Leadership Competency 3: Building great teams
Vince Lombardi said “Individual commitment to a group effort – that’s what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” That’s so true in the workplace.
What makes a strong team? Well it starts by hiring well, then creating a trusting environment where all feel included, known and valued, and then creating a culture of high expectations and robust debate to get to the best answer and outcome.
Hire well:
It starts with having talented people operating in their best roles. It’s having people who can work well with one another and communicate effectively with each other. It’s having team members who are growth oriented and after the team’s success, not selfishly focused on their own success.
The interviewing process is critical to getting the team right. The following categories are important to evaluate in the process:
Current abilities: it’s important to determine whether the candidate has the ability to perform the role. The hiring manager, her peers, and the business partners of the role should be evaluating the candidate for these abilities.
Potential: the hiring manager’s boss should be evaluating the runway or potential of the candidate. Ideally a candidate would have the potential to reach one or two levels higher or more than the position being interviewed for. As your business grows, having the ability to move existing employees into more senior roles creates a culture of learning and growth which encourages all employees to strive to improve themselves.
Sweet spot/passion: the hiring manager and her peers should be interviewing for the candidate’s sweet spot/passion. The manager knows the aspects and challenges of the position and can best assess how the candidate would enjoy the role. I have found that asking about the candidate’s “best day at work” and the “worst day at work” helps shed some light on this. If the candidate indicates the characteristics of their best day at work are the types of work that the position heavily entails, that could indicate a good fit for the role. If aspects of their worst day at work have aspects that are meaningful parts of the role, this might be an area for further exploration and possible concern.
Teamwork: the hiring manager and her boss should especially focus on teamwork fit, which is an important cultural aspect for any organization. It’s not enough to just hire for abilities or intellect. Team members need to be able to get along with others to create strong teams. People who don’t play well with others create silos in the business which leads to poor communication, mistrust, lack of teamwork, and low morale.
Wanting to be challenged: this is another important cultural aspect that the manager and her boss should be evaluating. How do they best operate with their boss. The hiring manager and the manager’s boss should be assessing this. A great question to explore this issue is “who is the best boss that you’ve ever had and why”? This question can help to see how receptive they are to feedback and to being challenged by their boss. If their “best boss” was a boss who “left them alone and didn’t micromanage them” that’s generally not a good sign and should be explored further. I like the candidate who says their “best boss” was a boss who “was tough but fair, really challenged them, and pushed them to get better”. This is a good sign that the candidate is receptive to feedback and is growth oriented.
Creates a trusting environment of inclusion:
A leader who is open and vulnerable creates a trusting workplace where people from all backgrounds can feel included. Verna Myers said "diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance." Great workplaces are where everyone feels invited to dance, not simply allowed in the door.
Think about the people you go to when you’re in need of help. It’s most likely not the person with the huge ego and “all the answers”. It’s the person with a dose of humility, who has been through some trials, and as a result has a listening ear with an attitude of compassion and understanding. That’s the person who is approachable because you sense they will listen and not judge you, and they will provide the help you need. That quality, when lived out in a leader, creates a trusting team culture where everyone can feel included.
That’s what I learned from experience during an awful fund performance year a few decades ago. I was brought down a few rungs in my own estimation. I also developed great appreciation for my bosses and the company who looked through my challenging year to my potential, and to the leadership and investment lessons I learned from the experience.
In the following years, I was pretty open about sharing the challenges of that year, the lessons learned, and how I was changed as a result. The interesting thing is, the more I shared and was vulnerable, the more others were attracted to my leadership. I became more approachable through my vulnerability, and I became more understanding of the challenges others face because of the example of the understanding that others showed me during my difficult period. This led to others being more open and it created a more trusting and welcoming team environment where all team members could be known and valued.
Creates a culture of high expectations and robust debate:
Patrick Lencioni defines accountability as “the willingness of team members to remind one another when they are not living up to the performance standard of the group”. These standards are not just business results, but also include behaviors. Teams made up of competent individuals, who know and trust each other, will feel more comfortable with accountability because they know that the feedback/debate is focused on making the team better, not trying to tear someone down. Allow the debate to occur, don’t rush it, so you hear everyone’s views. There are many benefits to hearing the diverse wisdom of your team before making decisions.
Different perspectives that come from diverse work and life experiences lead to a better decision than you would have come up with on your own. I’ve been in meetings many times where I felt strongly on a plan of action, only to hear other opinions and ideas that led to a far better plan than mine - and I walked away fully embracing the alternative plan.
Broader buy-in comes from ongoing team discussion and deliberation. And with stronger buy-in comes greater leadership conviction, effort, and collaboration in executing the plan.
Great team pride and appreciation also comes from hearing the wisdom of peers. When the ideas of a diverse set of leaders around the table are brought together into a great plan, leaders feel proud to be part of the decision making process and there’s a certain pride that comes from working together.
You team members feel valued as well when they sincerely sense that you as a leader want to hear their views and are open to acting upon them. This is one of the “intangibles” that helps to retain top talent.
So lead effectively by hiring well, creating a trusting environment where all feel included, known and valued, and then creating a culture of high expectations and robust debate to get to the best answer and outcome.
