How To Know if Someone Really is a Team Player?

When it comes to job interviews if you've already decided you need someone who's a real team player and that’s been noted in the ad, then the conversation during the interview often goes like this, especially when the interviewer ‘likes’ the candidate, things seem easier and flow …

I: “Do you like being part of a team or working alone?”

C: “A bit of both when it comes to how I spend my time, but overall, I really like being part of a team”

I: “You’re a team player?

C: “Yes I'm a team player”

I: “Great, that’s what we need around here. Can you give me an example”

C: “Yeah like I played in this sports team, and that sports team. and at work I’m part of the highest performing ops team. I’m also on this committee, and I love working with people. I’m a real people person and I love having people around me”

Done. Question answered. Next question.

So, would you say this person is a team player?

Okay that was a trick question as it’s a ‘maybe’.

All the above exercise does is comment on the fact that this person in the past has been part of a team. It doesn't talk about whether they were you an effective member of the team, a successful or well-liked or respected member of the team. It doesn’t show if they were the leader of that team, were part of that timber grudgingly, bullied others or put them team’s results ahead of their own, or they ‘win at all cost’. It just tells you that they've done it, ticked the ‘been part of a team’ box, and it doesn't talk about the effectiveness - how well they they were a team player which is essentially what you wanna know before you bring someone into your team. To really get to the heart of it that's where competencies really come into their own.

Job competencies:

“define what top performers actually do on a job to produce outstanding results.”

To understand if someone is competent in an area, we look for examples of their behaviour we look for examples of what that actually done. With the above example, we know that someone was a member of a team but we don't understand what they did, how they behaved. When you’re clear on the key competencies you need, such as ‘team player’ in this example, the next step is to identify the behaviours that you would see or someone would have, if they were competent.

Team player: the ability and desire to work cooperatively with others on a team; or as we like to say, and we know it's cheesy as, but together we each achieve more.

That’s the competency we’re looking for, and here’s how someone with this competency would likely behave:

Collaborative and shares openly
Great communication skills
Listens and responds constructively to other team members’ ideas
Active participant
Helpful to colleagues
Respectful of others

And the way to better understand and assess if someone has these skills and acts this way, is to conduct a behavioural competency interview, the swanky term we use to mean – ask them to talk you through a real example, a situation where they’ve acted this way. It gives you insight as to how they tackle these moments which indicates how they may also approach things in your business.

Let’s re-do the example above using a competency based interview style and questions:

I: “Talk me through a time when you were part of a team and there’s been strong differences of opinion, how did you work through the situation? What did you do to move the team forward”

C: “When I was part of the Southern Storm ski team, no-one could agree on a training plan for the big comp. Some wanted it to be intense right up to the competition, others wanted to take the ‘rest is best’ a week out, approach. The Coach was in two minds too and said it was up to us. I didn’t have a strong view, so I asked everyone if they could each share their thoughts and reasons as to why they wanted to do it their way”

I: “How did that develop from there?”

C: “Everyone had their say, and actually, there was a lot of research around the ‘rest is best’ way, so we all got to hear and understand that, and saw the merit in doing things that way”

I: “How did you know that was what was best for the team”

C: “Everyone agreed, and those originally opposed felt heard, and raised valid points, but also saw why this approach was right in this instance so it actually ended up being easier than expected”

Not rocket science in terms of what they did, but from here, we can deduce that this person values what other’s have to say, is confident in asking others to share their views and encouraging others to listen too. Seems like a pragmatic approach so it looks like there’s a fair bit of competency here. Of course, in a real interview you’d dive deeper and ask more questions, but this should give a quick overview of why this approach helps show the difference between someone who’s simply been part of a team, and someone who’s an effective member of a team.