The Ideal Team Player
Photo Credit: by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash
In my last blog post, I focused on how your organisation’s core values should be embedded throughout your entire team. From hiring to firing and everything in between, your company values should underpin every decision you and your team make. This is how you cultivate an influential company culture where everyone on your team is moving in the same direction, creating what Jim Collins defines as the Flywheel Effect.
The Flywheel Effect
In Collins’ book Good to Great, he defines The Flywheel Effect. Based on the theory that no great company or enterprise turns on a single defining action or innovation, The Flywheel Effect is a metaphor for the increasing and perpetual momentum created by every member of the team relentlessly pushing a heavy flywheel, turn upon turn.
For The Flywheel Effect to be effective in any organisation, all members of the team need to be on board with the company vision, values and culture to enable the flywheel to have the requisite driving force to pick up speed and move in the right direction.
If, however, you find that members of your team are not embodying your core values, this begins to undermine the company culture and can have detrimental short and long-term effects on your organisation’s performance, productivity, and profitability.
The Values Evaluator
In small to medium businesses, it can be challenging to know who is truly living the company’s values. With so much going on and often little time or money for Human Resource management, people who are undermining the company culture often slip under the radar.
At Infinity HR, we use The Values Evaluator to regularly appraise how your staff are tracking in terms of your core values and vision.
Utilising The Values Evaluator on a regular basis, particularly during performance reviews, helps leaders to understand who understands and embodies the company culture and who may be (often unconsciously) undercutting the team’s overall vision.
It allows company leaders to communicate clearly to their team where changes need to be made to ensure everyone is on the same page.
The Three Elements of the Ideal Team Player
When I work with teams to define their vision and core values, it is then imperative that they make decisions at every stage of the employee life cycle with these in mind.
This starts in the hiring process, ensuring that the hiring manager has a clear script that communicates the company vision from the employee’s very first interaction with the company.
Throughout the recruitment journey, I also encourage my clients to evaluate their potential employees according to whether they embody the three elements of an ideal team player.
Developed by Pat Lencioni, the virtues that define a team player are essential to any organisation’s ability to cultivate a strong culture and create The Flywheel Effect.
The first of these virtues is being humble. Ideal team players lack ego and concerns about status and superficial appearances. They share credit, are quick to point out the contributions of their workmates and define success collectively rather than on an individual level.
The ideal team player is also hungry. They have a constant thirst for knowledge and are continually striving to develop on a personal and professional level.
The third virtue of the ideal team player is that they are smart. They display keen emotional intelligence, are empathetic and have strong people skills.
When you conduct the hiring process with these virtues in mind, you build a company that epitomises teamwork and collaboration, allowing your business to leverage The Flywheel Effect for maximum productivity.
At Infinity HR, we are experts at helping SMEs hire ideal team players to ensure the best cultural fit for your organisation. Contact Iolanda today for a confidential consultation today on 0400 489 743 or email iolanda@infinityhr.com.au.
References:
Concepts – Jim Collins – The Flywheel Effect