It's ok to not be a team player. Maybe you’re not meant to be one.

Job descriptions will often require you to be “a team player.” even when this is not necessarily relevant for the job.

Because job descriptions (and many managers) treat employees as if they were all the same.

But they are not. Employees are human individuals, and as such, they are not designed to be the same. Humans are made different for a reason: We are meant to complement each other in this human puzzle, with each of us contributing our puzzle piece.

We all have different roles in life… and in business.

So you may not meant to be a team player.

This does not give you permission to be nasty to other team members, to not communicate or not collaborate, of course. (Work teams are meant to co-create. Just that each team member is going to do that in a different way.)

What it does mean is that you might be better off in a job that allows you to work independently (or as an entrepreneur).

What it does not mean is that you have to change to an individual contributor role (though you could).

What it does mean is that you can still be an amazing team contributor and even an outstanding leader. In fact, a lot of people who are not natural team players are destined to be inspiring leaders.

If you’ve read my recent articles, you know that I’ve become a passionate student of Human Design. Because it has provided incredible insights and great value to my understanding of self, and it gives me an opportunity to provide substantial added value to my coaching clients.

According to Human Design, certain people (Manifestor and Manifesting Generator Types) are often not natural team players, and they are not designed to be.

Manifestors also tend to have a non-traditional workstyle, which doesn’t always find the approval of others, as it may just seem outlandish to them.

So maybe you’ve also felt like you’re not really born to be what we commonly understand by a “team player?”

That’s ok! There’s nothing wrong with you.

You were not born to fit in a box. You came to make a unique contribution, leave a unique difference mark, and that requires staying authentic to who you are.

When we let ourselves be bent into the shape the system asks for, this doesn’t always lead to the best results, and it could mean that at the end of our lives, we feel like we want to start over.

That’s why “know thyself” is vital. Human Design can help with that.