When it comes right down to it, all men aren’t created equal. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when it comes to assembling your business team. Having team members with different backgrounds, as well as skills and specialisations, is what drives innovation and ensures that you have all the bases covered by receiving inputs from all possible sides.

It’s up to you, the team leader or manager, to see to it that everyone on your team is performing their best, contributing all that they can, and is happy while working with everyone else. This, of course, is much easier said than done, as many teams in today’s workplace have members who may be about as alike as chalk and cheese.

How do you keep your team running like a well-oiled machine when its parts don’t seem to fit together? It all boils down to taking a micro and macro view of your team, which means relating to individual team members, and considering the needs of your team as a whole.

Go, Team… Players!

Acknowledging everyone’s individuality is the first step towards unity. While that may seem self-contradictory, it makes sense when you think of it as an assessment of the way someone fits into your team. Getting to know each team member through regular one-on-one’s will enable you to adjust your management style accordingly as both coach and team captain. Many descriptions and evaluations of the various personality types exist (such as this one by Deloitte), but to give you a fresh and hopefully clearer perspective of team dynamics, we have our own sporty take on workplace personalities. We’ll also give you a hint or two as to how you may be able to adapt to each of them or relate to them on a personal level.

• The Most Valuable Player (MVP). These are your super achievers who are very good at what they do. They’re quick on the uptake, able to work independently, and readily learn what they need to, as needed. They are also often able to help others out whilst performing their own tasks and have a healthy amount of confidence in their abilities.
  
  Even if they may not express it openly (or even be aware of it), MVP’s look for affirmation of their achievements. However, there are MVP’s who, knowing just how good they are, might be a bit too confident. If such is the case with one of your own, try having a two-person huddle to remind your star player that everyone else on the team is just as valuable as he is.

• The Defender. These are your introverts, the “strong and silent” types who are great at what they do, but aren’t the type to broadcast it. Because of this, other team members might get the idea that defenders may not be as smart or slacking off. In this instance, communication has a crucial role to play in letting everyone know what everyone else is actually up to.
  
  Bear in mind that it’s not that defenders are stand-offish; indeed, many of them are just naturally diffident—but this does not in any way detract from the often high quality of their performance. As you encourage them to be more communicative and assure them that they will be listened to, be sure to check in with them regularly in a friendly, unobtrusive manner.

• The Cheerleader. These are your social butterflies who get along with everybody and want to make sure everyone is all right. In terms of performance, many of them do tend to be above average and excel at project management. Team members generally feel comfortable around them and may look to them for both work-related and moral support.
  
  Because of the way they seem to know what’s going on with everybody, cheerleaders might give the impression that they are nosy or a source of workplace gossip. They might also seem to be spending more time on the office grapevine than actually working. Again, open team communication and a quick tête-à-tête may be all you need to get them back on track.

• The Wildcard. These are your creatives, the artistic, unconventional types who don’t seem to think in the same way as everyone else, and therefore tend to be a tad unpredictable. Yet, these are the team players who usually (not exclusively) come up with the ideas that could (and often do) make a whole difference to the team’s overall output.
  
  Though they may not always appear to be, wildcards work as hard as anyone and are usually more emotionally invested into their work. Because of this, they need to know that their work is respected or appreciated. As you give wildcards the space they need to ideate and create, channel their energies to make sure that their innovations remain aligned with team goals.

• The Benchwarmer. Let’s be honest, every organisation has them, but don’t let their name fool you—these team players play a role that’s just as important as the rest of the team. While they may not particularly stand out in terms of performance, they are the backbone of your team whom you should be able to count on to give their hardworking best time after time.
  
  While not every benchwarmer has the potential to become an MVP, they have strengths as well as weaknesses just like everyone else. Reach out to them so you can work on identifying these strengths in order to build them up, as well as compensate for the weaknesses where possible. Don’t forget—these team players also have a hand in carrying out your game plan.

United, We Stand

The winning strategy for your personality-diverse team also hinges on how you understand and facilitate the way your team works as a single unit. In writing for Fast Company, Ted Leonhardt points out how it’s possible to set norms or rules of conduct for your whole team that everyone can observe regardless of their individual personalities.

These norms may vary between teams and organisations, but they generally include reminding everyone of the objectives that the team needs to reach together, and that everyone has an important role to play in meeting those objectives. Remind everyone that they need to show respect towards everyone else on the team, and that no one should be left out or left behind.

Assure everyone that they’re not alone on the team and that you and everyone else are ready to help when necessary and to listen when they have something to say. But remind them likewise that everyone is counting on them to perform their tasks well, and to complete them on time.

And just as you continue to build personal, individual relationships with each member of the team, you can also get to know them collectively by working alongside them wherever possible. Also make it a point to celebrate victories (big or small) with them, and to be there for them (as well as learn from it) when things don’t go according to plan.

