In a world where networking, collaboration, and virtual offices are front and centre, hiring team-oriented individuals is more important than ever.
Finding work environments that involve putting your head down in your closed-off cubicle and ticking things off your task list are becoming few and far between. We're living in a time that favours collaborative workspaces, open-plan offices, and networking as part of a job description because as a society we've recognised the benefit of working together as a team.
There's more brainpower, there's more diversity, there's more perspective – our team-oriented world is lush with benefits. But that's not to say it's without its downfalls too. Just think back to every group university project you've ever had and you'll know the pain that comes with being thrust into a team you didn't choose. Team-based environments become ineffective when there are people within that team that aren't stepping up to the plate.
They're not team players.
TED speaker, Patrick Lencioni addressed the concept of an ideal team player in his recent talk and provided insight into his own personal categorisation system when it comes to people in the workplace. He spelled out the three key characteristics an ideal team player has, and gave names to those that only exhibit two out of the three traits to help identify ourselves or those we work with and spot the improvements that need to be made in order to achieve that 'ideal' label.
We recommend watching his full discussion, but here are the key traits Lencioni says he looks for when hiring team players for his workplace. According to him, the ideal team player is:
Humble: They're not motivated or influenced by their own ego.
Hungry: They have a desire to learn more and chase their own personal notion of success.
Smart: They're emotionally intelligent, have common sense, and tackle issues logically.
And because we're all human and becoming the ideal team player is a process, he continued on to describe people around the office who may appear to be ideal team players but only harbour two of the above traits and still have room to grow:
The accidental mess-maker: This person is humble and hungry but they fall short on the smart front. They're kind and lovely people who mean well but are unaware of those around them and tend to make professional messes because their gung-ho approach motivates them to dive straight into things without approaching them cautiously, logically, or with others in mind.
The skillful politician: This person is hungry and smart, but driven largely by their ego. They appear to have a team-oriented mindset but at the end of the day their actions are often for them rather than the broader team.
The loveable slacker: This person is humble and smart. They're often friendly, they get the job done, but are rarely motivated to go above and beyond. They lack professional passion and were probably the kid in the university projects that made everyone laugh but did none of the work.
Lencioni emphasises that honesty is key for nurturing ideal team players – being honest with yourself and requesting that others do the same. He challenges his audience to ask their inner circle of family, friends, and colleagues to become personal coaches. Ask those closest to you to tell you when you need to improve and do better. You can even ask them to refer to the above key traits if that helps – request that they let you know when you're being a bit of an accidental mess-maker and need to work on your awareness of those around you. It's that level of honesty that facilitates awareness, trust, and overall improvement and Lencioni swears that when we open ourselves up to that kind of feedback, we'll start to see big changes.
What kind of team player are you?
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