The professors also spoke about their use of a self-assessment test called the Tracom assessment that they use in their executive MBA course on leadership.  According to the article, “What A Test Can Say About Your Style,” the Tracom assessment maps out a person’s social styles in four quadrants; analytical, driving, expressive and amiable. The professors provide analysis and feedback with the self-assessment results as part of their leadership course.  We’ll get back to profiles later in this article.

Stunningly, over 90% of all the teams we have ever been introduced to were created by one or more executives by simply putting two or more people together. Any way you look at it, that’s not a team: it’s a group of people, often with dissimilar agendas and from different internal “micro-cultures.”

Not infrequently, some team members are put in place to be the eyes and ears for their silo based managers, or for political reasons, or to help the person get his "badge" for a future promotion. And, still other team members are selected despite their lack of operating or other relevant experience. Have you ever wondered how Mr. or Ms. X became the team leader, and why? Sometimes the answer is not so obvious. We can assist you in profiling, evaluating and selecting the best candidates for team leadership positions.

At Maverick, like the Columbia business professors in the Times article, we also make extensive use of behavioral profiles as a self-assessment tool, but as  just the first step toward evaluating a team member’s or executive’s behavioral styles.  Once the client completes the on-line profile, the results are first analyzed by one of the Firm’s PhD, clinical psychologists; and then the raw data and analysis are reviewed with the subject in a one on one private meeting. Subsequent to analysis, review and one-on-ones with all the subjects, only then does the group or team convene together to learn about the others’ behavioral styles. 

Dr. Martin D. Cohen, Director of Behavioral Integration Management™ at Maverick employs a variety of behavioral profiles, depending upon the psychological tendencies or behaviors that are being evaluated.   One of them, which is similar to the Tracom assessment, is called the DISC profile. It categorizes a person’s behavioral styles within various spokes in a circle. The main identifiers are driver, implementer, supporter and conductor.  The complete results present in a much more detailed manner and are exceptionally easy to review with the client.  The data gleaned from tens of thousands of subjects have proven to be extremely accurate—and a very useful tool, when coupled with the necessary analysis and feedback for creating true, high performance teams.

And it’s not just personality styles or behavioral profiles that matter: it’s understanding what type of work motivates each potential team member, and does the type of project fit each individual’s behavioral characteristics?  Beyond that, it’s also a matter of skill sets among the team members.  You don’t want everyone to have the same backgrounds and skills for the project. High performance team members need to have hard and soft skills that also complement the other team members and that will also drive as much value to the project as possible.

So, how can we help? Maverick can profile and evaluate current team members to help improve their understandings of how to work more productively and effectively with their team members.  And, if there are incompatibility problems that can’t be resolved, we’ll give you that feedback, too.  Are you ready to form new teams?  That’s the best time to engage the Firm help you build high performance teams from scratch; witness for yourself the transformation of high performance individuals when they are matched to the right team members and to the type of project that will make the best use out of the team’s skills.  You’ll soon start to see what’s possible when there are minimal intra-organizational and interpersonal conflicts, highly motivated employees, improved creativity and problem solving, better communication skills and higher productivity.  Your new HPTs will produce more significant and sustainable accomplishments then you ever thought possible.