The Perfect Team
By Sidsel Lindsø, CEO of ExploCrowd
What does the perfect team look like?
In my view the recipe for a perfect team is not to ensemble people of the same personality profile, the same preferences, the same world view and the same experiences.
The world is moving faster, and in order to meet the rapid changes and opportunities that arise within our industry and market it is important that different talents and views are put into play. As many perspectives as possible need to be covered by the team members, leaving no blind angles uncovered. This way you create a team with the problem solving skills needed for the future. The team who can grab the opportunities and create value in a fast moving landscape.
A toolbox for a good mix
We are using a personality profiling tool with nine different personality profiles to make sure that we are not all the same.
Many are unaware of their own unconscious bias, which is that our brain automatically tells us that we are most safe with people who look, think and act similar to us. This behavior is deeply rooted in all of us, where our brain uses short-cuts to navigate an incredible amount of information, which leads us to snap decisions about who we prefer and who we avoid. I am very aware of these automatic preferences and prejudices, and in spite of that I fall into the trap again and again. This tool enables us to better understand this aspect.
In our framework a person has a Core Type and loans different treats from other profiles when either being under stress or being in a good flow, but it is not so much about putting people into set boxes and categories. It is more importantly that the tool enables us to talk openly about our different strengths and weaknesses, and our different preferences of working and what we are especially good at. This way, we can enforce each other’s strengths, which leads to high performance. It helps build psychological safety, and that delivers motivation, speed and quality in our deliverables.
The perfect combination
Ideally you get one of each personality profile in the team to make sure that all angles are covered, but depending on whether you work in a symphony orchestra, run a school, create growth companies or develop new vaccines you might want to prefer or exclude some personality traits that hinder high performance.
You need The Peaceful Mediator to ensure balance, good harmony and good spirit in the team. It is a person who hates conflicts and tension, and is therefore focused on consensus and getting everyone on board. If there is an imbalance, they will try their best to achieve balance. And in such atmospheres, with social harmony in a group, all talents of the team can be used.
Our Perfectionists with high Principles are much needed to make sure the quality is high. Those are the ones that get satisfaction from getting the little details right, which is perfect when you want to make sure that everything is done right. If you demand that they deliver sloppy work, you basically ask them to compromise their integrity - and that is not how one creates motivation. They can, however, spend years on one single task in order to get it to perfection, so there has to be a balance where all needs are met.
We currently don’t have a Creative Individualist in our team, but those are often artists and musicians. Those lead by vision and connecting with other people. I’m sure we can learn a lot from their way of thinking and working with intuition.
The Enthusiastic Innovator is creative, the one that is looking for what is next and constantly comes up with ideas. Those are especially needed in a team that wants to be first movers within different strategic areas and arenas. They are good with new ideas and developing concepts, but they are not good at execution and implementation. They hate rules and regulations. The best way to kill their motivation is to set limitations, not listen and failing in supporting them in making a difference to the team.
The Powerful Person is attracted to being influential and having control. That type of person is a challenger who constantly tries to move boundaries. They are attracted to strength and their biggest fear is weakness. They can be extremely protective of their tribe, but they are often focusing on their own success. They are motivated by winning and they will do whatever it takes to get themselves and their team to complete a mission. We currently don’t have these types in our team. Those are the ones you need if you want to demonstrate strength and drive externally to build confidence.
The Investigative Thinker is often a specialist motivated by in-depth-research and investigation. They need time and space for their work, and if you leave them uninterrupted to do their thing, they often come out on the other side with new discoveries, new combinations of software tools and new possibilities. The value they can create, if allowed, is close to incomprehensible we have learned. Occasionally you will likely find one of these types that gets lost in a scientific detail that is interesting but not necessarily value creating, but then it is about finding the right target, together. I believe that it is these people that, often implementing the ideas of the Innovator, really moves our societies forward.
The Helper, also known as the Nurturing Advisor, is usually a caring and generous person. This is one who is motivated by connecting to people, building relations and delivering as a team. They go to work to be with other people. Their value lies in them often being positive and coming up with constructive proposals on how to improve. They get the best out of people. They hate change and conflicts, and they often go to great lengths to avoid inflicting pain on the team, and would even compromise on their own needs to avoid disturbing peace. This is worth having in mind when working with the helper.
The Loyal Guardian is also The Sceptic, because they are so committed to the cause that they have to confirm that it is the right and meaningful things they do. They hate unpredictability and rapid change, why they will challenge all new ideas and initiatives, so your arguments for change have to be good. But when convinced that the new path is the best route for the team, an unstoppable force is unleashed. This is your best analyst, and they create clear structures and efficient workflows. They are committed to the ones who have earned their trust, but it takes time to get there.
