I was reading the book Ruthless Consistency by Michael Canic and Came across an interesting chapter on Hiring team members – Hire for what you are likely to overlook.
The chapter goes on an explains about the traits for success quoting a story of Theo Epstein who engineered the success of Chicago cubs after Oct 2011 after he became president of Chicago cubs Business operations.
As much as I find sports examples fascinating I also saw that the success traits to be a very comprehensive list useful for developing ourselves , building a team for success and also at home coach children.
Theo Epstein was a pioneer of the analytics movement in baseball. As the general manager of the Boston Red Sox, his methods helped the team break an 86-year “curse” and win the World Series. Subsequently, the team secured a second victory. In 2011, Epstein then became the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs, and four seasons later, the Cubs ended their 108-year drought by winning the World Series, thanks to his revised methods.
So, what is Epstein’s method for achieving success? According to him, skills and experience aren’t enough; there are certain traits that better predict success and performance.
Skills tell us what a person can do. Experience speaks to what a person has done. Values reveal what a person wants to do. Traits predict what a person will likely do.
The 10 traits that correlate well with success are:
- Punctual — early or on-time
- Prepared — ready and equipped
- Engaged — 100 percent focused on whatever they’re doing
- Reliable — they do what they say they’re going to do
- Respectful — of everyone, all the time
- Positive — seeing the possibilities, opportunities, and upsides
- Inquisitive — striving to learn and grow
- Coachable — open to constructive feedback and guidance
- Driven — possessing a desire to achieve and succeed
- Forward-looking — anticipating and solving problems
To cultivate these traits, I have outlined a set of activities that can steer us toward our goals and build a solid team:
Work Activities:
- Punctuality:
- Challenge: Create a punctuality challenge with a leaderboard. Award points for being on time or early, with a fun reward for monthly winners.
- Theme Days: Host themed days packed with activities and incentives where being on time earns team members a badge or sticker related to the theme.
- Preparedness:
- Preparation Showdown: Conduct a competition where team members present well-prepared projects or ideas, with votes for the best ideas focusing on the depth of research and analysis completed.
- Scavenger Hunt: Organize a scavenger hunt game that requires members to prepare by researching and acquiring new skills.
- Engaged:
- Focus Hours: Implement “Power Hours” where everyone works on a task with intense focus, followed by a group break with snacks or a quick game.
- Engagement Bingo: Create a bingo game with tasks that promote engagement, rewarding those who complete their bingo card first.
- Reliability:
- Accountability Buddies: Pair up team members to help keep each other accountable for tasks, with rewards for pairs that consistently meet their goals.
- Reliability Awards: Distribute monthly “Rock of Reliability” awards to the most dependable team members, complete with a small trophy or token.
- Respectful:
- Respect Journals: Encourage team members to record instances of observed or received respect and share these stories in meetings.
- Appreciation wall: Set up an appreciation wall where team members give genuine appreciation to one another on a job well done
- Positivity:
- Gratitude mailer: Establish a scheduled mailer where employees can share notes of positivity and gratitude.
- Positivity Jar: Maintain a jar for team members to deposit positive thoughts or events and share them at team meetings.
- Inquisitiveness:
- Lunch and Learn: Host a monthly session where team members impart knowledge on a subject they’re passionate about.
- Curiosity Quest: Initiate a challenge that encourages members to learn something new and share it with the team.
- Coachable:
- Role-Reversal hour: Allow team members to switch roles for an hour to gain new insights and empathise with other team members.
- Feedback Roulette: Play a game where anonymous constructive feedback is provided, and recipients guess who provided it.
- Driven:
- Personal Growth Plans: Gamify personal growth with levels and achievements, offering rewards for hitting certain milestones.
- Dragon’s Den/Shark Tank: Encourage team members to pitch improvement ideas to “investors” on the team for to drive innovation in the team
Consider displaying a creative infographic on the walls to continuously reinforce these Traits for Success.
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