Who Do You Want On Your Team?

This comes up often as I coach and mentor my team members on who they want in their tribe. You know the kind of people that would contribute to growth and team success.

I started to write down the qualities that were important to me and essential if the business was to succeed.

Then I realized something.  

Why am I being so choosy and so selective?  Why am I limiting my team makeup to only those qualities that I think are important.

Really?

What I should want, is a variety of people on my team.  

Why? Because they each, individually, bring their skill sets and add to the team make-up.  And a variety of ideas is important to growth. 

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

This past week I watched the movie Christopher Robin.  It showed me that an effective team includes all types of characters because they all contribute in different ways. 

Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo and Christopher Robin all provided the ideas, checks and balances, and actions that allowed the team to succeed in the end.  

They worked as a team, albeit comically.

And they got to where they wanted to go!

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry, we will get there someday.” – Winnie the Pooh

But they all had one essential ingredient . . . even Eeyore.

That essential ingredient was optimism.  

Why is it essential? Because optimism gives one hope!

Optimism gives a team member a sense of self-efficacy, the belief that one has mastery over the events of one’s life and can meet the challenges as they come up.  

“In order to succeed, people need a sense of self-efficacy, to struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.”– Albert Bandura, Psychologist, Professor and Author

It has been proven in studies that optimistic people do better in life and business, because they do not let setbacks get in their way or stop them.

“Optimism is an attitude that buffers people against falling into apathy, hopelessness, or depression in the face of tough going.” – Daniel Goleman, Author, Emotional Intelligence

So when there are setbacks, does your team member give up or blame you, themselves, the system, the training, the products or the business model?

Or, do they learn from the setbacks and apply themselves to either correct what happened, adapt their behavior, or take a different approach to the issue.

If they do, then they have a sense of self-efficacy. And they have an optimistic attitude towards the business.

So who do you want on your team?

Everyone who is optimistic about the business!

Book a free consultation with me and let’s talk about how I can help you get to where you want to go.