The Ideal Team Player.
Last night I attended a Christmas program that featured the daughter of my friend and leader of creative entrepreneurs Joel Pilger. It was breathtaking and I realized it has been too long since I had the joy of watching kids perform. Before I was transported away in the magic of the moment, I found myself watching the wiggling group of youngsters and thinking of how beautifully complicated we all are. They were dressed up, standing uncomfortably straight, singing like angels and yet the complexity of their young personalities shown through just as bright as their smiles. We are all so exquisitely intricate.
Soon my mind was wandering to my own businesses and those times when I needed wonderfully complex folks to do something – the task I had given them; the way I wanted them to; by following specific processes and procedure. That’s where it gets tough.
I took another step back, to the times I have sat in an interview with a near stranger. When asking hard questions designed to cut through their smiles and crisp new interview clothes to who they really are, and now those complexities get really interesting.
So on a recent trip with hours to burn, I pulled up a podcast featuring Patrick Lencioni and his latest book “The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues.” Lencioni names these as hunger, humility and people smart.
HUNGER – An ideal team member has an internal drive and you can see it in their eyes. They were born to run and nothing gets them more excited than a challenge. Of the three, this is the most important. It cannot be taught or coached into someone. You either have it or you don’t.
HUMILITY – This person is not a doormat. Instead, they are someone who knows they have deep talents and strives to use them while focusing on others over themselves. This is the second most important. A person who is not humble is toxic. They will hurt your team.
PEOPLE SMART – This person gets along with all types of people. They have manners and use common sense when they deal with people. When someone struggles with this, it is the easiest to tolerate. They are like a toddler innocently breaking things. You will have to clean up after them, but they are hungry enough to get great things done and humble enough to be coachable.
An interesting thing happens when you hear these principles; you begin going one by one through the people who did not make it on your team. And you quickly start seeing more effective ways of leading your current team as you begin to look at them differently.
Of the three, hunger, humility or people smart, we all have one that is the most challenging. In your next team meeting, try asking your group which one they struggle with the most. As their co-worker, you probably already know. If you are their boss, you know their issues even better so toss your own weakness out there to get things rolling.
Remember we are all like those kids in the Christmas program; beautifully complicated and doing the best we can with what we have.