At first glance, a title like this may suggest the subject is about including so-called minorities in the workforce, whether through the inclusion of people with disabilities, less privileged social classes, or those with different sexual orientations.
At this point I would like to talk about something different, which has nothing to do with quotas or access by different ethnicities in the workplace.
I want to talk about building winning teams, based on the individual characteristics of each person, which, when used well, can help achieve excellent results, but when neglected can become the main factor of failure within teams.
We start from the premise that we are all different from one another. We have different ages, different upbringings, different professional experiences, different ethnicities, and different temperaments. Some schools of thought argue that it is not possible to treat every team member the same way. But if we treat each person differently, do we not risk applying different standards to people and running into problems with the much-demanded principle of equal treatment? This is the greatest risk that administrators and managers face when trying to please everyone and end up pleasing no one. Is it possible, then, to be flexible with each person while at the same time applying the same standard to all?
Despite the need to respect individuality, the collective and the company's values must always be preserved. That is, individual treatment is valid as long as it does not harm the company or the work team. Any individual privilege, regardless of who receives it, may be perceived as favoritism and will damage the positive perception of the entire team. When there is a need to grant an individual benefit, the manager must ensure that this benefit is given to someone who deserves it and whose merit is recognized by the whole team.
But the ability to build a winning team does not rest solely on respecting individualities and managing collective perception. These principles are merely a basic matter of maintaining team motivation and cohesion. The real secret to building winning teams lies in distributing activities to each team member based on what each person does best, and on each person's capacity to generate results according to their personal characteristics.
There is no shortage of complaints about the management incompetence of some leaders, or the slowness of certain employees, or the lack of quality in work delivered by someone on the team, which typically affects the results of the entire team and the company. Having the right people in the right places is the most complex and most important management task when it comes to building winning teams.
I have seen, on countless occasions, excellent technical professionals receive recognition through a promotion to team management, and in many of those cases, those same professionals who were brilliant in their technical careers proved incapable in their leadership roles. Describing someone as incapable may seem harsh, but it is the right word to convey what actually happens in these situations. The person who goes through this experience is, in fact, a victim of the lack of criteria on the part of whoever decides who will fill each role within the company. And because they are unaware of what is required of a leader, or unaware of their own personal characteristics, they end up living with enormous frustration as their professional inadequacy unfolds negatively. The mistake lies in choosing that person to fill a role that is not aligned with their personality or professional experience.
If we respect each person's characteristics and their capacity to perform the roles that best fit their personality, we will take a major step toward assembling a winning team.
But no one is born ready and no one knows everything. For that reason, it is also important to invest in those who have the capacity and the willingness to learn. Professional development is essential so that when opportunities arise, these people are in the ideal position to take on new challenges. The diversity of profiles and roles within the team creates greater opportunities for professional growth. People can move into new functions and responsibilities, whether existing ones or new functions that emerge as a result of the team's expanding capabilities. This is what will guarantee new ideas, new forms of innovation, and the competitive advantage of that team.
In summary, the secret to winning teams involves respecting individualities, but only up to the limit of collective interests. Having a diverse team is pointless if that diversity is not directed toward achieving collective results. Equally pointless are collective values that are not oriented toward promoting the individual growth of each person. It is a virtuous cycle that produces increasingly positive results.
In your team, are the right people in the right places? Where you work, does the collective prevail and show concern for making each person's individual goals a reality?
