Chapter 23

Creating Conditions for Success

As demonstrated in our story, teams are the way work gets done in business today. The potential of any working group is defined by its members—not just individually but collectively. Whether live or virtual, results are as dependent on team members’ ability to work together as on their individual skills and abilities. CEOs and managers prize “team players” because they know that in today's collaborative world economy an organization's success, and even survival, hangs on its ability to tap team potential.

When you have a team of people working together, you may assume that all the preferences are represented well. After all, you have eight people on your team—someone must be a clarifier, right? Not necessarily. Unless you are working with a crossfunctional team, it is actually more likely that you share similar preferences. This might be due to the fact that people often naturally gravitate toward careers in which they can frequently use their preferences. You would expect a lot of ideators and developers in a creative design firm, for instance. Or you might find a high percentage of implementers in a department charged with getting things out the door on time. What tends to happen when people with like preferences come together? They feed ....