my problem."? Why true teamwork matters.
Syrian Democratic Forces members stand in formation during a victory announcement ceremony over the defeat of Daesh’s so-called physical caliphate Mar. 23, 2019 at Omar Academy, Deir ez-Zor, Syria. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Ray Boyington)

"Not my job, not my problem." Why true teamwork matters.

How many times have you heard this? How many times have YOU said this?

My time in the military has really solidified how I view teamwork. It is truly a communal effort of all service members to collectively achieve mission objectives... or fail doing so. 

If you are in an infantry squad, and if one person is not paying attention, he or she becomes the weak spot in the formation. That one person can be the reason why the whole squad fails. That one person could be the nearest to an Improvised Explosive Device and fail to see it, or fail to scan his sector of fire to see that enemies are setting up an immediate ambush. That one person can be the reason why the entire squad dies.

If you are in a tank, and if the tank commander can't give effective orders, or if the gunner can't effectively use the machine gun or the 120mm cannon, or if the loader can't load munitions, or if the driver fails to maneuver, they could all die.

If you are on a submarine, and if someone freaks out and cannot perform, everyone on that submarine could die.

You're seeing a trend here, I'm sure.

Everyone needs to be competent in their positions and contribute efforts toward team goals. If some people can't pull their weight, they become a liability and therefore useless to the team effort. 

In the military, it could mean life or death. In the private sector, it could mean that, as an employer, you're paying to keep chaff. As an employee, you're stuck with less-effective coworkers.

Yes, it may be true that something isn't part of your job description. You should also not have to accumulate additional duties to make up for less-desirable work ethics. However, you have to remember why you're doing what you're doing. In most cases, we're working in our places of employment to earn a paycheck to support ourselves and our families. Hopefully, those jobs are in career fields we actually have a passion for. And if so, we need to use that interest to further our teams, further our peers, so that the overall effort succeeds.

In the private sector, let's look at it this way. If you have people who barely do work, you may end up picking up that slack. If you do, you may become the superstar... that's rewarded with more work. Your managers will love you, but if they're not fantastic and help with professional development, you may end up burning out. If you burn out, you quit or move your talents to another organization. If they lose your experience and contributions to the team, the whole team suffers. If the team can't perform, the company lags behind... which means less profits. Less profits means less money available to pay to workers. And then the cuts start coming... and the whole team suffers when the company can't afford to pay to keep the good employees. Larger companies will resort to metrics instead of human beings to measure who to cut. Smaller companies will hopefully not have cases of nepotism and cut the chaff effectively... but you know this works (and how it doesn't). 

It becomes an ineffective vicious cycle. All because people who don't believe in a team effort and do the bare minimum (or less) contribute to a possibly toxic work culture that does not further success for the team.

"Not my job." Technically, sure. "Not my problem." It will be, whether the effects are more immediate or as a trickle-down eventuality that may degrade the entire organization beyond quick, or even possible, repair.

How do you fix this?

If you are the one that doesn't care, maybe the job that you have or even the organization you are a part of isn't for you. Maybe it's failure in leadership. If so, step up and provide effective guidance and suggestions. Maybe it's the pay. Back up your request for a raise with good examples of your past performance. Maybe it's your fellow coworkers. Voice your concerns. Maybe it's the clients you serve. Just remember they reached out to you, and they are probably being inquisitive, or they're frustrated, and they're looking to you as a trusted advisor. Use that perspective to help calm them down, turn your expertise into assurance, and develop a partnership [client relations].

But if you do everything in your power and still can't fix your situation, then it's time to leave and find an organization that fits you.

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