To change the world, you’ll need a team. You might be the fearless leader, the one making the big decisions and coming up with the best ideas, and you might have different names for your team: an army, an inner circle, a support group, a family – but you’ll still need a team.
Your team doesn’t have to be big. In fact, the more efficiently you work, the smaller your team can be. Swollen teams are clutter too.
The first rule of choosing team members is this: find people who make you feel dumb, but who feel dumb around you.
In other words, team up with people who are strong where you are weak, and weak where you are strong.
Most people feel threatened by others who they see as smarter, stronger, or more talented than they are. These people spend their lives sabotaging others to make themselves look valuable. They live in constant fear of being surpassed and replaced. Ironically, it’s that same fear that holds them back and makes them easily replaceable.
But world-changers (and you do want to change the world, right?) realize that talents come in different packages. The entire reason for having a team is to collaborate with people who round out your set of talents.
Partner with people who will force you to keep up. Hire people who are good enough to replace you.
If you’re an analytical introvert, like me, team up with a people person who isn’t as good with the numbers and spreadsheets.
If you’re a brilliant networker but a lousy writer, team up with a shy wordsmith.
If you’re an impulsive risk-taker, team up with someone who looks before she leaps.
You get the point. Instead of feeling threatened by a talented team member, find ways to support her weaknesses with your strengths. Realize that, in some areas, she’s astounded by your talents. And, for bonus points, look for opportunities to learn from her and improve your own set of skills.
Collaborating with talented team members allows you to accomplish greater things together than you could have done alone. But the trick is to stop feeling threatened, trust in your own abilities, and extend your hand.
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Question for you: Do you work better in small groups with close friends, or would you rather keep colleagues and friends separate? Why?
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Very good advice. Getting the right people on your bus is the first step towards making something worthwhile. I definitely agree with your points about finding someone who is a good counterbalance to you…that kind of conflict often perpetuates creativity.
I always preferred to work individually or in groups of people who were not my close friends. I don't want to tarnish any friendships with the stress of completing an important project. I obviously wanted to be friendly with my colleagues but I didn't want them to be my friends, if that makes any sense.
I completely agree with your advice regarding building a strong team. I've been reading a lot about leadership lately and almost every guru agrees that the quality of the people you surround yourself with is directly related to how successful you are as a leader. You can't allow your own insecurities prevent yourself from building a team that is comprised of amazing individuals (who just might be more amazing than you!).
Almost as important, especially if you are personally hand-crafting the team, make sure you like the people on the team.
Hearing the “devil's advocate” point of view from someone who you really don't like isn't likely to foster creativity – more likely to create destructive conflict.
One of the best parts of being a freelancer/entrepreneur – you get to choose who you work with!
Jeffrey,
Your advice in this post is spot on. What keeps most people from hiring people who are smarter is ego. Like you said, they feel threatened. Yet if we look at the most successful people in the world, they surround themselves with people who are smarter than they are. Since you become the byproduct of the people you are around the most, rather than seeing those who are better than you as a threat, see them as an opportunity to grow and improve yourself.
In “The Grace of Great Things,” Robert Grudin argues that one of the main sources of creativity is friction between imagination and reality. I think (constructive, not hostile) friction between different people is another source of creativity.
Thanks for sharing, Steven!
Thanks for responding, Sam. I completely understand what you mean by being friendly with colleagues but not necessarily making friends. Because I work alongside many people of the same age as me, that's an issue I think about a lot. Is it better to keep a “professional distance” between us? Or does that distance get in the way of possible long-term collaboration?
Tricky stuff.
“You can't allow your own insecurities prevent yourself from building a team that is comprised of amazing individuals.” Exactly! It's not easy though.
Good point. In my mind, one of the biggest obstacles that gets in the way of liking people on your team is insecurity over teammates that seem more talents than you are (though there are, of course, other factors too)
Thanks!
To be honest, I wrote this partly as a reminder to myself. I'm competitive by nature, and I have to constantly fight the urge to “fix” the competition by surrounding myself with people who make me look good.
When I'm successful in fighting this urge, I find myself in the company of people who motivate me to be the best I can be, and who work with me as partners. That's when great things happen.
Thank you for sharing, Srinivas.
I always try to keep experts available, my term for team building, so that when I have a question i have someone to go to. The importance of having these resources goes beyond just the information but the fact that having others in our lives like that sharpens us.
This is a really timely article for me. I'm a developer looking for a designer to work together on a bunch of projects.
Up to now I've either bought or used free themes and tinkered with them myself – recently realised that to take things to the next level I really need to team with a designer rather than pretend I can do it myself.
Big question for me is though: How do I find someone that I can trust? I want work on a profit split basis and so someone would need to trust me as much as I would need to trust them.
How would you go about finding someone you can trust to work with?
Jeffrey: This post and advice is right on point. We really should focus on ensuring we have the right team with diverse skills and strengths. It boggles my mind sometimes when people don't realize the sheer advantage you have when you do have a team of experts. They allow pride and ego to get in the way and never take advantage of the knowledge that is right in front of them and available for the taking. This advice is useful in every aspect of our lives and once we realize how to tap into the advantages of a strong, diverse team, everything else just falls into place. Thanks for the great post and insights.
I think some tasks are better done alone and while others you can use some team member’s or some one more knowledgeable to help. We should be flexible enough to switch and smart enough to know which tasks are done alone or as a team.
Asking help sometimes is hard for me, as I do not want to burden anyone with my issues but actually I have found most of people are happy and would love to help.
Steven (commenting earlier) also brought up a similar point: when we learn to work with or around other talented people without getting defensive, we improve our abilities and creativity in the process.
You say it very well, Sibyl. Thank you for participating.
I work best with friends or people I consider “brilliant.” And definitely like to have brilliant friends that make me feel dumb – because that means they are probably helping me!
Brilliant people are inspiring! Plus you get to be considered brilliant by association :)