5 Steps to select a Team Player for a High Performing Team

Whether you are a newly appointed CEO, the head of a global function, or a team leader, the criteria you use to select your team members will determine the performance of your team.  As a matter of fact, putting the right people on the team is “the enabling condition” for the team to work effectively and succeed in today’s rapidly changing world. 

According to Dr. Peter Hawkins, a professor of leadership at Henley Business School, there are five key principles to take into account.  In this article we look at what they are and how to apply them.

1. VALUES

Skills can always be learned, but to create a value driven team where its members are fully aligned with the guiding principles of the organization, you must select people that are supportive of and see those principles as their guiding beliefs and motivating factors.  After all, values drive the attitudes and behaviors that will make your team either cohesive or unstable.  Team members who are aligned with its organizational values are ambassadors for those values, both internally and externally.  Their actions demonstrate them daily.

It is important to ensure that organizational values that drive the company you are part of have been both set and properly disseminated before you go on to discern the values of a potential team member. Examples of values include: honesty, result-oriented, tolerance, respect, humility, teamwork, humility, above and beyond.

In forgoing a psychometric test, one of the easiest way to establish the values of an individual is to ask the simple question: “What words would you use to describe your values”? And when you want to go one step further, which I highly recommend you do, you can invite completion of a value-based inventory and questionnaire that you can eventually discuss with them in full confidentiality. 

2. REQUISITE DIVERSITY

“Requisite diversity” is an important factor, if not the most important when it comes to forming a highly performing team.  To start with, “requisite diversity” means “a level of diversity that is equal to the diversity in the stakeholder world the team needs to engage with” (Hawkins, 2014). The more diverse the team is, the better equipped it becomes to face change in its stakeholder environment, introduce new perspectives and bring the right capabilities. For the purpose of understanding how to create “requisite diversity” within teams, Professor Peter Hawkins suggests considering the following four elements: cognitive diversity, identity diversity, personality diversity, and systemic diversity.

Cognitive diversity

Cognitive diversity in a team is defined as having enough differences in perspectives or information processing styles.  It is achieved only when team members with different cognitive repertoires are working together.  This way, the team can bring to the table different models of thinking, processing information and generating solutions. Basically, the greater the number of cognitive skills and tools, the faster and more efficiently the team can problem solve and avoid blind spots. 

It is important to know that cognitive diversity is less visible than other types of diversity, e.g. gender diversity.  What is more, it can be hindered in mono-culture organizations where people often like to fit in or feel pressured to conform.

Identity diversity

Identity diversity is related to gender, age, ethnic origin, cultural background, disability.  It refers to those traits that categorize us when we are born, although this definition may be rather restrictive, since identity diversity can be dynamic.  Research has already provided enough evidence that having a gender balance within team, especially on the boards of organization, enhances company performance.  In addition, identity diversity fosters equal opportunities, provides a culture of fairness and inclusion and helps promote the best talent. 

Personality diversity

One of the vital component of a high performing team is to have a good balance of helpful behaviors across its team members.  After all, the way each individual thinks and behaves can either facilitate the progress of a team or hinder it.  Examples of helpful behaviors include: adaptability; from being a skillful organizer to a creative thinker, from being a great supporter and listener to a skillful resource investigator.  These have to be attributes that complement each other. Therefore, when selecting team members, it is important to ensure all these aspects of personality are taken into account and are well balanced.

A secure way to ensure the team has a good balance of personality, is to use psychometric instruments.  These can help you understand the different personality types, motives and preferences of each team member.  The tools available are numerous, from Hogan Assessment Systems to Belbin Team Role Analysis, Myers-Briggs Typology Inventory or Everything Disk. 

As a leadership development consultant focused on assessing personality, I highly recommend the Hogan Assessment Systems when it comes to measuring personality.  Hogan Assessment Systems have received star reviews from the British Psychological Society and are extensively used by Fortune Five Hundred organizations.

Systemic diversity

Seeing the big picture and being able to capture how several systems are connected and working together is what is called systemic thinking. The whole rather than its individual parts take center stage in systemic thinking.  Creating systemic diversity in a team essentially means inviting stakeholders to the table who occupy different positions within the system and who see things from different perspectives.  For instance, for a team whose primary task is to design an innovative product, stakeholders can be investors as well as customers, product designers as well quality control experts.  Stakeholders can be engaged within teams either by being invited directly into meetings to bring their perspective or by being asked to provide insightful data via surveys, so that the team can make informed decisions.

A crucial aspect to take into account is that systemic diversity always goes beyond the organization and its boundaries.  Therefore, your team will have to incorporate representatives across the entire system at different stages of its life.

3. COLLABORATIVE WORKING ATTITUDE

“Not everyone can work well in a team.  Just because someone has superb task skills does not mean that he or she will be able to collaborate with others to bring those skills to bear on a collective task (Hackman, 2011a:87).

As long as the right conditions for a collaborative working environment are in place, selecting team members that are open minded and curious about new ideas will ensure you have fluidity of creative thoughts and sufficient debate during brainstorming sessions and group discussions.  These individuals normally thrive in such activities and don’t seem to have the need to exercise control or impress others during collective discussions. 

Being able to communicate with each and every team member, both collectively and individually, is another box you want to tick when it comes to selecting a collaborative individual.  Real team players are adept at all types of communication, and are prepared to afford others the time, space and voice needed for collaborating ideas.

Another skill that is vital for collaboration is the ability to adapt, especially when things don’t go as scheduled.  Delays can occur and priorities can shift.  Therefore, being able to adjust swiftly and smoothly without causing disruptions, is another attribute to look for in a team player and one that you can’t easily teach.

And lastly, organizational skills are crucial when it comes to collaboration.  From the simple individual task of keeping the diary updated with every team event of the week, to the ability to delegate and be punctual, selecting a team member that you don’t have to coach to become better organized, is an advantage you should not underestimate.

4. COMMITMENT TO THE TEAM PURPOSE

The reason why a team exists in the first place is to perform a task that serves a specific purpose. Be it the marketing, finance, production or sales team, once the task has been defined, the team needs to understand and fully embrace the “why” behind the task, since all team activities will be connected to it.  The team purpose is the “why”.  It is the guiding vision that sets the direction for the team and it is for this reason that it is crucial for each team member to be truly connected to this purpose, which eventually serves the higher purpose of the organization.

Before on-boarding a new team member, it is worth spending some time to evaluate their motivation and level of commitment to the purpose.  One way of doing this is to give them some questions to consider such as: What contribution can you make to the team that will fully serve its purpose?   How can the team step up to the challenge of fulfilling its purpose? What level of commitment do you bring to its purpose?

WATCH OUT FOR "DERAILERS" AND "NARCISSISTS"

Research has shown that there are two types of personality to avoid at all cost when putting together a team.  The so called “derailers” who tend to jeopardize the work of the team by not respecting the teams’ rules and disagreeing with either the team purpose or modus operandi. These type of people simply suck the required energy out of the team and work against the flow. 

Individuals with narcissistic personality traits can often be charismatic but transpire only to serve their own self-importance, personal agendas by showing little empathy for others and having no passion for the collective effort of the team.  Narcissists are all about themselves and the sense of grandiosity they always carry within.

Spotting a ”narcissist” may take long, simply because some of these people are charming and captivating.  However, they will eventually show their true colors when it comes to collaborating with humility for the collective purpose of the team.  Therefore, choosing a humble talented individual is always a safer choice.  And the best one!

Whether you are a leader or work in talent management, reach out to us for an initial conversation on how we can support you selecting team players or using the Hogan Assessment System to test personality for business. Contact me directly: silvia@bcoached.org