The Magic of superstar team: How to understand different teammates and build the best team, using business chemistry framework?
Have you ever wondered, why good people get into fights, arguments and conflicts at workplace? Many people may say: “It is because of the conflict of business and career interest!” But besides that, there is a huge hidden reason — the clash of different personality and work styles. So how are personalities and work styles different, and how do they play out at the workplace? Deloitte Business Chemistry may just have the answer!
Kim Christfort, the Business Chemistry Global Leader and National Managing Director of Deloitte Greenhouse Experiences, and her Deloittte Business Chemistry Team, came to Stanford Graduate School of Business (virtually!) on May. 5 and gave students a great class about business chemistry and working relationship.
Kim and her team built an effective framework explaining different working styles by dividing people into 4 styles: guardian, pioneer, driver and integrator. Below are the key traits of each style.
(To find out which personality are you, click here to take the business chemistry survey!)
What are the 4 business chemistry personalities?
Guardian:
Key Word: Stability
Personality: Guardians like structure. They want to be able to breakdown issues, and want discipline at workplace. They are detail-oriented, and methodological. They are also very loyal and practical when facing business issues.
Sample Leader: Queen Victoria
Pioneer:
Key Word: Possibilities
Personality: Pioneers
Personality: Pioneers are full of imagination. They are detail-averse, but very adaptable, spontaneous and outgoing. They are willing to embrace risks and explore new options and paths.
Sample Leader: Ernest Shackleton
Driver:
Key Word: Challenge
Personality: Drivers are both scientists and commanders. They are logical, deeply curious, and experimental. They are also very focused and competitive.
Sample Leader: Theodore Roosevelt
Integrator:
Key Word: Connection
Personality: integrators are empathetic and diplomatic. They eager to connect people and build community. They value teamwork, like consensus, and are intrinsically motivated with big dreams.
Sample Leader: Abraham Lincoln
Is it possible to have 2 personalities?
Yes! This 4 personalities are not clear cut, rather people can have more than 1 personality. In fact a lot of personalities have overlapping traits. For example, both driver and pioneer like to embrace risk and call the shots; both guardian and driver like to contain emotions and display discipline.
How to know which personality your colleague is?
Observe his/her behavior! Also observe his/her likes and dislikes. Does he/she like structures and agenda? Does it make him/her mad if no action plan or decision is made at the end of a meeting?
You can also click here to use this business chemistry tool by Deloitte to build a hunch about your colleague’s working personality!
How do they work well together?
The worst team has different working personalities, and the best team ALSO has different working personalities. The worst team clashes all the time because of different working styles, while the best team gains various perspective and skillset that complement each other. So what are the differences between them? It all depends on how we deal with such diversity among the teammates. The 3 tools we can use to address the diversity and make the team better are: recognition, role allocation, and process.
1. Recognition: the first step of a great team is to recognize and embrace the different working styles among teammates, rather than ignore them. By setting up the mindset foundation of understanding people have different work styles, and they can actually benefit the team, the team can explore how to leverage its diversity.
2. Role allocation: given different working personality, everyone has roles that fit and unfit. How to put them in the right role to best leverage their advantage is the key for team success. Even during a meeting, different people can have different roles: guardian as the time keeper, pioneer to lead the brainstorming component, driver to synthesize actionable plan and hold people for accountability, integrator facilitate communication and help resolve conflicts. Be aware of allocating for the appropriate roles can create huge value to the team dynamics and team productivity.
3. Process: Building processes into the team/company can systematically improve teamwork, and different working personalities’ interest can be considered. Here we should focus on things that are “must have” for each personalities first, rather than trying to cover all of their needs. Below is are process examples for each personality:
Guardian: send out meeting agenda and pre-read before meeting
Pioneer: give a little time to re-read the material at the meeting (as pioneer may not read beforehand)
Driver: Actionable plan and accountable person for each task at the end of the meeting
Integrator: optional short social/small talk time before the meeting starts.
If you found out more ideas, please feel free to email me at raysu@stanford.edu to share!
Final Tips:
Business chemistry can be complicated given different style people working at the same place and lots of interaction among them. Being aware of different working personalities, observe your colleagues to identify these personalities, and help implement concrete initiatives to address such difference, can help you build a magic A team!
