Most workplaces need to put high performing teams together to complete projects. It’s easy to set targets for achievement within a team, but not as easy to achieve those targets. One thing you can never prepare for is the array of variables brought into play by everyone on that team.
Even if everyone wants to achieve good results, the interaction between team members who may be very different from each other will influence the outcome.
How to create a high performing team
To create a high performing team, it is wise to understand the personality of each member. What makes them tick? How will they interact with each other? How can you get the most out of everyone on the team?
Step 1. Understand the personalities of your team members
There are four broad personality types you will notice within your team. People display the following characteristics:
- Logical and analytical
- Loyal and conscientious
- Determined and focused
- Positive and enthusiastic
There is some overlap between these areas, of course. For example, someone might be somewhere between the first two categories, exhibiting traits from each one.
Personality profiling helps you work out where everyone within the team sits on a wheel, based on their personality.
Step 2. Consider how these personalities influence the way people work
Personality profiling enables you to find out how people would react in certain situations. For example, you may discover some members of your team are introverts, while others are more extroverts.
Their positioning therefore influences how they will react in specific instances. This might be something as simple as communicating with other team members – something extroverts would likely find far easier than introverts.
You can also discover how people think and feel. If a crisis arises during the working day, you will have a good idea of how certain people will handle it, given their personalities and preferences. Far better to learn this before the project begins than during it. Advance knowledge can help you tackle any issues far more smoothly.
Step 3. Consider how individual preferences help you get the most out of your high performing team
Different personality types often butt heads or interact well with each other. However, by understanding more about our fellow team members, we are all likely to get on much better.
It’s natural for someone to expect everyone else to work the same way they do. We don’t normally consider differences until they appear.
With personality profiling, everyone on the team will know how other people react and act given certain situations. The information does not seek to identify anyone as being above anyone else – rather, it seeks to inform and educate.
Everyone in the team understands their positive and negative points. Understanding that someone else works or reacts differently to you given the same stimuli helps everyone find common ground to work from.
Connecting more readily, communicating more powerfully, and gaining a greater and more positive understanding of all team members gives everyone the chance to get the most out of every team effort.