How a Team's Composition Can Affect Performance

Poor performance isn't always caused by individual players

When a team is under-performing, people often start diagnosing why by looking at individual players. But as I've said so many years ago in “Mind the Gaps: The Five Foundations of Team Performance” and more recently in Team Habits, looking at individual players is often the worst place to start.

Think about it this way: how many times have you seen “under-performing” or “problem” players leave the team, only to have the same basic patterns of the team play out with a new player?

Sure, sometimes a team’s poor performance clearly is caused by an individual player, but there are usually other more under-appreciated factors at play.

Team composition is one of those factors.

While it’s all too common for a team to not have a real leader on it, poor performance can also come from having too many leaders on it.

Similarly, a team can be stacked with too many people in a doer role and too few in a reviewer mode. (I discussed the doer/reviewer/coordinator triad in Team Habits, too.)

I could go on, but you get the point: a team’s composition can suggest a lot about what its dynamics might be, even without knowing much about the GATES of individual players.

This is one of the many topics Jonathan Gabelein and I explore on the Unleash the Power of Collaboration Summit. If you'd like to hear more about this and other ways to enhance your team’s performance, I hope you’ll join us (dates, details, and registration below).

---

More Ways to Improve Your Team’s Collaboration

Are you struggling with communication breakdowns, conflict, missed goals, and the other challenges or effects of poor team collaboration? Are you ready to break down silos that are keeping your teams from working better together and delivering their best? If so, I’m excited to share an incredible opportunity with you.

I’m thrilled to be a featured speaker at the Unleash the Power of Collaboration Summit, a 21-day online summit designed to help you build a culture of collaboration within your teams. Hosted by Jonathan Gabelein, this summit brings together industry leaders and experts to share strategies for breaking down silos, resolving conflicts, and boosting team performance.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Learn the Team Habits approach to enhancing collaboration

• Build from interpersonal power, the often overlooked dimension of power at work

• Transform silos into leverage points

The summit is completely free to attend and runs from December 9-29, 2024. You’ll get access to daily interviews packed with actionable insights.