Maximizing the Team Relationship: Part 1 of 5
An Excerpt from Rubi Ho's upcoming Book
…I intentionally saved the ‘Team Relationship’ section for last because the team relationship is the most complicated. Apart from your ‘boss relationship,’ it is with your team members that you will spend the most time with at work. In essence, they truly feel like and become your ‘work family.’ And like any family, there are pluses and minuses. There are quirky personalities and those you prefer to ‘not have at the dinner table.’ Regardless, your team is your team. And your successes are determined by your strongest links and limited by your weak links.
Having healthy team relationships are critical to your emotional and physical well being as much as company success. I’m going to focus more on the critical ‘how’s and what’s’ of what it takes to have a healthy team, which when executed upon, results in healthy team relationships.
1) Learn and Adhere To My ‘5 Cornerstones of ‘Ideal’ Team Members’
I’d like you to pause for a moment and have you reflect upon a time when you, yourself were not happy with a team member. I can guarantee you that the team member lacked one of the ‘ideal’ cornerstones below. Starting tomorrow, do what you can to ensure all current and future team members possess the below qualities. The rest of your team will thank you profusely for your efforts!
- Competency: The ideal team members consistently demonstrates that they know what they are talking about AND can back it up with performance and evidence. The ‘competency’ cornerstone is the ‘bare minimum’ needed criteria. At the end of the day, all cornerstones, if not lived out, can be show stoppers.
- Credibility: Team members can be a ‘competent’ but not credible. Said differently, a beautiful resume without anyone validating or backing up their success isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Your team members must be able to back up what they say by getting validation from your key stakeholders throughout the company. Without credibility, respect and trust from others is not a guarantee.
- Character: Character has everything to do with having some levels of leadership acumen, morals and an ethical compass. Does your team members always try to do the right thing, and project a team and inclusive attitude? Do they have a ‘pick up the trash on the floor when no one is looking?’ sort of persona? In most circumstances, having character surpasses[d1] competency and credibility. Wouldn’t you want every person on your team to have character? To be clear, it is not perfect ‘behavior’ for which we are looking for! IT IS PERFECT ‘INTENT!’ The intent to be better than we were yesterday. The intent to try to converge, collaborate and support one another and win or lose…together. That’s character.
- Contribution: Team members, at all levels, regardless of title, position or level of responsibility, are paid to perform. We are all expected to deliver on ‘our promises’ and commitments to the company. The ‘ideal’ employee understands this ‘business contract’ and ‘brings it’ every day to fulfill this contract. Look for dedication, perseverance and a can-do attitude and we will find a team member dedicated to making a meaningful contribution and beyond.
- Culture Fit: Given my experience and having worked with thousands of individuals spanning a multitude of diverse organizations and industries, I know that the number one factor that makes for an ideal team member is a ‘cultural fit to the team.’ Your team member might have the competency, credibility, character, and contribution qualities, but if he is not a culture fit to the team, it’s just not going to work. It might be a hard pill to swallow but believe me, count your losses now and move on. You will pay for it if you try to make it work.