And then there is The Achiever, also known as The Motivator (3). This is a confident person who is enthusiastic and motivated by delivering results, either as an individual or (preferably) as a team. They are attracted to success and recognition, and hate inefficiency and lack of ambition. Their heart is in their work, and they can deliver an outright exhausting performance, which means that they are at high risk of being workaholics and disconnected to their own feelings and needs. When they are at their worst, they can use their adaptability to manipulate others. When at their best, The Achievers are authentic good role models and exceptional at inspiring others. They are good team motivators, because they are able to convince others to believe that anything is possible.
Did you notice how this has nothing to do with cultural background, gender, sexual orientation or age? Working from this framework with a focus on human capabilities and skills, this becomes less important.
To me it means that ALL people can contribute and create value, when put in the right setting, where they can unleash their potential.
THIS is what Diversity is to me: that we make use of all talents out there, regardless of where they come from, and give them a chance to contribute with their strengths in the right setting.
In this perspective it is mindblowingly stupid that for instance jobseekers with a non-Norwegian name is 25% less likely to be invited to a job interview with Norwegian employers. Imagine all the talent we miss, based on our inner urge to find copies of ourselves? We have to be better addressing this.
The right combination of strengths to achieve business goals
Speaking of the result of unconscious bias and our preference of hiring clones of ourselves: imagine having a team of just one personality profile? Let’s say just Powerful People and Achievers? There will be a lot of action, and very little thinking, which can lead to poor decision making with high negative impact on your business. There are many examples of this.
On the other hand, if you just hire Perfectionists and Investigative Thinkers who are good at implementing but not being visionary, then you will probably end up with some kind of stagnation. That is not a desired outcome either.
The art lies in combining the strengths of the different personality profiles to meet your business needs of tomorrow.
Other aspects to consider for The Perfect Team is creating space for Introverts and Extroverts
In addition to the different personalities, which is naturally a simplification of the extremely and wonderfully complex science that is people, there is also the aspect of which arenas people get their energy in. This is a very important aspect in how you construct your perfect team.
Introverts do not get energy when being in a setting with many other people. It costs the traditional introvert a lot, and imagine how much it costs them being in conferences and in networking situations where they have to meet others? As Simon Sinek describes it, as an introvert, at social gatherings then he is the one that is found in a corner of the room, looking down on the floor and trying to avoid the masses. Still, he engages and connects with the audience, and thrives massively when in an interview situation - but it costs him a lot. And then he needs time afterwards to recharge.
Our ExploCrowd team consists of one or two extroverted people, the ones who charges the batteries when being engaged with other people (guess whom). But in fact our team is dominated mostly by introverts. With our company culture and the way we work together, they get the space to be creative and productive - and our experience is that leads to excellence.
Perhaps with this new insight some people can be inspired to rethink e.g. the open plan office solution and how work is planned? How work is structured so that everyone can deliver their absolute best?
… and avoiding people who create toxic cultures
Then there is the aspect of shared values and shared mindset. An example is how approaches towards really working together can be too different on the rare occasion, and then it doesn’t work out.
In many traditional organisations with a competitive working environment it has been possible for individuals to promote themselves at the expense of others.
My opinion is that this is a destructive behavior that belongs in the past, and there is no place for people with such values in an organisation like ours. In ExploCrowd and with our partners, we support each other and make each other better. We believe that the right type of values create a positive mindset, which in turn fosters a culture for success and empowerment.
Nothing about this is easy - but it is worth it
I was first introduced to this toolbox seven or so years ago, and it has proven it’s value as a way to openly discuss and hence enforcing our strengths and being aware of our weaknesses.
One of my own weaknesses is that even though I do my best to avoid responding to my own unconscious bias, I fail repeatedly, our personality tests have proven, because I easily connect with people that are exactly the same as me. And we don’t need a team of clones, because it would of course cause damage to the business.
I wish to highlight how difficult it really is to get this right, avoid the unconscious bias and create an atmosphere where the full potential of people is unleashed. Implementing is hard, and that is why so few succeed at creating High Performance Cultures.
Don’t expect this to be easy. Nothing about people is easy.
But I fundamentally believe that it is good for business to invest what it takes.
If you are inspired by this and wish to learn more, I was first introduced to this toolbox by my friend and mentor Mari Espedal, who works with taking Executive Leadership Teams to the next level. She has taught me a lot: she knows how it is done.
Also, know that there is both good and bad quality scientific work about personality tests, and they are often used in questionable contexts. That is why I recommend professional guidance. However, the book The Intelligent Organisations of the Future by Edit Moltke-Leth has really proven valuable to me, adding another layer of very interesting complexity to the art.