ABILITY #2 OF 10
The Ability to Work in a Team
Attracting and retaining great employees BEGINS with interviewing well. There are 10 abilities we believe every organization in every industry should be seeking out in their future employees. Today we're discussing how to discover an employee's ability to work in a team.
3 Reasons the Ability to Work in a Team Matters
They Are Entering an Established Team: Unless you're just starting out, whoever you interview will be entering an already-established team. Bruce Tuckman's model suggests teams move through four phases — Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing — and every time a new person joins (or leaves), the team reverts to some variation of Forming. That means you must give them time to work back toward becoming a high-performing team.
Teams Are More Than Tasks: As covered in our Self-Sacrifice piece, a high performer with low trust does more harm to a team than someone with high trust and medium/low performance. If you interview based only on what a resume says someone can DO and KNOW, without considering how they'll fit the team, you're setting yourself up for trouble. Ask questions that reveal what role the employee naturally takes on.
Teams Are Made of Roles: Personality assessments (the Birkman is a favorite) are a valuable part of team assembly. When considering a hire, think about how many quick decision-makers, influencers, worker bees, and analysts are already on the team — too much of one role (too many analysts, for example) can create analysis paralysis. Think about how a new hire will fit with existing team members, and what's currently missing.
2 Tips for HR
Skin in the Game: If possible, invite one or two future teammates to be part of the interview and give feedback on fit. Teams are more likely to take ownership of a hire and speed up the bonding process when they're part of the decision.
Let Go of Ego: Many hiring managers keep a toxic employee around for months (or years) simply because they don't want to admit they were wrong about someone. That's a bad reason to keep someone who isn't working out. Try to help the team resolve fit issues — but if someone simply won't grow, don't let ego stand in the way of finding someone better for the team.
Ask the Right Questions: 10 Interview Questions
- Tell me three characteristics the “worst boss ever” would display.
- In projects, what role do you typically fall into — Leader, Information Organizer, Relationship Manager, Fun-Maker, Task-Master, Quiet Achiever?
- When you think about your friend group, who makes most of the decisions, and how do you feel about that?
- Tell me about a time you felt part of a high-functioning team. What did they do differently than other teams?
- When you're placed into a leadership role, what are the first three tasks you try to accomplish, and why?
- Everyone has had a team member they had a hard time motivating. What strategies have you seen work best?
- Define humility and how you think it shows up in a good team member.
- Imagine a meeting where you're by far the youngest person in the room. How would you feel, and what would you do to establish credibility?
- What was the last time you were on a “winning” team, and what did they do differently than the “losing” teams you've been on?
- If there's a high level of personal conflict between other team members, how are you most likely to react?
That's it for this week. Next up: The Ability to Resolve Conflict, because "no drama" on your team might just mean nobody's willing to say the hard thing out loud.
Talk soon,
Kristin
