The Perfect TEAM.

I have always been fascinated by the human mind and its potential. My interest must stem from my experiences with people both in sales and sales management. I realized early on that to be an effective sales manager you really have to know what motivates certain personality types and what potentially could “demotivate” those individuals.

Digging around for that kind of expertise can be the way to do it…otherwise you could just feel like you are beating your head against a brick wall trying to figure people out. Not good for morale or your own sanity! Over the years I have come across several tests, scoring systems and explanations of personalities and how to align those people and traits to form a PERFECT team.

That magic place we productive people like to call …RESULTS!

Another way to describe it,  coming from a sales background is.  the sound I like to call….CHA-CHing!

The moment that a team comes together to form a system that works like a beautifully oiled set of gears. In motion they all come together to make something happen. They work together in harmony and play off of each others strengths and weaknesses and eventually when the oil (knowledge) takes away all of the squeaky (complaining, arguing and blaming)…it creates RESULTS…usually in the form of MONEY. Lets face it…’results’ in most business situations leads to MONEY. Or profits.
It was the complaining and arguing that would always slow down progress and results a sales team. All of that arguing doesn’t make for a good team..especially in a business environment.

The first step to fixing this problem is to understand people and their personality types. Understanding the personality types and what those peoples strengths and weaknesses are is essential.
I have broke down those essential personality types (using an acronym)R.E.S.T  …. in metephoric animal-like images.  They portray the perfect personalities that fit well to make a PERFECT TEAM:

• Rabbit- This is the individual that comes up with idea after idea and usually fast and random. They can get bored though easily and will do so almost as fast. They are creative and love to solve problems. Follow-through is their weakness.  Risk and obstacles are not something that scares them or stops them.  They usually overcome them but their biggest obstacle is themselves and keeping their actions on the relevant path.

• Eagle – They love a good strategy session and they like to run with ideas.  They are the go-getters that connect the pieces and come up with a good plan.

• Squirrel- These people are detail -oriented and are logical thinkers. They love steps and can keep things organized and running smoothly. They will need the idea and the steps to take but they will see it through beautifully when you supply them with this.

• Tortoise- They think that slow and steady wins the race. This was true in the Tortoise and the Hare scenario but in real life it doesn’t always work this way. They mean well but to others can seem slow, lazy and pessimistic.  They want to see proof that it will work before it is even started.  Not exactly innovative souls,  they bring reality into the picture of any plan.  They are valuable when needed for time & money saving issues.

I know one thing for sure about myself.  No doubt, I am a Rabbit.  The opposite of a Tortoise.  They annoy me and I cannot be around them for long in a business environment where I need to see results.  They bring me down.  I like to feel “high’ on my ideas.  I love the idea of risky and don’t care too much about what others think.  I feel the sky’s the limit.

I know this and yet over time have come to the conclusion that it truly is a gift.  And  yet my worst enemy. These four personality types are ALL needed to make anything happen.  ALL of them.  Embracing their strengths and weaknesses create the perfect team as well.  Stagnant is boring to me.  There is nothing that creates STAGNANCY faster than the SQUEAKINESS of those gears. They will stop them every time.  PEOPLE give up on ideas, relationships and innovation because they don’t embrace or recognize this fact.  It takes a team of players that are willing to understand that their strengths and weaknesses are all gifts.