Faces Of The Team

Every successful team is made up of diverse personalities that each contribute unique strengths. While goals and tasks may be shared, the roles team members play can vary greatly. As a leader, it’s important to understand the range of “faces” often seen on high-performing teams so you can better support and get the most from each one.

Here are common team member profiles:

The Driver - This go-getter is all about action and outcomes. They maintain focus on end goals and push for results. Their drive is crucial but needs to be balanced with thoughtful planning.

The Analyst - This careful thinker wants to work through all the details before proceeding. They focus on assessing risk and ensuring quality. Their precision is key but can slow pace.

The Innovator - This creative mind brings fresh perspectives and ideas. They keep teams from getting stuck in ruts by challenging norms. Their ideas inspire but may require refinement.

The Peacekeeper – This cooperative unifier works to create harmony. They prioritize collaboration and relationships. This glue is vital but hard decisions still need to be made.

The Optimizer – This positive problem-solver looks for workable solutions. They maintain hopeful mindsets despite challenges. This outlook lifts spirits but some realism is still essential.

The Anchor – This steadfast supporter provides reliability. They ensure consistency in process and follow-through. This diligence brings order but flexibility is still sometimes required.

The Leader – Whether formal or informal, leaders inspire action. They model priorities and motivate the team. Their vision and empowerment is crucial but they must also support the many other faces on the team.

Understanding these profiles allows leaders to fully leverage the diversity within their groups. Make sure all faces have influence and respect. The most successful teams feature all those faces working in concert to turn vision into reality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Understanding the Many Faces on High-Performing Teams

Across any organization, teams come together to tackle goals requiring diverse perspectives and skillsets. But a random assemblage of people does not necessarily make for an effective team. It requires consciously curating a complementary mix of personalities and work styles that allow groups to think expansively, align priorities, raise concerns, take action and more.

Understanding the various “faces” or profiles commonly seen on high-performing teams allows leaders to fully activate and get the most from their talent. Let’s explore some frequent personas:

The Driver – Motivated to Take Action & Achieve Results

Drivers bring intense focus and urgency to progress and outcomes. They maintain clear line of sight on the end goals and major milestones and push hard to make things happen quickly.

Typical attributes of Drivers include:

·       Action-oriented go-getters eager to get started

·       Confident and ambitious with an intense results focus

·       Willing to be very direct about priorities and expectations

·       Comfortable creating accountability structures to keep things on track

·       Not afraid to have tough conversations about lagging progress

·       Sometimes too quick to action without proper planning

The intense results focus of Drivers gives teams momentum and pace. But their impatience for action can also lead to short cuts or lack of alignment if not complemented with process.

·       How Leaders Can Best Support Drivers:

·       Put them in roles focused on outcomes with latitude to challenge status quo

·       Ensure they have forum to set bold targets backed by data and facts

·       Require they collaborate to build buy-in before unilateral action

·       Have them justify decisions with sound reasoning

·       Task them to mentor others on drive and resilience

The Analyst – Focused on Research, Details & Risk Mitigation

Analysts bring careful precision and skepticism to teams. They withhold full support until given opportunity to ask probing questions and ensure flawless execution.

Typical attributes of Analysts include:

·       Cautious evaluators who take time to thoroughly assess options

·       Want to examine plans from all angles before moving ahead

·       Extremely detailed-oriented and insistent on accuracy

·       Able to spot gaps, risks, and dependencies others may overlook

·       Will play “devil’s advocate” to pressure test assumptions and logic

·       Sometimes over-index on perfecting things versus moving forward

The risk-aware, precision-focused nature of Analysts forces robust vetting and creates quality control. But alone, their hesitancy can lead to paralysis and lack of progress.

How Leaders Can Best Support Analysts:

·       Put them in quality assurance and process improvement roles

·       Ask them to research and compile objective data for decisions

·       Task them with identifying risks factors and mitigation tactics

·       Require they offer solutions along with critiques

·       Give them opportunities to put their eye for detail to use

The Innovator – Bringing Fresh Eyes, Imagination & Creativity

Innovators offer fresh perspectives that challenge stale assumptions and the status quo. They keep teams from becoming too insular in their thinking.

Typical attributes of Innovators include:

·       Unconventional thinkers who ignore past constraints

·       Prolific idea generators unbound by “what is”

·       Draw interesting connections between disparate concepts

·       Thrive when given license to re-imagine whole experiences

·       May offer ideas ahead of market readiness or practicality

The novel concepts and rule-breaking mindset of Innovators fuels breakthroughs. But alone their ideas may be too disruptive or impractical for current needs.

