Great teams consist of no more and no less than a group of people willing to win together. Too often, we become obsessed with
finding ‘winners’ to fill our team.
What we really want are people willing and able to support their teammates in winning
and to be supported themselves. A typical interview questions for finding team members generally boils down to “How would you
accomplish X?”
A couple of better questions include:
“How would you support your team member in accomplishing Y?”
“What support
would you request from team members in order to accomplish X?”
When choosing a team, never forget that the greatest success comes
from collaboration NOT competition!
The old saying “Birds of a feather flock together” is never more cautionary than when it comes to teams.
Most human beings have
an unfortunate tendency to seek out people who think the same way they do. And, as much as we have talked about collaboration,
you might assume this is a good thing.
Unfortunately, most productive teams require a wide range of skills, abilities and mindsets.
Great teams are very often distinguished in their diversity. Such teams will inevitably find themselves engaged in active
disagreements from time to time. Don’t let this concern you.
Just because an answer is simple doesn’t necessarily mean it will be easy. That said, the basic answer to this question comes
down to one word – acknowledgment!
We have spent a great deal of time studying how people find their best places and best paces
in organizations.
Acknowledgment is the fundamental tool for both constructing and enhancing effective social networks of any
kind.
Very few people will leave a team where they feel truly known and respected. More importantly, even fewer people
will want to give less than their full measure of commitment and contribution to such a team.
A whole generation of young people with characteristics that have never been seen before are finding a less than warm reception for their behavior and characteristics.
Taking the time to understand where they are coming from and why most of their behaviors are
perfectly adapted to the environment in which they operate will allow you to relate to them on an entirely different level.
