Team Dynamics

Team Dynamics

Teams are groups of people who come together to achieve a collective goal. In order to accomplish that goal, teams must work together effectively, create synergy by combining individual talents, and work in harmony to minimize conflicts. Teams form for any number of reasons in social and business settings. For instance, many work teams form to help facilitate the completion of an important project. Church groups combine individual efforts to raise money for a worthy cause, and groups of students band together to forge study groups in the hopes of improving grades. Although the reasons for forming teams vary, successful teams have some common characteristics and personality types. The purpose of this paper is to define the characteristics of the four diverse personality types found in successful teams. In addition, the paper will offer insights on how these diverse personality types work together using compiled strengths to contribute toward team objectives, compensate for individual weaknesses, and overcome potential obstacles to success.

Four Roles of a Successful Team

Successful teams consist of four diverse personality types (Kratz, 2005). The Thinker, Giver, Organizer, and Adventurer personality types each contribute unique strengths and skill sets to the team (Bishop, Carter & Kravits, 2007). As each name implies, individual team roles define certain character strengths and personality types of the individual team members. A team functioning without each of these four roles will likely be unbalanced and may perform poorly or fragment before achieving the desired goal (Building Balanced Teams, 1996). For instance, a team full of Thinkers may have difficulty reaching a goal because Thinkers prefer the problem solving process in favor of reaching a solution to the problem (T. Snook, personal communication, September 5, 2007). The same notion is true for any of the other individual personalities that form an unbalanced team. Teams that are made up of too much of one type will likely have a negative effect (Kratz, 2005). Furthermore, one needs to discern each team members' personality peculiarities to prevent conflicts within the team. However, to understand completely how these unique personality types interact, one must understand each personality's innate strengths and weaknesses as well as those defining characteristics of the particular personality.

Understanding the Thinker

To understand the Thinker, one must first identify the distinct characteristics of this unique personality. With this information, one may gain insights on how the Thinker interacts in a team environment, how to take advantage of this team member's strength, and ways to avoid potential conflicts with other team personalities. The Thinker brings an abundance of strengths, skill sets, and characteristics that every successful team needs as well as distinct personal attributes that, if left unacknowledged by team members, could promote conflict. The Thinker provides the team with a rational, logical, and objective point of view. This personality is good at solving technical or mathematical problems. The Thinker uses a formal and dispassionate approach to problem solving which enhances his or her ability to make decisions objectively. Furthermore, Thinker personalities enjoy analyzing information and the challenge of solving problems that others may find overwhelming (Bishop et al., 2007).

The Thinker interacts with other team members with a rational, logical, and direct approach. Thinkers tend to rely on rational arguments to prove a point, tend to notice flaws in others and are sometimes overcritical. Any team member's point of view not supported by rational and logical arguments will probably not find support with the Thinker. However, because Thinkers trust sound reasoning over perception, they tend to take objective, well-reasoned criticism in stride rather than as a personal affront to his or her abilities. Thinkers prefer to work alone and in some instances, team members may perceive this behavior as being aloof or cool towards the group. Although this conduct may discourage team cohesion, a perception of the Thinker as unsociable is likely an unwarranted reaction from the team. The Thinker personality simply enjoys analyzing and solving problems independently and is content to interact with the team through the sharing of his or her results (Bishop et al., 2007). In fact, this personality enjoys the problem solving process so much, many prefer not to make any decision that ends the analysis process; clearly a potential obstacle to completing goals (T. Snook, personal communication, September 5, 2007). The Thinker interacts with the team in a unique way and brings specific exploitable talents to share with the team. However, this personality has weaknesses and a potential to clash with other personality types.

In every team, conflict between team members is unavoidable. Successful teams acknowledge and anticipate personality conflicts among team members. The thinker personality type is uniquely suited for specific tasks and will work most effectively with certain personalities. For instance, Thinkers are conservative by nature and likely to clash with a risk taking personality. Thinkers deal in facts and are unimpressed with the "touchy feely" types or the "dreamers" of the world. However, successful teams need risk-takers and sensitive personalities to offset the conservative nature of the Thinker. Furthermore, teams should set deadlines for analytical tasks assigned to a Thinker. He or she may never finish the analysis without a deadline (T. Snook, personal communication, September 5, 2007). Obviously, one could provide numerous potential examples of conflicts and obstacles generated by a Thinker's behavior. So, how does one resolve conflict and avoid obstacles with this personality? The key is through understanding. One should appeal to the rational and logical nature of this personality, accept and anticipate the innate weakness of this character, remain open to honest communication, and attempt to settle disputes through collaboration (Dowd, Schneider & de Janasz, 2001).

The Giver

The Givers' personality differs from others on how they focus on life. The focus is external, with a basis secured in feelings and personal value. Their main interest is giving support to others and they derive self-satisfaction from this accomplishment. They look at other people's needs before their own. Oftentimes they are not aware of their own wants and needs because they may be too busy attending to others. Givers are more reserved and express their opinions briefly. They possess excellent people skills and do well in jobs that require