Aerospace BizDev News from
Linda Wolstencroft
Newsletter #45 – March 15th, 2015
Linda Wolstencroft’s monthly Newsletter offers business leaders insights on business growth in complex situations.
The Best Solutions Build Success: Let’s not kid ourselves
I recently had the opportunity to learn from an international leadership expert on what attributes make the best teams.
The way in which the learning came across was very well done: it was clear, it was engaging, and it drew me in. This is the type of presentation that builds energy and serves to motivate and inspire, which is essential in this current era of entertainment where serious news and information has to be presented in an entertaining format to hold our wandering attention - even when the subject is far from entertaining.
One of the messages in this wonderful presentation was that it was better to select team members based on passion rather than on skill. But in my experience, passion does not get the job done – the skill is indeed needed to achieve the best result. Without the skill, the work is done poorly, and often requires rework by others. At worse, the work remains incorrect and the solution resulting is substandard.
The reason that passion is not a sound basis on which to select team members is that there is a fine line between passion that works for the team and passion that works against the team. The least successful teams are those that are kowtowing too much to the passion and agendas of the individual team members and not to the objectives of the team. The agendas of the individuals become prominent. Too often teams fall into this trap and the team is weakened. It’s not that our personal agendas are not important and should be set aside for the 100% benefit of the team, but a correct balance is needed. Certainly, for example, personal agendas for growth and advancement can be integrated into team performance quite easily: a team member can specifically take part in a situation that is a learning opportunity and fosters growth, while simultaneously using the work to personally advance his or her abilities. This person is improving himself or herself, while also contributing to the team. In contrast, a team member who spends more energy trying to appear to be the smartest one on the team instead of working supportively with the rest is not working in the best interests of the team.
The lesson is to be cognizant that you are not selecting team members only because they appear to be keen and excited; if they cannot perform the work then the entire team and the project suffers.
In my view, the most successful teams are those that have leaders who accept and implement rigorous, at times harsh, recommendations on team composition.
Finally, when it comes down to it, in designing team composition, let’s not kid ourselves that one of the true indicators is track record of success. However, this involves more than a couple of successes; this is an ongoing track record that reflects an aptitude and attitude for ongoing growth and business results. These are the people to put on our most important to build the best solutions for success; let’s not compromise their ability to do so.
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This service is available when, where, and through the best medium for you.
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