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

by Patrick Lencioni

Smart Only: The Charmer

They can be entertaining and even likeable for a while, but have little interest in the long-term well-being of the team or their colleagues. Their social skills can sometimes help them survive longer than bulldozers or pawns, but because their contributions to the team are negligible, they often wear out their welcome quickly.

Humble and Hungry, but Not Smart: The Accidental Mess-Maker

They genuinely want to serve the team and are not interested in getting a disproportionate amount of attention and credit. However, their lack of understanding of how their words and actions are received by others will lead them to inadvertently create interpersonal problems on the team. While colleagues will respect their work ethic and sincere desire to be helpful, those colleagues can get tired of having to clean up the emotional and interpersonal problems that accidental mess-makers so often leave behind.

of the three types that lack just one of the characteristics of an ideal team player, this is the least dangerous to a team, as accidental mess-makers have no bad intentions and can usually take corrective feedback in good humor.

Humble and Smart, but Not Hungry: The Lovable Slacker

They aren't looking for undeserved attention, and they are adept at working with and caring about colleagues. Unfortunately, they tend to do only as much as they are asked, and rarely seek to take on more work or volunteer for extra assignments.

Because they are generally charming and positive, it's easy for leaders to shy away from confronting or removing lovable slackers. After all, they're lovable.

Lovable slackers need significant motivation and oversight, making them a drag on the team's performance, more so than the accidental mess-makers.

Hungry and Smart, but Not Humble: The Skillful Politician

These people are cleverly ambitious and willing to work extremely hard, but only in as much as it will benefit them personally. Unfortunately, because they are so smart, skillful politicians are very adept at portraying themselves as being humble, making it hard for leaders to identify them and address their destructive behaviors.

they tend to rise in the ranks of companies where leaders reward individual performance over teamwork.

don't refer to an ideal team player who is slightly less hungry than she is humble and smart as a lovable slacker. These classifications are reserved only for people who are significantly lacking in one or more of the three traits.

the real purpose of identifying these types is not to pigeonhole people, but to better understand what constitutes ideal team players so we can recognize or develop them on our teams.

Ideal team players possess adequate measures of humility, hunger, and people smarts. They have little ego when it comes to needing attention or credit for their contributions, and they are comfortable sharing their accolades or even occasionally missing out on them. Ideal team players work with a sense of energy, passion, and personal responsibility, taking on whatever they possibly can for the good of the team. Finally, they say and do the right things to help teammates feel appreciated, understood, and included, even when difficult situations arise that require tough love.

Application #1: Hiring

The Interview Process

Don't Be Generic

Too many interviews are so generic that they provide little or no insight into specific attributes. Instead, they leave interviewers with extremely general assessments of candidates.

“She seems like a nice person. I like her.” That would be fine if you were looking for someone to mow your lawn once a week.

being specific about targeted behaviors and attrib...

Debrief Each Interview as a Team

when a handful of people conduct their own interviews and don't talk about what they've learned until after the entire round of interviews is complete. The problem is that one interview is no more specific or effective than the previous one. Instead, interviewers should debrief quickly after each interview, specifically around observations related to humility, hunger, and people smarts. For instance, if the first two interviewers agree that the candidate is hungry and smart, the third can focus on humility, taking more time and probing more directly for the unknown piece.

Consider Group Interviews

allows us to debrief more effectively (e.g., “What did you think he meant when he said . . . ?”). This also gives you a sense of how the candidate deals with multiple people at once, which is a critical skill on a team.

Make Interviews Nontraditional

interviews should incorporate interaction with diverse groups of people in everyday situations and that they should be longer than forty-five minutes.

deal with people in an unstructured environment.

Running an errand at the grocery store or the mall is not a bad idea. Spending time in a car and seeing how he behaves when he's not answering a question helps me understand him better.

Ask Questions More than Once

Ask What Others Would Say

ask them what others would say about them.

“How would your colleagues describe your work ethic?”

“How would your manager describe your relationships with...

“If I were to ask your colleagues to assess your level of humility, ...

there is just something about having to answer on behalf of another person that makes a candidate more honest.

Ask Candidates to Do Some Real Work

simulated work project.

Don't Ignore Hunches

Scare People with Sincerity

hiring people who are humble, hungry, and smart is to come right out and tell them that these are requirements for the job.

Before making an offer to the candidate, assure him that you are absolutely, fanatically committed to these principles and that if an employee somehow made it through the interview process but did not share that commitment, it would be miserable working there.

Many people will try to get a job even if they don't fit the company's stated values, but very few will do so if they know that they're going to be held accountable, day in and day out, for behavior that violates the values.

Interview Questions

Humble “Tell me about the most important accomplishments of your career.” Look for more mentions of we than I.

“What was the most embarrassing moment in your career? Or the biggest failure?” Look for whether the candidate celebrates that embarrassment or is mortified by it. Humble people generally aren't afraid to tell their unflattering stories because they're comfortable with being imperfect.

“How did you handle that embarrassment or failure?” Again, look for specifics about how he accepted responsibility, what he learned from it, and if he actually acted on what he learned.

“What is your greatest weakness?”

look for answers that are real and a little painful. Candidates who present their weaknesses as strengths (“I take on too much” or “I have a hard time saying no”) are ...

The key to the answer is not what their weaknesses are (unless of course they're an axe murderer), but if they're comfortable acknowledging something real.