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June 2 - June 22, 2018
“What do you do that others in your personal life might find annoying?” Everyone annoys someone, sometimes. Especially at home.
“What kind of people annoy you the most, and how do you deal with them?” What you're looking for here are self-awareness and self-control. Smart people know their pet peeves, and they own the fact that some of those pet peeves are their own issues. They also know how to deal with annoying people in a productive, constructive way.
Would I want to work with this person every day? Smart candidates generally seem like the kind of people you'd enjoy spending time with on a regular basis.
Put the Reference Provider at Ease It's critical that a reference not feel that he is holding the future of the candidate in his hands, because this makes him want to be overly positive or, in many cases, cautious and general.
All you want to do is describe the culture of the team the candidate will be joining and find out whether the reference thinks it's a match. Assure the reference that he or she isn't the only person providing input and that everything will be kept confidential and discreet.
start by asking the reference to give you three or four adjectives that best describe the candidate.
humility, hunger, and smarts are not inherent traits, but rather they can be adopted by people with the desire to embrace them.
Humble Does he genuinely compliment or praise teammates without hesitation? Does she easily admit when she makes a mistake? Is he willing to take on lower-level work for the good of the team? Does she gladly share credit for team accomplishments? Does he readily acknowledge his weaknesses? Does she offer and receive apologies graciously? Hungry Does he do more than what is required in his own job? Does she have passion for the “mission”
the team? Does he feel a sense of personal responsibility for the overall success of the team? Is she willing to contribute to and think about work outside of office hours? Is he willing and eager to take on tedious and challenging tasks whenever necessary? Does she look for opportunities to contribute outside of her area of responsibility? Smart Does he seem to know what teammates are feeling during meetings and interactions? Does she show empathy to others on the team? Does he demonstrate an interest in the lives of teammates? Is she an attentive listener? Is he aware of how his words and
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the best way to do that is to ask employees to assess what their
teammates would say about them.
the purpose of this tool is to help you explore and assess how you embody the three virtues of an ideal
team player. The standards for “ideal” are high.
the most powerful activity that occurs around any assessment is peer discussion. Sitting down as a group and having teammates reveal and discuss their own relative weaknesses related to humble, hungry, and smart is a powerful way to ensure that all of this will lead to change and that teammates will be one another's best coaches.
the source of a lack of humility is always related in some way to insecurity, and for most people, insecurity is rooted in childhood and family issues that go way back beyond
their first day on the job or the team.
Now, all of us are insecure in one wa...
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It's important that someone trying to improve his capacity for humility understands this, otherwise he's likely to feel t...
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identifying the general cause of insecurity.
Whatever the case, it is often extremely helpful for a person to admit, to herself, her manager or even teammates, where her struggle with humility comes from.
Pointing this out to an employee can be another big source of relief, as it allows him to realize that he is not a bad person and that many others with his same type share his challenge.
By intentionally
forcing themselves to compliment others, admit their mistakes and weaknesses, and take an interest in colleagues, employees can begin to experience the liberation of humility.
simply having employees practice the very behaviors that they struggle with, so that they can come to understand the benefits to themselves and others.
employee to make a list of the desired behaviors related to their area of development and then track their own actions over a period of time.
I think you're doing that bragging thing again, and you asked us to help you by letting you know when we see it.” When an entire team agrees to help an open-minded teammate, even in an area as seemingly sensitive as humility, it is amazing the progress that can be made. Leader Modeling
Developing Hunger
it's the hardest to change.
it's not merely a matter of increasing his output.
It's about actually transforming the employee so that he can ultimately come to embody the idea of going above and beyond and no longer need extra prodding and reminding.
for some people, being less hungry than others has its benefits. More free time. Less responsibility. More emphasis on other, more preferred activities.
Plenty of fun, talented, and friendly people aren't great team players at work because their hunger is directed at activities outside of their jobs.)
no one really prefers to lack humility, as this inevitably causes pain and suffering for him or her and those around them.
The same is true about being smart. No one would intentionally choose to have a lack of social awareness or interpersonal adeptness.
Lacking hunger, on the other hand, can actually be a desired characteristic for some people.
some people actually do seem to prefer a sense of detachment and routineness, and pouring into them is not going to yield significant returns.
Passion for the Mission and the Team
connect her to the importance of the work being done.
don't understand the connection between what they do and the impact it has on others,
The most effective way to do this is
as a team. When a slightly non-hungry employee hears his colleagues describe their motivation and connection to the mission, one of two good things is likely to happen. He may get “infected” by his teammates' passion, and even if that doesn't happen, he may come to realize that he plays an important role in helping them fulfill their passion.
Clear Expectations
to set clear behavioral expectations for them and then hold them accountable for those expectations.
vital to clarify the behaviors you want from them.
An employee who prefers not to be hungry will recoil at this, either immediately or as soon as she sees that she is going to be held accountable for the behavior.
Not-Too-Gentle Reminders
change. Waiting until a performance review to tell him that he isn't doing enough to help the team or including that information in an annual three-hundred-sixty-degree feedback program is not only irresponsible, but cruel.
What that employee needs is someone to give him immediate and unambiguous feedback so that he can quickly digest the pain and translate it into a desire for change.
will require tactful encouragement, support, and patience during the initial stages; otherwise,
well-intentioned team member may be tempted to give up.
