Great team players say; “I don’t know”, “I need help”, “I was wrong”, and focus on behaviors not personality when counseling or mentoring.

Saying, “I don’t know.”  Is a sign of confidence? You don’t get ahead by trying to know everything. That is not a team spirit. You must be open to learning new ideas and insights from others.

Also read: Tool #28 of 104 is to avoid being comfortable with the average 

Also, no one learns anything when they are talking. To learn, you’ve got to listen. And when another person is allowed to speak, they feel valued. That is how ‘ownership’ of initiatives is fostered. Once the team owns a project or initiative, it becomes easy to implement.

So you need to be a great employee? Say you don’t know, so that you allow open and constructive deliberations. Otherwise, you are leaving a lot of ideas on the table by taking the talk time alone. Listen up.