How Leaders Can Best Support Innovators:

·       Let them incubate new concepts independently without initial critique

·       Task them to find inspiration from outside industries and analogies

·       Ask them to evolve ideas to address feasibility and user appeal

·       Give them opportunities to experiment and prototype

·       Ensure their ideas get fair consideration and are not dismissed out of hand

The Peacekeeper – Focused on Harmony, Relationships & Cohesion

Peacekeepers prioritize collaboration and team cohesion. They facilitate compromise and supportiveness across diverse perspectives.

Typical attributes of Peacekeepers include:

·       Skilled mediators who resolve conflicts with diplomacy

·       Read emotions and body language to foster alignment

·       Patient and empathetic listeners able to see all sides

·       Nurture positive tone and trust across team

·       Dislike interpersonal conflict and tension

·       Can gloss over differences versus addressing directly

By ensuring a supportive environment where people feel heard, Peacekeepers enable the constructive debate and truth-telling required to solve complex problems. But too much emphasis on niceties can allow issues to go unaddressed.

How Leaders Can Best Support Peacekeepers:

·       Put them in roles focused on relationship-building and culture

·       Ask them to mediate disagreements and facilitate compromise solutions

·       Task them to regularly check emotional pulse of team

·       Have them design team events and bonding experiences

·       Ensure they speak up to surface difficult truths and issues

The Optimizer – Maintaining Positive Momentum Despite Hurdles

Optimizers lift spirits in the face of setbacks and find the bright spots amid challenges. They keep teams motivated and solution-focused when negativity might otherwise take over.

Typical attributes of Optimizers include:

·       Hopeful, encouraging mindsets even amid difficult odds

·       Focus on finding progress and celebrating small wins

·       Rally and reignite teams through pep talks and humor

·       Won’t dwell on obstacles or wallow in failures

·       Can downplay risks or real challenges requiring serious attention

The buoyant positivity of Optimizers pulls teams out of ruts and reminds people that success often emerges from persistence in the face of flaws and failures. But too much happy talk can gloss over real risks and trade-offs requiring sober analysis.

How Leaders Can Best Support Optimizers:

·       Put them in roles focused on engagement and motivation

·       Ask them to highlight progress made and future opportunities

·       Have them identify quick wins that can be implemented amid larger efforts

·       Ensure they also listen to risks and concerns with openness

·       Task them to outline inspiring visions that teams can orient around

The Anchor – Providing Stability, Reliability & Diligence

Anchors provide disciplined follow-through and consistency amid shifting priorities and chaos. They ensure teammates can count on them to keep processes running smoothly.

Typical attributes of Anchors include:

·       Meticulous follow-through on all commitments made

·       Careful stewards of team resources and budgets

·       Diligent taskmasters who maintain orderly processes

·       Work steadily behind the scenes to ensure progress

·       Can struggle with frequent change or surprise deviations

By ensuring diligent monitoring and reliable execution of plans, Anchors give teams confidence that daily blocking and tackling will get done. But they can also hesitate to embrace necessary course corrections.

How Leaders Can Best Support Anchors:

·       Put them in roles focused on program management and process stewardship

·       Ask them to maintain master trackers of milestones and dependencies

·       Task them to ensure flawless follow-through on critical commitments

·       Have them document processes and procedures to transfer knowledge

·       Ensure they know when flexibility and real-time adjustments are needed

The Leader – Setting Vision, Modeling Culture & Empowering Greatness

Whether in formal or informal roles, leaders motivate and mobilize team around shared visions and values. They balance many other faces skillfully.

Typical attributes of Leaders include:

·       Paint compelling visions that give teams purpose and meaning

·       Model priorities and desired culture through daily actions

·       Challenge teams to raise standards while providing support

·       Empower others to step up and own outcomes

·       Can get overly attached to pet projects or lose sight of risks

By providing air cover and inspiration for their teams, leaders unleash greater innovation, engagement and performance. But no leader can succeed alone or without the balancing forces surrounding them.

How Organizations Can Best Support Leaders:

·       Ensure they take time for strategic thinking and vision-setting

·       Require they gather inputs from a diverse set of faces on their teams

·       Have them articulate how their roles fit into larger mission

·       Give them coaching and mentorship from other experienced leaders

·       Ask them to identify and develop emerging leaders on their teams

The Most Effective Teams Feature All Faces

When you look across consistently high-performing teams, they all share one commonality – they have each of the faces described above effectively represented and empowered. Diversity in work styles, mindsets and priorities allows these teams to see initiatives from all angles, build cohesion across functions, take disciplined action, course-correct creatively when needed and more.

As a leader, think holistically about the personalities and work profiles represented on your team today. Are you missing critical faces that would allow you to operate more effectively as a group? If so, make it a priority to fill those gaps through staffing, development or consultation.

Keep in mind that individuals can play multiple faces as needed. What’s most important is ensuring all the faces have influence when appropriate to keep teams balanced. With the right diversity of faces actively participating, your teams can achieve incredible things.