It Not Just Who You Hire, It’s How They Work Together Written by Mark Fitzsimmons, President Read time: 4 minutes The Impact of Team Collaboration on Performance No one would argue that hiring the right people is important. At the same time, it’s not just who you hire that matters; it’s how well they work together. Consider this: Organizations with strong teamwork report 30% higher performance levels (Institute for Corporate Productivity, 2021) Companies that foster teamwork are more likely to introduce successful new products and services (Huang et al., 2020) Teams with high engagement levels achieve 21% greater profitability (Gallup, 2020) Companies with strong teamwork respond quickly to market changes and maintain competitiveness in dynamic environments (PwC, 2023) Building Strong Teams: More Than Just Hiring Right There are well documented approaches to fostering strong teamwork within organizations. Factors like setting shared goals, ensuring open lines of communication, and providing supportive leadership are important, and many organizations do these well. However, there is an opportunity companies often miss. It sounds obvious, but teams are made up of individuals. And if those individuals aren’t understood – if their strengths, challenges, preferences, and potential blind spots aren’t considered within the context of team functioning – all the goal setting, meetings and leadership in the world won’t make the impact it could. Case Study: Using Team Dynamics with Senior Leaders Recently, I worked with an executive team who wanted to gain insight into their team functioning. They knew that individual personality traits have an impact on team dynamics and team success, and they were curious to learn more about each other, including how each member contributed to the functioning of the team as a whole. They suspected these individual insights, when taken together, would not only provide a window into how the team was wired to succeed, but also where some of the landmines might be. They were right. A few days prior to the workshop, each leader completed the Work Personality Index, a talent assessment that reports on 21 traits impacting job performance, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement. This was important learning and a great opportunity to develop self-awareness. But what they really wanted to do was examine the ability to perform as a team. The leaders’ Work Personality Index results were analyzed and explored through Psychometrics Canada’s Team Dynamics platform, a powerful data visualization tool to support team functioning in 5 areas: Change Communication Conflict Problem Solving Teamwork One learning in particular stood out. As I invited each leader to identify where they fit within their team-based related to change, they realized the group was heavily weighted as change catalysts and change drivers. This led to a robust discussion of their team strength in identifying needed changes and opportunities to innovate, and at the same time helped them understand why they often felt a gap when it came to actually implementing those changes. This is just one example of the powerful learning the Team Dynamics platform provides. It holds up a mirror to team functioning, team performance, and ultimately, team success. Integrating Individual Strengths for Team Success So of course, hire the right people and invest in their individual development. But don’t miss the critical next step: take time to explore how each person works as part of the team, and ultimately, impacts team performance. To quote Michael Jordan, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships”. Sounds about right. References Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2021). The impact of teamwork on organizational performance. Huang, X., et al. (2020). “The role of team collaboration in innovation: A systematic review.” Journal of Business Research. Gallup. (2022). State of the American Workplace. Google. (2019). Project Aristotle: Understanding team effectiveness. PwC. (2023). The agile organization: How to thrive in a fast-changing world.
