In our series dealing with teambuilding between 2021 and 2024, we have already covered the reasons and functions of forming a team, the differences between decision-makers’ real and “official” goals, and how these factors affect team success. Now we will discuss why a team is needed at all.
Different personalities, different reasons
There is a central topic of RISE’s workshop dealing with team formation and management: how people with different personality types have different reasons for building and working with teams. It is an important aspect because the general team image does not always represent the truth. What is more, in our dynamically changing, result-oriented life – when there is serious competition in every field – in the case of successful people, we are getting further away from the traditional team concept. Interestingly, we can already accept that people think differently. The application of typing systems is becoming more widespread to create appropriate categories for people to understand each other and create a common language. In the case of individual assessments, it is almost natural; however, when somebody becomes the leader of a team, in most cases, we still expect them and take it for granted that they immediately give up their own ways of thinking and subordinate themselves to the team. To put it in another way, they give up their personal goals for the sake of a general, team-level direction. Actually, that is how it is supposed to be. However, just because it is supposed to be so, it is not that way at all. However, in order to understand the reasons for this, we need to take a step back in the process and think about who and why they think that they need to exist in a team or that they need a team to succeed. It is interesting, especially in the case of those selfish personality types driven by their individual interests. Why do they choose the “from tomorrow, I will continue my activities in a team” path? Is it social pressure? Yes. Is this what intelligence and upbringing dictate? Yes as well. Nevertheless, we need to understand that these factors are enough to become a member or leader of a team, but it is too little to make the team succeed. However, teams led by people driven by their individual interests become just as successful as teams led by people who concentrate on the community and subordinate their individual interest to others. What is more, in a crisis and the lengthy recovery period following it, teams led by people driven by individual interests can dominate because they are very good at handling crises.
RISE’s team personalities
The system logically explains the motivations of the different personality types when cooperating in a team. The workshop’s content is logical but not always likeable; however, it is at least true and honest. The Ruler and Individual types are characterised by individual interests, while the Supporter and Expert types concentrate on the team—value systems connected to the team change accordingly. For Rulers, the team is important because they like to deal with big things at a strategic level, which is trendy and prestigious. They need people who will do the “not so generous” work, the “dirty”, “problematic” little things. Individuals want to work in a team because they want to concentrate on the interesting, dynamic, new things that require performance, and they let the boring things get completed by the other team members. We need to bear these things in mind if we want to work with these two types or, as top decision-makers, appoint them as team leaders. Their dynamism and skills that make them capable of getting out of a crisis are needed, but we should keep them under constant supervision if we want to avoid failure in the end. Supporters like to work and surround themselves with people, so the team is important for them. At least, this is the pleasant side of things. Nevertheless, we need to be aware that this personality type often finds it impossible to make decisions, so they like to make others take responsibility. The team is a perfect solution for it. Experts want to bring new expertise into the team, so working with more people is important for them. They want to develop as well and can build on and learn from the professional expertise of the team members. In addition, they like to create successful and good professionals, mentor others, and bring the best out of people. However, they often do it with tools lacking emotions, purely focusing on the result.
As we can see, the necessity of a team is a multidimensional process. We need to be aware – as decision-makers – why working in a team is important for us. We should admit if the reason is, for example, that as individuals, we would not be successful. This is important because when we are not satisfied with our team members, we often forget why we brought them into the team. Maybe, especially for their personality traits that we need to reach the main goals; however, they often drive us crazy during daily life.