Build complementary teams

When you think of a team, you probably immediately picture a "perfect" team: one who is independent, intelligent, generous, and can quickly fill the void left by others. You need to drop this idea completely. It's possible to live to be 100 years old, but you can never believe in something as far-fetched as the perfect team.

The perfect team requires the perfect people, whose selves and personalities are integrated into the larger purpose of the team. The real team - your team - is made up of flesh and blood people with many flaws. Even if you pick them out one by one, there may still be people you (or other team members) have trouble getting along with.

In fact, the people on your team are just like people anywhere else, they may be very smart in one or two areas, but in other areas--even related to your team's success--are mediocre, even lower. Each team has its own strengths and weaknesses. On your team, there may be people with serious pathological personalities, people you can't stand, people who used to be brilliant but now have rusted brains, and people who are capricious and have no opinion. Teams can only be successful when you recognize this difference, make an effort to understand it, and treat it as a good thing.

One way to understand the full range of human personality is the "behavioral zone". The Behavior Zone allows you to see things through the eyes of your team members and understand their needs and preferences; the Behavior Zone also encourages you to be curious about the nature and preferences of others, and to embrace them as much as possible. Once you do that, you will find that they will accept you in return.

Cognitive Behavioral Types

There are generally four types of behavioral domains: Analytical, Friendly, Driver, and Expressive. Analytical people are typical perfectionists who are right most of the time because they invest time, thought, and rational reasoning on things. They pursue facts, and their main strength is patience, which is also their weakness - they are cautious, slow, not out of fear, but to fully understand the problem before taking action. When in danger, the analytic's reaction is usually to take cover until the shooting stops.

Words that can be used to describe an analytical person are: critical, critical, virtue-oriented, hard-working, persistent, conscientious, and orderly.

Friendly people are typically "social animals" who are considerate and compassionate. They are always present wherever people need and can be hurt, past, present or future. They are the best coordinators in the world because they take the time to connect with all parties. True, they have their opinion, but they want to know your opinion more. Their greatest strength is understanding all kinds of relationships. When in danger, their response is usually to give in.

Words that describe friendly people are: submissive, insecure, dependent, flattering, supportive, respectful, willing, and amiable.

Drivers are genuine "let me come" people. They are firmly rooted in the present and are action lovers. Their greatest strength: the pursuit of results. If you want to discuss a job with people, find the other three types; and if you want to get the job done, give it to the driver type. Driver-types can be scathing self-criticists who hate small talk. When in danger, driver-type people become tyrants.

Words used to describe the driver type include aggressive, severe, uncompromising, cold, strong-willed, independent, pragmatic, decisive, and efficient.

Expressive people are big-picturers, always looking at the world around them from new perspectives. They are future-oriented people, probably because no one restrains their grand dreams in the future. Expressive people aren't the best choice if you want straightforward answers, but if you need intuition and creativity, they're the best fit. When in danger, expressive people act wild and aggressive. But happily, they take the world they create in their heads very seriously.

Excitable, uninhibited, self-centered, ambitious, provocative, passionate, playful, and friendly are some adjectives that describe an expressive person.

Basic Guidelines

You may find people on your team mixed with all four behavior types, expecting to interact with each other. This is a reasonable expectation, but would you dare put analytical people in the same room with performance people, drivers with friendly people, or drivers with performance people? What kind of people get together? That's exactly how most teams are -- a strange mix of people with mismatched personalities. So the problem you face is how to create harmony, a complementary team, not a perfect, illusory team.

Here are some tips to help you solve the above problems:

For analytical people, you have to work hard: prepare your questions in advance; don't rush, but persevere; support their principles , show that you value their thoughtful thinking; state all basic requirements, don’t take chances and don’t expect unplanned good things to happen; lay out a timetable for any action plan, clearly distinguishing roles and responsibilities; Don't be chaotic and messy; avoid emotional arguments; don't break your word or they'll remember and hate you.

With friendly people, you have to: act first, showing your commitment to the mission and them; show respect, any high-minded attitude can hurt friendly people; listen and respond, or Take the time to understand the whole situation; don't make people feel threatened, the blunt, commanding approach can make friendly people shy; ask "how" questions to get their opinion;

clearly state what you want them to accomplish; Guarantee that existing decisions will not in any way harm, endanger or threaten other people; do not guarantee things that cannot be done.

For the driver type, you must strive to: be concise, to the point, and "efficiency" at the forefront; stay on the topic, don't gossip, eliminate any loopholes, and eliminate any ambiguity; be ready at all times, and be clear about the requirements of the task at hand and Goal, organize your arguments into concise bullet points, state your facts clearly and in a coherent manner; be polite, don’t put on a boss-like attitude, drivers don’t want to be driven by others; be specific, don’t be obsessive If you have a different opinion, do it to the person and not the person; if you agree, support both the thing and the person; list the goals and the results to convince them, and the results speak for themselves.

For expressive people, you must strive to: meet their social needs, entertain, stimulate, and liven up when you talk about business; talk about their goals when you talk about team goals; be open and transparent, Toughness and silence don't work for phenotypes; don't hurry, they're most productive in a hurry; ask for their opinions and ideas; pay attention to the big picture, not the technical details; use people they know and respect as examples , to support your argument; offer special treatment, extra compensation and rewards; show respect and never speak to them in a condescending tone.

Building Teamwork

Let's put this behavioral model to the rigorous test: Is it feasible in a team that incorporates different races and genders? The answer is very positive. In any given culture, there is no pattern to the behavioral zones of men and women of different races. Men aren't all chauffeurs, and women aren't all friendly.

Most people are within the normal range and you can deal with them as long as you understand their differences and know what you want from them. Once on the road, you can apply it at work and successfully solve problems.

When you start getting to know other people, it's easier to start with supporting them. You want your team to be successful, not just for the team, but for everyone on the team. This is the basis of teamwork: learning and acting spontaneously on what you have learned.

The willingness to learn may not sound like much, but it is the key to a team's success. Without this will, all training, rewards and appreciation, meetings, statements, weekend entertainment, etc., are meaningless. No team can go against its will.

There is only one way for a team to achieve this "voluntary" state, which is to learn from each other, to care for each other, and both are indispensable. Without learning, understanding, and relevant information, there can be no caring; and people don't need to learn anything if they are determined not to care about others.

By developing your team in this way, you don't need to like each other, but you do have to get to know each other and value each other's abilities and personalities. Compromise with team members, respect them, and understand them, and you can collectively drive the team's goals forward.

Translated from The New Why Teams Don't Work book. Copyright Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA. Translated by Huang Daowen.

Harvey Robbins is a practicing business psychologist and president of Robbins & Robbins. His customers include American Express, AT&T, Allied Signal, 3M and Johnson & Johnson. Michael Finley is a columnist.