by Dan Oswald
In a recent conversation with an organizational psychologist, I was asked, “What are the top three things you look for in the members of your management team?” That’s a big and important question. Yet I was able to answer it quickly and easily: “Trustworthiness, compatibility, and talent.” The next sentence I uttered might surprise you; it surprised me. Without really thinking, I followed up my four-word sentence about what I look for in the people who make up my management team with these three words: “In that order.”
And I stand by my answer. After the meeting concluded, I thought a lot about what the psychologist had asked and even more about my answer. And the more I considered it, the more certain I was that my answer was accurate. Trustworthiness, compatibility, and talent are the three things I consider most important in the people on my team. I’m not saying they’re the only answers or even the right answers. They’re just the right answers for me.
Trustworthiness. If you’ve read much of what I write about leadership, you know trust is a common theme. I’ve been on enough teams to know that trust is a critical element of success—in fact, I think it’s the most important. I don’t believe a team can function properly without it.
Team members must believe that their teammates can and will do their job so the team will succeed. They must trust that their teammates will put the team’s interest and success above their own. They must trust that their teammates will join with them to tackle even the most difficult circumstances. Sure, like everything else, trust is easy when things are good. But when the going gets difficult, do the members of your team trust one another? So trustworthiness tops my list. If someone isn’t worthy of his teammates’ trust, then he doesn’t have a place on the team.
Compatibility. The second item on my list is compatibility. I believe you must like and respect the people with whom you work. I hear people say they don’t care whether or not they like their coworkers, but I don’t buy it. Life’s too short to spend it with people you don’t like.
If you work a regular 40-hour workweek for 52 weeks a year, you’ll spend more than 2,000 hours with your coworkers. Most of us spend as much time with our coworkers as we spend with our families. Do you really want to spend that time with people you don’t like? I don’t. And more important, a team in which the members don’t like one another is much less likely to succeed. They call this “team chemistry.” It’s hard to define, but when you have it, you know it. There’s a certain amount of momentum that comes from a team with chemistry that you don’t find in a team without it. Compatibility is critical for a team to succeed.
Talent. Third on my list is talent. Some might take exception with talent falling into third place, but I stand by my answer. You see, I don’t care if you’re the most talented person for any specific role—if you aren’t trustworthy or compatible with the other members of the team, you aren’t going to help the team. Period. Does that mean talent isn’t important? Of course not. But I want the most talented person I can find who is also trustworthy and fits well with my team.
I’ve had people who are incredibly bright, experienced, and talented but fail because they don’t fit with the team. Either their teammates didn’t trust them or they weren’t compatible with the team. It’s like a body that rejects an organ. The team will reject that person—regardless of his abilities—if he doesn’t meet the other two criteria. So is talent important? Yes, incredibly so. It’s just not the most important.
If you consider this short list, you’ll see just how hard it is to find the right people for your team. You don’t need to find only trustworthy people. You need trustworthy people who are compatible with the other members of your team—and are the most talented you can find while still possessing the traits necessary to fulfill the first two criteria. You’re looking to hit the trifecta. Ask any gambler just how hard that is.
Thiis is something you said very well Trustworthiness and Compatibility are two very important pieces to a team. All the talent in the world will not help you if all the members are not pulling in the same direction. All it takes is one weak link and the chain is broken.
Troy Conway
Divison Training Manager
Norfolk Southern Corporation
It might be an element of all three but I think that you must have SANITY on your team (especially in managers), and it is worth calling out.
Hand in hand with “Trustworthiness” is the aspect of “Respect.”
I like the three all important outlined items in your article. Having been through some challenging transitions in my most recent professional assignments, I can relate to the three and the sequence of priority as well. The challenge I find now – as one in a transition break between employment for the first time, is how to convey the “compatibility” (team/cultural fit) – in addition to the first, to a prospective organization hiring leadership. In transition and seeking a new opportunity is where the third seems to be a right of passage based on experiences as outlined and displayed in one’s career profile and paper credentials getting you to the face-to-face meeting. The ability to convey the first two to a team manager and members in the personal meeting setting is all important and challenging when in transition seeking that next opportunity. Thank you for the post.
Excellent! Totally 100% agree! I just have a thought about your last two sentences. The leader, whether in the business world or in any other institution, will find it a challenge to locate and bring on board people with trustforthiness, compatability, and talent (and in that order of importance—YES!). It is a very worthwhile challenge—not impossible, not a game of chance— and the leader has to be certain of the outcome by keeping his or her eye on it constantly—bottom line, success, happiness, honor, patriotism, or whatever you want to call the outcome.
I’ve heard back from quite a few of you who have objected to compatability being on my list. I understand the objection and maybe I should have be more careful in my word choice. But I continue to maintain that team chemistry is critical to an organization’s success. Respect is part of that equation, but I need to respect someone for more than just their talent. Their treatment of others, their overall behavior, and, yes, even their personality plays a part in how well they fit with the team and how well the team performs with them as a member. Call it what you want, but a really talented jerk is still a jerk. If you want to see a team really succeed find a group of individuals that not only respect one another but genuinely like one another. Then they’re all willing to do anything in order not to let the others down. You know what they say about one bad apple spoiling the whole barrel, same goes for one person who, for whatever reason, is incompatible with the rest of the team.