Teams that lack trust waste time and energy by engaging on political behaviour that reduces the likelihood of the team achieving their goals.
One of the activities spoken about in Lencioni’s seminal book is the use of Myers Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI) to share personal preferences. Lencioni suggests that having an objective and standard approach helps team members open up about their strengths and weaknesses and it gives them a common vocabulary for describing their differences and similarities.
Beyond MBTI, there are several other assessments that can also be useful to share as a team. The beauty of these assessments is that there are no right and wrong results and they help us understand who we and our colleagues are.
Note of caution: it’s about the conversation not the tool!
All of these tools are only of academic interest unless they’re used as a mechanism for a great conversation about what each of the team members strengths and limitations are.
The tools
Team building tool #1: MBTI www.16personalities.com
What it is: Myers Briggs Type Indicators assesses your individual preferences across a number of dimensions and allocate one of 16 personality types and can provide insight into how you collaborate with colleagues and how you might prefer to lead.
Use if: you want to use the most widely known of these tools with an already established vocabulary. Many organisations already have support in place to use this assessment.
Team building tool #2: Belbin http://www.belbin.com
What it is: Belbin assesses how an individual behaves in a team environment. It can help you to identify potential strengths and weaknesses within your team, overcome conflict between your co-workers, and understand and appreciate everyone’s contributions.
Use if: you want to understand if your team has gaps in the types of roles. Identifying if there are no completer-finishers in the team might help you understand why things aren’t getting done.
Team building tool #3: Strength finder https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/
What it is: This tool helps you as an individual learn about your own strengths and how to develop them.
Use if: you want to dive deeper into the collective unique strengths of the team.
Team building tool #4: Kolbe A http://www.kolbe.com
What it is: The Kolbe A assessment measures your instinctive way of doing things and the result is called your MO (method of operation).
Use if: you want to help everyone understand their unique ability
Team building tool #5: Sorting hat https://www.pottermore.com
What it is: Sometimes it’s just about getting teams talking and introducing levity into the team. The sorting hat will place you into your Hogwarts house.
Use if: you just want to have fun
Disclosure: Having experienced all of these tools and many more I am happy to disclose I’m an INTP, Plant/coordinator, Learner, Slytherin and my best way of dealing with risks and uncertainty is to Innovate.
