Imagine you are leading a team. Great teams get the right balance of decision makers, drivers and deliverers.
Decision makers set the strategy. Drivers act as the gears: they ‘live the message’ and translate the ideas into action. Deliverers produce the goods.
People may move between all three roles at times but, by and large, it is important to get the right balance in your team. Let’s explore what this means in practice.
1) Decision makers.
Decision makers set the compass. They clarify what mountain the team is climbing, why they are climbing it and when they will reach the summit. They communicate this story in a compelling way and ensure everybody knows their part in achieving the goals.
Great teams frequently have two or three people at the centre who take responsibility for setting the overall direction. Depending on the topics to be covered, however, they then involve wider groups. Leaders do this to ensure people have a real sense of ownership regarding their part of their strategy.
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Looking at your team at work, explore the following themes. First, write the names of the good decision makers you already have in the team. Second, if appropriate, describe the decision makers you may need to add to the team.
How to make this happen? Sometimes you may choose to go out and hire the right people. Other times you may already have people who are potentially good decision makers. If so, it could be worthwhile providing them with practical tools they can use to make even better decisions. Try completing the following exercise.
2) Drivers.
Drivers are the gears of the team. They act as positive models and often lead ‘teams within the team’. Such a driver approaches the leader and says something like the following.
“As far as I understand it, the strategy of the overall team is: To ________.”
“My part and my team’s part in making the strategy happen is: To ________.”
“Is that correct? Right, I will go and make it happen.”
Leaders must make sure that all their direct reports embody these qualities. Otherwise they will leap frog them and micro-manage the deliverers.
Great football clubs, for example, recruit drivers to form the spine of the team. Spurring-on their teammates, they ensure the strategy is translated into action. How does this work in your team?
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. First, describe the good drivers you already have in the team. Second, describe the drivers you may need to add to the team. Again, you may need to hire or develop such people. Try completing the following exercise.
3) Deliverers.
Deliverers are often experts and do great work. Some deliverers do go on to become drivers. But this calls for them taking a different kind of responsibility. They must be prepared to act as positive models and make tough decisions.
Some deliverers therefore prefer to remain brilliant niche providers. This is okay: providing they have a positive attitude, do good work and contribute to helping the team reach its goals.
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. First, describe the good deliverers you already have in the team. Second, describe the deliverers you may need to add to the team. Try completing the following exercise.
Super teams get the right balance of decision makers, drivers and deliverers. So, if you wish, tackle the exercise at the end of this piece that brings everything together.
Clarify what you can do to get the right people in the right places. This will give your team the greatest chance of success.
Posted on Saturday, June 11th, 2011 at 4:15 pm in Super teams, The Strengths Blog | RSS feed
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