Essentials: Building Great Teams - Part 1

Building a great team is arguably the most important element of leadership. More than subject matter expertise, more than experience, more than past success, the team you assemble around you as a leader will determine your destiny. Your success or failure will be judged, if not determined, by theirs. The ability to put people together who are both cohesive and functional is challenging, exciting, and at times, exhausting. There is a myriad of leadership resources that discuss the must-haves, intangibles, core values, pillars of success, and on and on. There are topics that range from chemistry and fit, to qualifications and culture, to desire and designs. Some of these resources, like “The Ideal Team Player” by Patrick Lencioni, even further distill these concepts into their basic elements. It’s meaningful, necessary, work.?

Spending the last 20 years leading and building teams has led me to an understanding of what I believe are the essentials – four critical components to look for in people that will create the cohesion and function capable of being a disruptive force in an organization, or even an entire industry. I recently heard a presenter say, “you’re either a disruptor or you’re being disrupted”. That statement could not be truer in today’s workforce. Forget staying competitive; to stay?relevant, you need to build teams capable of disruption.

The essentials are simple words that also exude enormous complexity – integrity, passion, ambition, and humility. These are the building-block, foundational elements that must exist to create and maintain dynamic, high-performing teams. Over the course of my career, I’ve had the privilege of leading teams that exemplify these essentials, and the opportunity to learn from the absolute mayhem that comes from leading teams that embody none of them. Over the coming weeks, I’m going to be writing a few posts that go into more detail about each of the essentials and how finding people that embrace and epitomize these qualities will build great, dynamic teams. But for now – let’s start with most fundamental of all: Integrity.

Integrity is one of those semi-ethereal concepts that, sadly, is often more evident when it is lacking. All of us can think back on a person or persons in our lives who have lacked integrity, and many of us can follow the trail of destruction that person left in their wake. We tend to remember those people. But not always. Sometimes, the person lacking integrity appears to win, which poses the inevitable question: is having integrity actually worth it?

Someone wiser than I once said, “who you are is what you do when no one is looking”, and I cannot think of a better definition of integrity. It’s not about the big decisions, it’s about a million small ones that serve as the paving stones of our journey through life. Having integrity isn’t just about being honest, though honesty is certainly a component. It’s the summation of transparency, self-awareness, consistency, clarity, confidence, honesty, and accountability. In the old days, you’d call it “righteousness”. Integrity is really about how your internal compass regulates the decisions you make. Is it the right thing? How does it affect me? How does it affect my teams?

When you’re in a leadership role, you’re effectively always carrying a metaphorical megaphone. Everything you do is more scrutinized. What you say?resonates, and you bear the responsibility of knowing the weight of your words and actions. Your team is watching you. They will go as you go. If they see you acting with integrity, they will. If they don’t, you have the responsibility of holding them accountable. If they see you lacking integrity, they will, and you likely won’t have the luxury of accountability with them at that point – because to hold them accountable would be hypocritical. This is how toxicity is bred.

I remember a time midpoint in my career when I had a boss who lacked integrity. This person was brilliant but also a master of situational ethics (which I would argue are no ethics at all). This is a combination where improbity breeds and festers. There were warning signs, though they are admittedly clearer in hindsight: taking credit for my work, breaking commitments, instructing me to do things that would cover them, instructing me to be dishonest about certain licenses, and agreeing with me in private only to have their support evaporate in front of the executive team, among others. That work environment was the most toxic place I’ve ever been. You see, integrity (or the lack thereof) is highly, highly contagious.

When it comes to building a team, integrity is the fundamental source of everything good. You want people you can trust, and if a person lacks integrity, you can’t.??One of the interview questions I ask often is “what things are you unwilling to compromise?”. It makes candidates think about their values, their non-negotiables, and really forces them to speak from their identity. If you are looking to achieve great results with great people and see amazing success, you simply will not do so if your team lacks integrity. You may get results, but it will be at the cost of your people, not to their benefit. That’s being a dictator, not a leader.

So, is it worth it? I think so, and I’ve never seen a toxic workplace where there is a top-down commitment to integrity. The two just can’t exist in the same space. Buckminster Fuller said, “integrity is the essence of everything successful”. There’s a lot of truth in that statement, and while some might argue the definition of success, the point remains. Being successful on the inside requires integrity. Being able to accept the result knowing you didn’t cut any corners or be dishonest or minimize another person to attain it allows you to live enemy-free. It’s important to take stock of yourself and your organization. Do you see any of the warning signs exhibited? If you see them, change course! As a leader, with the eyes of your team upon you, you get both the privilege and responsibility of steering your ship. You owe it to your team to do so well. And if you’re operating with integrity, all of you will be better for it.

#leadership #teambuilding #integrity