Thank you for listening to the Champion Forum Podcast with Jeff Hancher! Once you know your own strengths and weaknesses, you’re ready to start building a team. When you are building a team, you need to focus on what you want your team to accomplish rather than what individuals you would like to have on your team. Understanding your team members strengths and weaknesses will help you build a team where people are operating from their strengths and working well together. Remember that you want your people to be who they are, not who they are not.
Impact of Personality on Hiring
You are hiring a team, not an individual.
You need to know the personality of the person you are hiring to determine if they are a good fit, but being a team player is the most important quality.
If you are the one being interviewed, know that you cannot fool a personality test. Even if you do, you are doing yourself a disservice. Instead, own your weaknesses and show how you are able to overcome them.
Q: Prior to this episode, what was the top thing that you looked for when adding a member to your team? Has that changed? Why or why not? Have you ever tried to change your personality for a job interview? Did you find that it helped you achieve long-term success? Why or why not?
Tips for Team Members
People that are not self aware operate in their weakness. You do a disservice to your team when you don’t know what your strengths and weaknesses are.
You will never get where you’re going by trying to emulate someone who appears to be successful if it causes you to become someone you’re not.
Find a mentor who is dedicated to helping you become yourself.
Be open to receiving feedback and giving feedback.
Q: What is one of your weaknesses and how have you taken action to overcome that weakness? Describe a time when you or someone you know operated from their weakness and the effect it had on their work and leadership.
Tips for Leaders
Your job is not to make your employee into someone they are not, you are helping them become themselves.
You need to understand your own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of your direct reports.
Know who on your team has a passive personality type and directly invite them to give their feedback. For your active types, work on staying in control of the conversation in group meetings so that everyone has a voice and you stay on task.
Don’t point out the weaknesses of your subordinates; let them tell you what they think their weaknesses are. Allowing them to identify their own weaknesses helps them be more self aware, bring clarity, and keeps them from becoming defensive.
Teams are better when they know their strengths and weaknesses. This type of understanding builds trust and camaraderie.
When you have trust, it lets you be a tough leader without sacrificing your rapport with your team.
Q: What personalities make up your team? What do you think the struggles of a team with all one type of personality would be? What do you think causes people hire people like them? What fears might you have about hiring someone who does not have the same personality as you? If you aren’t making hiring decisions, think about your group of friends when you consider these questions.
Application Activities
Look at the strengths and weaknesses of your personality type. To balance out your weaknesses, what type of person do you need on your team? Look this week to see if that person is on your team or if you need to make a move to get them on your team.
Talk to your team about different personalities and offer a personality assessment to help them better understand themselves and each other. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the personalities on your team, and set aside some of your one-on-one time with your team members to discuss their strengths and weakness so that they can be more self-aware.
Make a list of your top three weaknesses. Do you have a team member who can help fill in those areas? Write down the way that you overcome your weaknesses and make sure that you have not only a personal strategy, but also a personal connection. Remember that leaders lead best when they operate from their strengths, not when they put all their time and energy in covering their weaknesses. Having a person who can help fill in the areas where you are weak will help you focus on your strengths.
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