The Secret Benefits of Teamwork

Very few people are islands unto themselves. Cooperation and delegation are common asks in the business world. Some handle it better than others, all based on their Core Values Index™ personality profile.

The value of cooperation and teamwork exists regardless of the goals of the organization.

Rome wasn't built in a day, nor was the Great Pyramid of Giza erected by a single person. Every great accomplishment in human history has required the effort of many working toward a common goal.

When two or more people strive to achieve something, the ease of success depends on the assignment of each individual on the team based on their personal psychometric profile.

Note we didn't say the odds of success. We used the word ease. This means that success can be achieved through various methods and approaches, but how easily it is reached depends on the composition of the team itself.

Some projects are accomplished through sheer force of will. The brutal use of slave labor to build the Road of Bones¹ through far eastern Russia is an example. It was made but at a terrible cost.

On the other end of the spectrum (and on a much smaller, kinder scale) we have the Canadian rock band Rush. Three individuals with very different personalities came together, each outstanding in their particular discipline yet cooperating to play to their strengths (pun intended). This combination produced one of the longest-lasting and most successful progressive rock bands in history.

In the business world, you can build a team of people who we call 'reluctant heroes.' They have tremendous work ethic and indomitable tenacity to achieve the organization's goals, yet it will be a tremendous struggle for everyone involved.

Compare that expensive and energy-draining struggle to a competitor who selects each employee based on the alignment between their psychometric profile and the needs of the role. They will reach their operational objectives with relative ease and each team member actually takes great enjoyment and fulfillment in their contribution.

Which organization is likely to be more profitable today and stand the test of the time decades from now?

Effective Leadership Through Effective Delegation

The value of cooperation and teamwork exists regardless of the goals of the organization.

For teamwork to be effective, it requires two key components: appropriate delegation and teamwork.

Delegation is a prime requisite of effective leadership.

The leader, whether it be of a crew in a small business or a multi-national corporation, can't do it all by themself. They must be able to identify the tasks that they are unqualified for or they don't have the time to do on their own.

These tasks are delegated to others. What makes that delegation effective is choosing who will take on each task. This is where smart hiring comes into play.

The greatest organizations are defined by their team, not their product or service.

People make the product. People provide the service. If you don't have great people, well, the result is obvious (and common).

The psychometric profile of the leader matters when it comes to delegation. Some are quick to hand off responsibilities to others, while some delegate on paper but insist on micro-managing the situation into the ground. Turnover increases, product and service quality suffers, and the leader themselves face a seemingly endless stream of days marked by frustration and disappointment.

Micro-managing is never an effective leadership technique.

Effective Teamwork

It is human nature to like those who are like us and dislike those who are dissimilar to ourselves.

Many situations arise when we are called upon to work with others without being able to choose our teammates. Sometimes we must cooperate with people who have the same objectives as us, but other times we're on the same team but play completely different roles.

The Parable of the Football Team

The wide receiver, the offensive line, and the quarterback all have the same goal — to score a touchdown — yet they have completely different individual objectives, methods, and characteristics.

How do football players cooperate most effectively? They recognize and play to their individual strengths, orchestrated so that those strengths make the biggest impact at the optimal time and place.

By recognizing that other people can be strong in what they do and how they do it, even when it wildly differs from our own objective and method, we can cooperate with maximum effectiveness.

We have found that homogeneity within an organization often degrades productivity. Profitability suffers as a result. In fact, organizations with diverse work forces outperform their competitors in profitability, efficiency, and employee longevity. Those with diverse leadership teams outperform their competition, too.

Cooperation is not a euphemism for "everyone on the team is the same." Cooperation means the roles are individually tailored to the greater needs of the organization, and each person filling that role has the psychometric profile best suited to that role's requirements.

A Myth About Company Culture

You'd think building a team with all these individual personalities and psychological profiles would create a disjointed group who can't get along or cooperate effectively. Don't they all have to share the same attitude toward a defined company culture?

On the contrary, we have found that something surprising happens when you hire for the needs of each role: respect.

When the quarterback can throw the ball through the eye of a needle, cross-body and at a dead run, they get the respect of their teammates.

When the wide receiver can reach into the sky and pluck that pass and bring it down with one hand while outrunning the defender, they get the respect of their teammates.

When the offensive line powerfully and skillfully blocks the onrushing defense, giving the quarterback the room they need to execute their play without being hurried, they get the respect of their teammates.

Does the quarterback berate the offensive line for their lack of ability to catch a pass? Does the offensive line look down on the wide receiver for their inability to block a rushing 300 pound defensive tackle?

It's All About Respect

If you build a team where everyone is highly suited to their role, you organically create a company culture of respect and even admiration within your entire team. Each employee has the confidence to hand off or share work with other members of the team because they know they are the best at what they do. Leaders have the confidence to delegate tasks and authority to subordinates because they know it will get done and it will get done right the first time.

Effective delegation and cooperation can be achieved when you not only understand the way your own emotional hardwiring influences your perspective of teamwork, but also when you work with those who are optimally suited to their particular role on the team.

NOTES:

[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R504_Kolyma_Highway

Core Values Index™ and CVI™ are trademarks of Taylor Protocols, Inc.