Rick Koelsch
As discussed previously, three fundamental building block are critical to effective teams (see August 21, 2012 blog below). My previous blog discussed commitment to a common vision. Katzenbach and Smith suggests that assembling the right people (and skill sets) is a second fundamental building block for a successful team. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, agrees that getting the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the team is fundamental to an organization's success.
Success will require a focus on collecting the right set
of complementary skills. Most teams focus on gathering the right technical
skills, one important aspect of this task. However, the team also needs the
right mix of problem-solving and decision-making skills. Finally, the team
needs individuals with the essential interpersonal skills such as conflict
resolution, active listening, communications, commitment to team success over
individual success, and risk taking, and communications.
The team also needs to bring together a diversity of ideas and
approaches to problems. Some of the most innovative solutions to problems
result from a integration to two or more very diverse ideas.
Some skill sets can be taught (e.g. conflict
resolution and active listening) while other skills (e.g.Team goal focused vs. Individual goal focused) or are slow to develop. As you
consider team members to be invited, it is critical that these individuals have
in place those skill sets that are slow to develop.
Consider some of the
following diagnostic questions to help identify if the right people with the right skills are being invited to
the team.
- Does your team assemble some of your organization’s more talented people?
- Do the people invited see their own success in terms of the team's success? Leave individuals with egos or focused on personal success off the team.
- Do the team members invited have the right work ethic? Self-motivated individuals dedicated to fulfilling their commitments create a culture of accountability.
- Does your team come from diverse backgrounds, age, and life experiences? Teams lacking diversity often struggle with recognizing alternative approaches.
- Are there one or more integrators on your team? Integrators are those who listen carefully to the variety of ideas being presented in group discussions and assemble those diverse ideas into proposed solutions.
Perspective on Challenges of Securing the "Right" Team -
ReplyDeleteConsidering that all three of your fundamental building blocks for High Performing Teams are important, getting the right team members requires an understanding of learned skills and innate skills (or preferences) of individuals. You have introduced this concept by using the words "complimentary skills".
Some skills are learned, and other skills/preferences are innate - we're born with them. Learned skills are somewhat easy to understand - we learn 2+2=4, c+a+t spells cat, press "delete" = email goes away, tightened nuts+bolts holds things together, etc.
I outlined the four dichotomies of (psychological) type preferences in my previous comment: Extravert/Introvert, Sensing/Intuitive, Thinking/Feeling, Judging/Perceiving (Hirsh, Hirsh, Krebs, 2003). A mix of these different innate preferences/perspectives will expand the diversity of perspectives within a team.
Looking at the innate preference roles of team members according to temperament can be a key to having the right team (Berens, Linda V., 2006. The temperament targets. Telos Publications, www.telospublications.com ). It would be ideal for the "right" team to have individual representation from all four temperaments, described by the following innate preference (skills) combinations:
- Intuitive/Feeling (NF): the Catalyst, providing facilitation, counseling, diplomacy and integrative thinking.
- Intuitive/Thinking (NT): the Theorist, providing analysis, vision, systemizing and differential thinking.
- Sensing/Judging (SJ): the Stabilizer, providing enforcement, logic, protection and sequential thinking.
- Sensing/Perceiving: the Improviser, providing tactics, adaptation, crisis management and contextual thinking.
The challenge is securing an equal number of all four of these individuals, since NF’s and NT’s represent only 12% each of the total population, while SJ and SP represent 38% each of the total population (that’s 76% Sensing and only 24% Intuitive).
This blog also mentioned that another key for having the “right” team is the consideration of decision-making and problem-solving skills. The innate preferences (skills) of the Zig-Zag Process for Problem Solving (Lawrence, 2004) should be considered when selecting team members. The basic type preference functions for taking in information and for making decisions involves the following:
- Sensing (S) and Intuition (N): gathering information, facts and details; and, seeing the big picture, how it all fits together.
- Thinking (T) and Feeling (F): making decisions, based on what’s logical and what seems to have worked in the past; and, based on values and how various decisions will affect the people.
Having team members whose preferences are S/N and T/F, and getting the S/N and T/F perspectives – all makes use of what is known as the Zig-Zag Process of decisions-making and problem solving. Therefore, the “right” team will have, or at least make use of, a balance of S and N perspectives, and T and F perspectives. More information about the Zig-Zag Process for teams can be found at: www.capt.org. The Zig-Zag process was developed by Gordon D. Lawrence, 2004, Center for the Applications of Psychological Type (CAPT), Inc., Gainsville, FL.
Finally, when it is thought that the “right” team is assembled, don’t forget to devote some time, up front, for the team to develop some trust and relationships. This takes time, and is often overlooked because time is often a limited commodity. At least provide some time for the team to identify and share their innate preferences with each other as described above. When team members know who they are and when they share this with each other, they will be more effective in gathering a variety of information and making the best decisions for the situation and the people. Hopefully this will provide a positive experience for your team and successful outcomes for the organization.
Dr Jeff Hart, 2012