Building a Dream Team

We probably all had experience working under a bad manager, whether it was someone who cared only about results and never seemed to care about people, someone who occasionally couldn't hold his temper, or someone who would keep feeding people with sweet promises but never actually do anything to deliver them. And it's easy to judge, to blame them, to say "If I were him.. I would never..", it's easy to think how better we would perform in their shoes, which leads to my first point: Do we really know how it feels to be in their shoes?

1. Empathy

Perhaps the most important trait in the workplace is empathy; equally important on both sides: leaders and managers understanding and caring for their people, and people truly caring for the company and understanding their managers. With empathy and compassion, open communication follows - people share more because they care and know they are being heard, and with the foundation of open communication there comes the trust.

The company needs to hire the right people who help to build the right culture, but to attract, retain and grow the right people, the company must have a good culture that enables so.

2. Attracting the right people

I believe that people, both in work and in life, are driven mainly by the following 4 things:

1. sense of belonging - We are social creatures, and as such, we are all connected, completing each other, seeking value in doing some good for each other. As Sheldon Cashdan put it: "Relationships are not simply welcome additions to human existence. They are what existence is all about." In the workplace, this is mostly about working with genuine people who care about each other, groom each other, struggle side by side and make beautiful memories together.
2. sense of purpose - Being able to feel the meaning behind our efforts. Having an opportunity to create value, to make an impact, to be able to look back one day and feel proud of what we've accomplished and leaving behind.
3. personal growth - Having the opportunity to learn, to grow, to become better. People naturally want to get the best out of their lives, and the perceived individual progress is very important.
4. recognition - Being recognized, appreciated, guided and rewarded for the hard work. Having the reasons and opportunity to celebrate.

3. Humility & Freedom to grow

Having a group of smart people who constantly challenge and shape each other, however, is not sustainable without a certain amount of humility. I believe, it is incredibly important to always treat people as equal, to give them some space to make some mistakes, to make them feel they don't have to perfect. To establish an environment in which people can grow and become the best.

Simon Sinek would often talk about the leadership being a lot like parenting. And just as a loving parent who naturally guides the child, a leader does his best to establish the solid ground to set his team up for success. This responsibility comes with 2 particularly tough situations that managers and parents occasionally have to deal with: 1. making a decision that kids won't be happy about (with the presumption that hopefully one day, they will look back and see the real value of it) and 2. letting the kids make mistakes that are necessary for them to learn and grow.

4. Vision

Shall the company succeed to gather a group of talented individuals who truly and deeply care for the company, and want to make things better, the management needs to ensure these people all work together towards the same vision. These are the people who naturally make the right efforts in the right direction if they understand what's the best for the team and the company.

These are the people who shouldn't be micromanaged, nor constrained by the processes and rules. Nothing kills a person's motivation faster than telling him "don't think about how to make things better, that's not part of your job". This to me is a call based on fear, either fear of the person not being competent to create additional value (how), or, more likely, fear of the person not truly understanding where to create the value (what) and not understanding the team's and company's long term goals and vision (why).

5. Honest feedback

Transparency and candor are key to building trust. People deserve to know what's going on, why, and how they can help to make things better. An extremely important part of the performance evaluation is being specific about how the person can create more value and how the person can grow.

Some say all it takes are 2 sections in KPI sheet: "did well" and "can do better". To me, the performance appraisals became heavily focused around 2 things: 1. how the person's actions are affecting the team (the impact) and 2. finding a match between the company's goals and personal goals and motivation - both of us learning more about how we can help each other.

6. Finding & Rewarding genuine commitment

One of the toughest questions I'd be constantly asking myself, and perhaps a one that doesn't even have a clear answer, is: How to make people truly care?

Any manager is very likely to be familiar with splitting people into 4 quadrants based on performance and attitude.

A true test for a manager is then his ability to transform people from quadrant 2 to 4 (to empower and motivate), and from 3 to 4 (to guide and to help others to grow).

But where's the line between the person being simply apathetic towards work and his attitude affecting the experience for the others? When does the low quality of one's work make an actual impact on the company? It's important to have the right metrics when evaluating people, including the metrics designed around the culture fit and attitude, ensuring the right traits are being recognized and rewarded.

Conclusion

Many things are easier said than done and building a dream team is definitely not a question with an obvious answer to it. It's something that takes years to build and depends, perhaps, on the contribution of every person in a team.

What's your view on building a dream team? Leave a comment with your thoughts or some book recommendations on the topic. I'm excited to learn more!