The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues (J-B Lencioni Series)

by Patrick Lencioni

real teamwork requires tangible, specific behaviors: vulnerability-based trust, healthy conflict, active commitment, peer-to-peer accountability, and a focus on results.

three underlying virtues that enable them to be ideal team players: they are humble, hungry, and smart.

Leaders who can identify, hire, and cultivate employees who are humble, hungry, and smart will have a serious advantage over those who cannot.

how do you know if a person is a jackass? And how do you avoid hiring them?” Clare answered first. “I guess you know one after you've worked with one for a while.” Jeff shook his head. “Yeah, but by then it's too late. And you know what happens when you keep a jackass longer than you should?” They didn't respond, so he answered the question for them. “The non-jackasses start to leave.”

“You know, as much of a pain in the ass as she is, I wouldn't say she's egotistical or self-centered. It's weird. She's just a pain, whether she knows it or not.”

“I thought you said Bob didn't tolerate bad team players.” Clare looked at Bobby as if to say should we tell him? “Well, he didn't tolerate it in most employees. But sometimes when it came to the people he felt bad for, and the people he knew personally, he was kind of a wuss. He always said that he sometimes had a hard time pulling the trigger.”

“Teambuilding sessions aren't hotel building sessions.” “Bullshit,” Jeff responded. “We're not talking about hugging or holding hands or catching each other falling off chairs. We're talking about getting people to admit when they make a mistake on a project. And to argue about the right way to get things done without worrying that they're going to offend someone. And sticking to commitments, and holding each other accountable.

“We let the jackasses hire more jackasses.”

“The most unhappy people in a company are the ones who don't fit the culture and are allowed to stay. They know they don't belong. Deep down inside they don't want to be there. They're miserable.”

You just can't go fire a bunch of people. But when you figure out who the jackasses are, you tell them that the only way they can stay, the only way they should want to stay, is if they can stop being a jackass. Or more constructively, if they can be a team player. Ninety-five percent of the time they'll do one of two things. They'll change their behavior and love you for making them do it, or they'll opt out on their own, and they'll be relieved.”

“First, we go figure out how to recognize a real team player, the kind of person who can easily build trust, engage in healthy conflict, make real commitments, hold people accountable, and focus on the team's results. Then, we stop hiring people who can't. Finally, we help the people who are acting like jackasses change their ways or move on to different companies.”

These weren't architects or engineers or even carpenters, but day laborers and generally unskilled workers.” For just a moment, Bobby seemed like he was getting a little emotional. “And Bob had exactly the same tone of voice and the same eye contact and the same level of interest in what they were saying as he did with the Range Rover client.

“You weren't always that way?” “Not really. I mean, sure, my dad would have kicked my ass if I'd been a jerk to people just because they didn't go to college or had less money than we did. But it wasn't until I came here that I really embraced that idea. Heck, at some of the places where I worked, it was bad for your career if you acted like Bob. Can you believe that?”

the kind who come to practice wanting to work as hard as they can to avoid losing.

my dad coached me in different sports, and the one thing I can always remember is that he didn't have a lot of patience for kids who sucked up to him.”

no ego, working really hard, and knowing how to deal with people.”

“He'd do just enough to stay out of trouble, but he'd never really tackle a project or a problem with a sense of urgency. Or passion.”

We need to hire people who are hungry. They go beyond what is required. Passionate about the work they're doing. Hungry.”

a person has to know how to act and what to say and what not to say. People smart. Which is a lot more than being nice.”

“Jackasses aren't humble.”

“What about performance?” Ted asked, a little skeptically. “Delivering projects on time and within budget?” Jeff thought about it. “Those are critical. No doubt. But I believe those will be the outcomes we'll get if we bring humble, hungry, and smart people together and give them clarity about what needs to be done.”

“Marie, this is Clare Massick, the head of HR at Valley Builders, and I've got Jeff Shanley with me, our CEO. I don't know if you remember me, but we've met a few times.” “Sure I remember you,” Marie said matter-of-factly. “What can I do for you guys?” “Well, I was hoping you could tell us something about Ted Marchbanks. We've been talking to him about a job here, and we wanted to get a sense from you about whether you think he'd be a good fit for us.”

“Maybe the humble, hungry, smart thing is wrong.” Clare shrugged. Jeff couldn't believe that one man's decision not to take a job could lead intelligent people to abandon their standards and principles so easily.

“Team players have three things in common. They are humble, hungry, and smart.” He wrote the words on the whiteboard and returned to his chair. Nothing from Nancy, so Jeff pushed on. “Humble is pretty obvious. We can't abide big egos. Hungry is all about working hard and being passionate about our work. And smart has to do with being aware of the people around you and dealing with them in a positive, functional way.” It was clear that Nancy was beginning to process things in her mind, but she wasn't ready to make any comments. So Jeff asked the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. “How do you think you stack up against these qualities?”

