Team collaboration flourishes when participants solve problems differently.  When participants are similar they create inertia and working together is slow; frustrating and output can be stale.  This article highlights an example of how one team struggled with this challenge and how it is working on course correcting to build differences within their firm.

I work with teams using the Kolbe suite of tools to help them improve their ability to produce better results and increase their ability to work collaboratively.  The Kolbe Concept measures how individuals innately solve problems, and understanding how those dynamics impact the team as a whole is a very powerful predictor of team performance.

Recently I conducted a team workshop with a firm of consultants.  The group is overflowing with good solid clients and projects; their challenge was working well with each other.  They reported they could work in pairs, but when a third person was added to the mix, the collaboration completely fell apart.  The two team leaders were exhausted from trying to hold the team together while continuing to deliver solid work to their thriving client base.

Learning about their innate patterns of working was eye opening.  The results reflected they were cloning each other in how they problem solved.  The pattern of how they work fits the need of the consulting projects, but makes it nearly impossible for them to build a synergetic team and produce collaborative results.

The team leaders recognize that to grow the business they will have to change the types of people they hire.  As team members have left the company, the leaders have taken the opportunity to make hiring decisions using the Kolbe selection tool, RightFit.  The tool tests for mental energy fit for a defined role, as well as the candidate’s impact on the overall synergy of the team.

Toby, one of the new consultants who they are testing in the role before making an official hire, is very different than their existing consultants who are deeply analytical and process inclined people.  Toby is analytic, but not as deeply as many on the team. He is very different in that he actually resists process, brings the strength of adaptability, and has a much greater sense of urgency and innovates more than anyone on the team.  Toby is currently teaming with one of their solid performing consultants and the work they are delivering is so much better than what other teams produce, with almost no direction from the project leaders.  The firm’s leaders are thrilled with the results and for the first time see how powerful the concept of putting different kinds of problem solvers together can create better work product.

How about you?  Are you embracing working with folks who are markedly different than you to create more powerful results?  The Kolbe tools can help you understand and leverage this concept of measuring and managing team member’s natural mental energy differences.

Read more about the Kolbe System.