Building the right team

It must be a mix of personalities, genders, experiences, and knowledge.

Ultimately diversity!

Without diversity, you box yourself into a single thought and work flow. If your job is a simple button pusher, mundane and the same day in and day out then maybe diversity is not needed.  However in today’s technology sector, diversity is in high demand!

However even if the team is diverse, you need to ensure there is rotation.  Having the same team in the same positions/roles for long periods of time can also cause box thinking and boredom.

Having the team rotate to each other’s jobs or in and out of related teams can bring a new set of ideas and continuous improvement for the individuals and for the teams involved.

So when I go to build my team, I look for differences.  I look for people that are moldable, that want to continuously improve and help improve others.  I want flexibility.  I want my more senior staff to support and train the younger generations.

I want the team to exchange ideas and build each other up, to grow.

Ideally the team should feel ownership for the project.  Ownership of a project comes with the team having trust that there is no judgement within the team.  That everyone can ask questions, provide suggestions, create ideas without negative judgement from others on the team.

With engineers this can be tricky because if they don’t speak the same tech language, feedback can come across as harsh.  But if you have the right people and the right set of knowledge, the team will naturally build its self up.

If you are added to an existing team, you may not have the luxury of choosing your team mates.  In this case I refer you back to my article on building trust.

You cannot always start with your dream team, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help it grow in that direction.

In this example, you need to identify what everyone’s strengths and weaknesses are and mesh the best and worse into the optimal combination possible.  This can be tricky, but gets easier with time and experience.

Various cultural and communication trainings can also assist you in creating the best team possible in any situation. Being able to grow and continuously learn, adapting to any situation or person can be a huge puzzle piece in this world of chaos.

So get to building!