“I'm going to need help from someone to get better.” She paused, and then said the three most important words of all: “But I'll try.”

For the handful of leaders who had clear shortfalls in humble, hungry, or smart, Jeff took a more direct approach. After getting agreement on their need for improvement in one or more of the areas, he kindly assured them of three things. First, improvement was not an option. Second, they would have plenty of support in their development. Third, if they decided to opt out, that would be okay.

client satisfaction at the hospital and the hotel were better than Jeff and his team could have expected. Though fires had to be fought and unexpected challenges surfaced at inopportune times, the way the company rallied and addressed those issues no longer inspired panic and heroism. A new confidence, even in the messiest situations, permeated the offices and worksites of Valley Builders.

the best thing that's happened in the last year is that we've almost become a jackass-free zone. No matter what happens, and what challenge we might face, give me a roomful of people who aren't jackasses, and I'll be happy to take it on.”

For organizations seriously committed to making teamwork a cultural reality, I'm convinced that “the right people” are the ones who have the three virtues in common—humility, hunger, and people smarts.

Humble

Great team players lack excessive ego or concerns about status. They are quick to point out the contributions of others and slow to seek attention for their own. They share credit, emphasize team over self, and define success collectively rather than individually. It is no great surprise, then, that humility is the single greatest and most indispensable attribute of being a team player.

What's amazing is that so many leaders who value teamwork will tolerate people who aren't humble. They reluctantly hire self-centered people and then justify it simply because those people have desired skills. Or, they see arrogant behavior in an employee and fail to confront it, often citing that person's individual contributions as an excuse. The problem, of course, is that leaders aren't considering the effect that an arrogant, self-centered person has on the overall performance of the team.

The most obvious kind is the overtly arrogant people who make everything about them. They are easy to identify because they tend to boast and soak up attention. This is the classically ego-driven type and it diminishes teamwork

The next type is much less dangerous, but still worth understanding. These are the people who lack self-confidence but are generous and positive with others. They tend to discount their own talents and contributions, and so others mistakenly see them as humble. But this is not humility. While they are certainly not arrogant, their lack of understanding of their own worth is also a violation of humility. Truly humble people do not see themselves as greater than they are, but neither do they discount their talents and contributions.

“Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”

A person who has a disproportionately deflated sense of self-worth often hurts teams by not advocating for their own ideas or by failing to c...

What both of these types have in common is insecurity. Insecurity makes some people project overconfidence, and others discount their own talents. And while these types are not equal when it comes to creating problems on a team, they each diminish performance.

Hungry Hungry people are always looking for more. More things to do. More to learn. More responsibility to take on. Hungry people almost never have to be pushed by a manager to work harder because they are self-motivated and diligent. They are constantly thinking about the next step and the next opportunity. And they loathe the idea that they might be perceived as slackers.

it's important to realize that some types of hunger are not good for a team and are even unhealthy. In some people, hunger can be directed in a selfish way that is not for the good of the team but for the individual.

When I refer to hunger here, I'm thinking about the healthy kind—a manageable and sustainable commitment to doing a job well and going above and beyond when it is truly required.

Smart

In the context of a team, smart simply refers to a person's common sense about people. It has everything to do with the ability to be interpersonally appropriate and aware. Smart people tend to know what is happening in a group situation and how to deal with others in the most effective way. They ask good questions, listen to what others are saying, and stay engaged in conversations intently.

emotional intelligence, which wouldn't be a bad comparison, but smart is probably a little simpler than that. Smart people just have good judgment and intuition around the subtleties of group dynamics and the impact of their words and actions.

Smart people can use their talents for good or ill purposes. In fact, some of the most dangerous people in history have been noted for being interpersonally smart.

What makes humble, hungry, and smart powerful and unique is not the individual attributes themselves, but rather the required combination of all three.

When team members are adequately strong in each of these areas—when they possess significant humility, hunger, and people smarts—they enable teamwork by making it relatively easy for members to overcome the five dysfunctions of a team (see model on page 214). That means they'll be more likely to be vulnerable and build trust, engage in productive but uncomfortable conflict with team members, commit to group decisions even if they initially disagree, hold their peers accountable when they see performance gaps that can be addressed, and put the results of the team ahead of their own needs. Only humble, hungry, and smart people can do those things without a great deal of coaching. Those who don't have all three virtues are going to require significantly more time, attention, and patience from their managers.

Humble Only: The Pawn

They often get left out of conversations and activities, and have little impact on the performance of a team. Pawns don't make waves, so they can survive for quite a long time on teams that value harmony and don't demand performance.

Hungry Only: The Bulldozer

Bulldozers are quick destroyers of teams. Fortunately, unlike pawns, they stand out and can be easily identified and removed by leaders who truly value teamwork. However, in organizations that place a premium on production alone, bulldozers can thrive and go uncorrected for long periods of time.