In an eBook promoting their team assessment tool, the researchers at Hogan Assessments write, “The right mix of personalities is critical to forming a team with the proper balance of psychological roles, absence of dysfunctional personalities, and shared values to anchor the team,” (Hogan Assessments, Inc., 2012). As discussed previously, “A team is three or more people who have a common goal, whose ability to achieve that goal is dependent on each other, who share common leadership, and who share success or failure,” (emphasis added) (Ibid.). Critical to Hogan’s personality assessment lane, their researchers note, “People have two roles within a team: functional and psychological. Functional roles are defined by a person’s position or title—chief executive, engineer, accountant, etc. Psychological roles are roles to which people naturally gravitate based on their personalities,” (Ibid.)
Regardless of individual team member’s neurological hardwiring, there are some strategies that teams can employ to optimize their performance. David Zomaya writes, “A team that collaborates well is more productive and has better morale,” (Zomaya, D., 2021, February 6). His tips include:
Having leaders demonstrate courageous conversations where transparency is valued,
Making collaboration as easy as possible,
Encouraging questions,
Resolving conflicts swiftly and fairly,
Focusing on team goals instead of individual performance,
Minimizing work that eats up team members’ time, but isn’t seen and therefore can’t be made accountable as easily,
Break down silos, and
Tailor communication to team members based on their personality profile (Ibid.).
Scott M. Graffius provides a helpful chart, which he updated again in 2022, that gives some helpful strategies corresponding to each of the stages in Tuckman’s model of team development. For example, just the other day I submitted a proposal for organizational performance coaching services for a leadership team stuck in the “storming” phase. Glancing at Graffius’s chart, I can see that my recommendation for 360-assessments corresponds with the “requesting and encouraging feedback” and “identifying issues and facilitating their resolution” strategies recommended to move through the storming phase into “norming” (Graffius, S. M., 2021, January 4).
As I stated in a previous post, none of this is easy, but it’s not complicated, either. With conscious effort, practice, and a trusted thought partner leaders can and do create the conditions necessary for their teams to thrive. Just like learning a new language or a new sport, it can be incredibly frustrating before the new behaviors are ingrained and come naturally. But, the wins along the way to mastery can become a superglue-level bond forged in trust between the leader and his team.