Curriculum Vitae

I answer the interview questions that I ask

How do you build the ‘Magical Team’ of your dreams?

I have been lucky enough to work on a few teams that I consider ‘Magical’. These are the teams that I look back on and think to myself, 'that was an amazing group of people, who did great things, and I would love to work with them again'. If I see the potential for magic, we might work together, if I don’t, we won’t. If you don't like my methods or approach, we shouldn't work together. In order to reach the magical state, a few ground truths need to be accepted, and on existing teams usually a few things have to change.

Ground Truths

• Talented people have choices and aspirations, if you don't accept that and help your talented people achieve their aspirations they will choose to work with someone else, someplace else. This can be extremely uncomfortable  when one of your teammates wants your job. If you're not fearless and committed to help everyone achieve the maximum of their potential, magic will never happen. It is never about the power you hold, it is about the power you unleash.

• Leaders can't motivate people, they can however destroy motivation. The biggest mistake made is prescribing the 'how' not the 'what'. Prescribe the 'what', let the talented people who you work with figure out the 'how'. In my experience getting this backwards is the fastest way to destroy motivation. Yes, from time to time intervene and prescribe the 'how'. Only do this when you have a high level of confidence that the current direction will fail. You must explain the reasons, and vanity better not be one of them.

• Not everyone gets to be on this team. Doing great things on a team requires both performance and behavior. If you don't have both the EQ and the IQ it won't workout. This may sound harsh, but it's the truth. To the extent possible let people who are not suited to working on this type of team opt out gracefully.

Steps On The Path

1. Rapport, comes first. The dictionary definition is; a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well. This definition has worked well, I tend to focus on the communication and civility part. I have been known to say, ‘we need to be able to talk without wanting to kill one another’. This is normally the easiest step, and has never taken me more than a month. Methods;

   1. Whether I am working as a leader or as an individual contributor the first meeting this is said, 'I am human, I make mistakes, if I do or say anything that offends you, give me the benefit of the doubt, speak with me about it, and I will do my best not to do it again, I will extend the same benefit of the doubt to you'.

   2. Each team member is free to express their opinions and thoughts.

   3. I'm interested in what people do outside of work.

   4. I spend time at lunches, drinks, one on one's getting to know each person.

   5. I am open with teammates about this methodology and what they will have to do to be successful on our team. 

   6. I impress upon everyone that making decisions is critical, don’t be afraid of making bad ones.

   7. During this period it is critical to minimize conflict across the team.

   8. Begin discussions about everyones future, learn everyones aspirations;

2. Trust, comes second, this is not the dictionary definition of trust, it is slightly paraphrased; believing in the reliability, truthfulness, abilities, and strengths of one's teammates. I like to extend truthfulness to include honest open feedback in all directions. I must be able to trust that you will not only do your work, but communicate it’s status accurately, this includes giving your best effort. It further means that you will communicate problems as you become aware of them (bad news early). As teammates, we are all obligated to provide feedback, both positive and negative to all team members.

   1. As a team member  you will be given a great deal of latitude. I am going to trust you before you have earned it. This approach has bit me in the past, but building trust is critical to having a magical team. Simply asking you to trust me does not work.

   2. You must take a risk at some point and give me feedback on my performance. This can be difficult to do given that I am your boss. I promise that I will listen to what you have to say. I may or may not respond immediately, but I will respond. The response will be in the form of agreement or non-agreement.

   3. Some words on negative feedback; We are all human and we all have feelings, think about what you are going to say before you say it.

   4. The goal of trust building is multifaceted. 

      1. When you trust your teammates you feel safe. 

      2. When you are trusted, you own the outcome, you become more bought into your team's success.

      3. When your teammates are trustworthy you know things that impact your work will be communicated in a timely manner.

      4. For the manager, if you can trust your team you don’t need to do the followup checking to see if you're being given the straight story.

   5. I start off by trusting each staff member to handle their own communications with me. This comes in the form of scheduling one on ones, or dropping in for ad hoc conversations. A critical part of successfully working on a high performance team is being able to make decisions. This is a small simple test to see who can and can’t. In the past it has been a strong indicator of long term success or failure.

3. Camaraderie, has a number of different definitions. But the one I like most is that every team member is more concerned with the success of the team over their individual success. Team members will make sacrifices in order to advance the team agenda at the expense of their own agenda. The leader plays a key role in this, he/she must ensure that individuals who are ‘camaraderie builders’ do not suffer any ill effects and are in fact rewarded.

4. Alignment, we have now arrived at the most difficult part. Believing in the mission. If things have gone well you have a smart, motivated, highly effective team. Bad news is that they are not afraid to express opinions, provide alternatives, see things you don’t. In order to be effective at alignment, you need to start building the vision before you start building the team. Most of the time you can’t do this, but when you can your chances of becoming magical are much higher.

What do you look for in potential teammate?

Three things;

1. Do they have problem solving intelligence?

2. Are they excited about what we do?

3. Is this someone who will thrive in the environment we have to offer?

The specific questions depend on the role and how senior the person is.