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At Redmond, we talk a lot about collaboration.
In work situations, we all know that being a team player is important. But what makes someone a good team player? What makes someone a great team player?
In his Ted Talk entitled “The Ideal Team Player” (which shares a name with his book), Patrick Lencioni discusses the three traits that make someone an ideal team player, and how missing one of those traits can cause issues.
Main Takeaways
- The people on your team make all the difference in your work experience and the results you’re able to achieve together.
- An ideal team player is HUMBLE, HUNGRY, and SMART.
- The absence of even one of those traits can cripple someone’s ability to collaborate. But some deficiencies can be more problematic than others.
How do we apply this at Redmond?
What Do Hungry, Humble, and Smart Even Mean?
Before we get into the nitty-gritties of how these traits work with our core values, let’s get clear on what we mean when we say hungry, humble, and smart, and why they’re important in the first place.
Hungry
“People who have an innate hunger to get things done are simply more successful at work and in life.” -Patrick Lencioni
When a person is hungry, they want to do good work. They’re curious, and they care a lot. They want the work and the team to be the best they can be.
According to Patrick Lencioni, being hungry is “Simply having a good work ethic.”
To us, being hungry means putting your full attention and effort into whatever’s in front of you while also growing, exploring, and pursuing your 3 Circles.
When you’re hungry, you don’t just do the bare minimum. You put in the effort because you care about doing great work, no matter what that work is.
Humble
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.” - C. S. Lewis
True humility is not ego-centric, and it’s also not lacking confidence.
Someone who’s humble knows they don’t know it all, and they’re open to other people’s perspectives. They value the perspectives and contributions of others at least as much as their own.
They also care about the cause the whole team is working for more than their own agenda.
Humility is probably the most important of these three traits, because without it, you won’t have the self-awareness and desire to work on the other two. A lack of humility also causes way more problems than a deficiency in hunger or smarts because at worst, those without humility may actually sabotage their team rather than innocently undermine it.
But you CAN develop humility.
Smart
We don’t just mean high IQ here. “Smart” in this context refers to people smarts. This means that someone is considerate of others and is somewhat self-aware. “Smart” here means emotional intelligence and being aware of our impact on others.
This definitely doesn’t come naturally to everyone, but it’s a learnable skill.
Where are you strongest? Where are you weakest?
This is important: To be a strong team player, we have to have all three traits. Not just one or two.
At Redmond, we talk a lot about developing your strengths and collaborating so that your weaknesses become irrelevant, which we stand by 99% of the time.
This is that 1% of the time when you really do need to focus on your weaknesses, because in this case, your weaknesses can become major stumbling blocks for you and your team.
Do a little self-evaluation here, and be honest. Which trait comes the most easily to you? Which trait do you struggle with?
Most of us have at least one naturally strong trait, and one where we struggle a little bit. This doesn’t mean we’re bad people or lousy team members; it just means we have an opportunity to work on something to get even better.
How to Improve Where You’re Weak
So, you’ve identified where you could use a tune-up. (If you haven’t, ask your team, and listen openly. They’ll probably have a good perspective.)
What now? How do you develop these traits?
We've found that these traits correspond nicely with our core Redmond values, and by focusing on the values, you’ll strengthen these traits naturally.
Here’s how.
Low on hunger? Lean into Passion for Contribution.
Passion for Contribution
A passion for being helpful and doing work that makes other people’s lives better, in some way. This is what gives our work (and our lives) meaning.
Patrick Lencioni says that hunger is probably the hardest of the three to develop later in life. That may or may not be true, but it’s definitely possible to develop, no matter your age or circumstances. If hunger is your weakest area here, developing Passion for Contribution can help.
But how do you do that?
Look for how you can be helpful.
Look or ask around and see where you can contribute, even if it’s in a small way. Find where you’re helpful and apply yourself there.
Often, passion follows contribution, not the other way around!
Pursuing your 3 Circles Journey can be a game changer here too. It’s hard to be hungry if you don’t feel like you can make a meaningful contribution, if you’re struggling to do something you’re not good at, or if you just don’t like what you’re doing. The more you get to know where you’re helpful, what you’re wired for, and what fills your cup, the easier it will be to be hungry.
Learn more about Passion for Contribution.
Low on humility? Lean into Occhiolism.
Occhiolism
The awareness of the smallness of your perspective that leads to a thirst for understanding.
If “humble” is your weakest area, a little Occhiolism can go a long way!
When we’re low on humility, we tend to think that our perspective is the truth. But the real truth is that our perspective is limited, and we need the perspectives of others to round out our collective understanding. This is what Occhiolism is all about!
How do you develop Occhiolism?
Seek out perspectives that are different from yours in conversations, as well as the media you consume like books and podcasts.
We also love these videos.
Learn more about Occhiolism.
Our core value of Ubuntu can also help you here. Without humility, you might struggle to see others deeply and take an interest in them. You might even see others as obstacles rather than actual people with needs and desires and opinions as valid as your own.
So, work on asking questions about other people’s lives. Even make it a fun game (not a manipulative one, but genuinely interesting) to find out something interesting about everyone.
Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute is a great book for this!
Low on people smarts? Lean into Ubuntu.
Ubuntu
A Nguni Bantu term that we’ve interpreted to mean, “I see you, I see me, and I am because we are.”
Those who are lacking in people smarts may express themselves bluntly without considering other peoples’ feelings. It’s not because they’re bad people, it’s just because they’ve failed to see others and how their bluntness might impact them. They lack emotional intelligence.
If that’s you, Ubuntu can help!
Ubuntu is the key to people smarts. It’s learning to see other people, and to take an interest in them. Get to know the people on your team and what makes them them.
Ask about their results on our personality tests to jumpstart this (especially if you don’t know where to start).
The better you know and understand someone, the easier it is to listen to them, or see when you might be having a negative impact on them.
We love these videos for developing Ubuntu:
Resolving The Heart of Conflict
And this book:
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks
Learn more about Ubuntu
Reflect and Renew, Always
No matter what your strengths and weaknesses are, practice Reflection and Renewal to elevate ALL of these.
Reflect
The practice of looking at where we are and seeking to understand how and why we got there.
Renewal
The practice of consistently taking care of YOU so you can show up as the best version of yourself. Allow yourself to grow and be different than you were before.
Take time for reflection. Pausing, even to read an article like this and ask yourself where you’re strongest and weakest, is a great practice!
Reflect with others as well. Talk to your team and ask where you can improve (and don’t take it personally when they tell you). This is one reason why we spend so much time reflecting together. We grow so much faster together, and we see so much more when we pool our perspectives!
When your teammates love you enough to share ways in which you can improve, that’s when it all works. If you have enough ideal team players together, it’s a space where people can share those things, and it’s not offensive or ego-driven.
Learn more about reflection and renewal.
Focus on your strengths and your LEVERAGED weaknesses
Have you heard of the Pareto Principle? This states that 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts.
In your life, this might look like putting 80% of your time into developing your strengths and 20% of your energy into improving your weaknesses that are getting in the way.
Not ALL your weaknesses or the ones you can compensate for or work around, but you can work on the ones that actually cause problems in your life.
Self-Awareness is Key
We get it. It can be rough to face where you might be lacking and how that’s impacting your team, but we’re ALL naturally weaker in one of these areas, and we all need to put conscious effort into improving or maintaining.
Caring enough about our team and the cause to work on these weaknesses is key to our mission to elevate the human experience, both because it allows us to do great work, and because it helps develop each of our people, which is what our mission is all about!