Leading and managing teams is something we know a lot about at Kaleidoskope, as our trainers have helped key decision-makers as well as those with leadership potential to become better, more effective leaders. Find out how you can hone your own leadership skills along with those of your fellow managers by getting in touch with us at Kaleidoskope, today.

“He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk,” began the quote by Nietzsche. Having trained both leaders and those with leadership potential over a number of years, we’ve designed our very own Leadership Fundamentals Programme or LFP with the overall objective of soaring to new heights in leadership.

Let’s take a closer look at the programme’s 4 Leadership Fundamentals in turn, what you can do to master them over time, and how and your organisation stand to benefit from your mastery.

1. Relationship Building

Becoming a good leader means being able to build sustainable relationships with peers and teams, understanding their personal behaviours and adapting to different, individual styles.

Writing for the Educause Review, Beth Schaefer notes the importance of regarding your organisation as a community, working toward common goals and sharing the same values as one way to build relationships at work. It’s important to define these goals and values clearly so as to be able to guide everyone in the community.

As a leader, you have to want to provide that guidance, and be responsible for seeing that everyone reaches your goals, together. To do this, you’ll have to motivate your team and create a trusting and supportive environment as they will need to support and trust you.

As you continue to connect with team members, keep an eye on how the relationships between you, yourself and others or between others on your team can either be maintained or strengthened. This involves recognising individual personalities and capabilities, asking questions that really matter, and really listening to the answers.

This, in turn, means that you, as well as your team, will need good communication skills. Making sure that everyone is on the same page will help improve your group dynamics and teamwork, putting your common values into action and making your organisational goals that much more attainable.

2. Resilience

Leaders have to master resilience in dealing with uncertainty and changes at work and beyond.

Research indicates how your ability to lead your team through change hinges on your ability to acknowledge and control your own reactions to a change as it comes. After all, how will you be able to answer the questions and allay any fears that usually come with change, and spur your team to take the necessary action unless you, yourself are mentally prepared to do so?

It is possible to train yourself to gain control of your reactions to change and develop resilience. You can start by taking a moment to take stock of the situation, calming down, and then thinking about what can be done to turn things around. Only then will you be able to provide the appropriate response to the situation.

Cutting yourself a little slack is another way to becoming more resilient, as change is a breeding ground for self-judgment. But while it is important to master yourself before you can lead others, know that even at this stage, you don’t have to go at it alone. Reaching out to others on your team helps you develop your resilience as it is also a form of moral support.

3. An Innovative Mindset

Our LFP also focuses on the need to adopt an innovative and experimentation mindset towards tackling tasks and solving problems creatively.

Research by McKinsey & Company reveals that while over 70% of senior executives have said that innovation was one of the top three drivers of their companies’ growth, about 65% of them have expressed a lack of confidence in this area. These leaders seemed to doubt their ability to foster innovation, and to find it frustrating to create an innovative corporate culture.

Committing to creating this culture can make it possible, however, to give innovation the place it needs to have at your organisation. Formalise that commitment in writing by including innovation in your management agenda, so that it can be tracked as a key performance indicator.

You can also make the most of the innovative talent that you already have in-house, as many organisations tend to leave this invaluable resource untapped. You can do this by setting systems in place that will empower these innovators to work their magic.

In relation to this, cultivate trust among your teams, which will reassure anyone with an innovative idea that these ideas are important, and encourage the sharing of those ideas. This trust can be far more powerful than any monetary incentive for promoting innovation.

4. Managing through Influence

Leaders must likewise be able to manage stakeholders through effective influencing techniques.

In writing for Forbes, Navy SEAL combat veteran, Brent Gleeson highlights the ability to influence others to believe in your mission and your goals as one of the most important aspects of effective leadership. If you can get your team to have that same strong belief you have in your collective ability to succeed, your organisation is well on its way towards success.

Note that influence doesn’t entail getting creative with the truth or putting an unrealistic positive spin on things, but convincing your team that your strategy is sound. This can be done by clearly defining the results you need to achieve, and then outlining your plan for achieving them.

Taking off from relationship building, you also need to get to know the stakeholders you need to influence, so as to be able to figure out the best ways for to get them to buy into your strategy. As you get to know them better, you can also get their feedback on the plan which will enable you to improve it.

But demonstrating your credibility is perhaps the most important factor in influencing your team—showing them why they should believe in you and your plan is crucial to convincing them to follow it, and you.

Four fundamentals may not seem like a whole lot, and yet any leader worth his salt would tell you how challenging it can be to master even one. “If you want to be a leader, the good news is that you can do it,” says John C. Maxwell. “Everyone has the potential, but it isn’t accomplished overnight. It requires perseverance.”

Ask us about our Leadership Fundamentals Programme and get started on becoming a better leader, now.