Teamwork is one of the crucial elements of any company’s success. Recently, my colleague Dan hosted a strategy day with Hive’s accountancy team. In this, he shared Patrick Lencioni’s advice on how to recognise and cultivate the three essential virtues of an ideal team player.

We’ve always known that “Team Hive” is a strong one, but it’s fascinating to unpick the reasons why; using Lencioni as a lens to appreciate and understand what’s working so well. We’re still in the early stages of scoping things out, but it’s an interesting process, nonetheless.

In his book ‘The Ideal Team Player’, Lencioni outlines the three virtues shared by effective team players. These are the traits that make some people such great additions to a team.

Hungry

Hunger means having a real passion for the team mission and feeling a personal responsibility for its shared success. Hungry people live and breathe their industry, go the extra mile, and are willing to take on tedious or challenging tasks to help out where necessary. They’re the ones mucking in to share the load when a deadline or urgent job rears its head.

Humble

Good team players have humility: there’s no intrusive ego and they’d never take credit for someone else’s work. They recognise the achievements and contributions of others, and work towards collective goals, rather than personal glory. They also understand that for everyone to succeed, it’s important to back up your teammate. (For more on this, take a look at Dan’s previous article on creating the conditions for shared success.)

Smart

In a team sense, being smart is less about intellect and more about having “people smarts”. Smart employees are empathetic and able to understand how to work with, influence, and get the best out of their wider team. They’re interested in the lives of others, aware of what’s going on, and willing to treat everyone equally, regardless of rank. Fundamentally, these people recognise that everyone is in it together.

Having awareness of these virtues means that you can begin to plot where your team – and yourself – currently are. Some people simply won’t tick every box, and that needn’t be a disaster. If this is true within your practice, it’s worth having a conversation with the individual about how they work with others and what they could do to improve. If people can accept their shortfall and work to get better, your team will be stronger as a result. If they won’t, it may be the case that they sadly won’t work out in the long term.

And of course, it’s worth bearing this in mind when you’re recruiting. In many businesses, there are times when – perhaps out of desperation – you ignore your gut feeling to recruit a person you feel isn’t totally right. However, if you can hone your recruitment process to validate these qualities, you can formalise that intuition into something more tangible. Ultimately, you can hire people that demonstrate the three essential virtues, building a better team culture and a firm foundation for the future.

If you’d like help getting the best out of your team, and your business, get in touch with our management consultancy team.