Building a Dream Team: The Art of Selecting Individuals Who Align with Your Values.

We've all heard the saying, 'If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.' Despite its popularity, I find myself disagreeing with this sentiment when it comes to leadership.

Allow me to explain why, drawing from more than a decade of leadership experience.

The concept of If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.' However, for leaders, it only proves effective when you have the right team on the bus and in the right seats. As leaders, it's crucial to remember that you can't force others to follow you can only influence them. No matter how good a leader you are some people don't want what you are offering.

I learned this lesson the hard way, but my aim now is to help you sidestep this pitfall. Instead, I encourage you to be intentional about selecting the individuals you want to cultivate and grow with.

Actions speak louder than words, so choose team members who live your shared values.

Selecting team members who merely echo your values can foster a detrimental environment where trust dwindles, teamwork collapses, and advancement halts, resulting in an overarching sense of dissatisfaction and unfulfillment.

Trust forms the cornerstone of any team. When individuals are not in harmony with your values, bitterness begins to surface due to a lack of synergy within the team. This soon translates into a plunge in motivation and engagement levels, leading to team members feeling alienated, which in turn, triggers a drop in productivity. What awaits next is an inevitable wave of unproductive conflicts, power struggles, stagnancy, and the birth of a toxic culture.

Contrarily, when you handpick team members whose actions mirror your values, it gives birth to profound trust. The team begins to display reliability, mutual respect, and a sense of support. This results in an upswing in motivation, engagement and productivity levels. In these conditions, the team undergoes healthy conflicts with the aim of seizing opportunities, nurturing team and individual growth, ultimately fostering a wholesome work culture.

Now, let's evaluate some steps you can take as a leader. This method applies equally outside of work, determining the individuals with whom you should associate.

#1. Past actions often serve as a reliable compass for predicting future behavior.

Can individuals genuinely evolve? I'm an unwavering believer, having experienced it firsthand. This belief doesn’t disregard that past behavior can be a predictor of what's to come.

Often, leaders and supporters put too much focus on what's being said, neglecting what's happening. We ought to evaluate a tree by its fruit, not by its promises.

1. Digging into someone's past becomes essential to accurately gauge their values, tailoring questions that reflect your individual value system. This approach enables you to predict potential future actions, critically impacting your team and personal life.
2. Seek input from others. Implement the steps mentioned above with individuals who might know them better.
3. Utilize social media. It's quite astonishing to uncover what people willingly disclose on these platforms.

Remember, your most crucial asset is your team and those around you. So, be sure to be diligent before welcoming anyone onto your team.

#2. Define the ideal team members.

Leaders are always on the recruitment trail, seeking the driven and the ready. You, as a leader, must recognize what an ideal team member embodies to construct the right team.

1. Identify and characterize your perfect team members. Prioritize character. Understand the values, traits, and mindsets crucial for triumph in your team.
2. Acknowledge their competencies and qualifications. Ponder the skill sets, necessary attributes, and how to evaluate and rank them.
3. Assess their potential fit within the existing culture.

Building a team without knowing what to search for is impossible, and leaders consistently seek and invest in elite talent.

#3. Don't be held to a bad decision.

We are humans and we make mistakes. Once you have realized you made a mistake don't be bound to it. Instead take ownership and correct the bad decision.

1. Recognize when a previous decision with a team member was a bad one.
2. Decide to take the lesson and learn from it.
3. Take the steps necessary to address, coach, and train. If the following doesn't work help that person get somewhere where there values align. In other words free them from the team.

In leadership, the saying "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together" is incomplete. As a leader, it's crucial to be intentional about selecting individuals who not only echo your values but also live them. Merely echoing values can lead to trust issues, decreased motivation, and toxic environments. Instead, choose team members whose actions align with your values, fostering trust, motivation, and a healthy work culture. To accomplish this, evaluate past behavior, define your ideal team, and don't hesitate to address and correct bad decisions. Surrounding yourself with the right people in the right seats will lead to both speed and distance in achieving success as a leader.