Inside Scoop

To build a great startup, you need a great team.

You probably have an idea of the type of people you want to work with: Smart. Motivated. Hard-working. Good at things you’re not. Not too painful to be around.

There’s one trait more important than all of this though:

Team player.

Every single person you hire must work well with the rest of the team; if startup founders start fighting amongst themselves — or even just playing politics — instead of concentrating on the business, you’re going to fail.

The common misconception is that a team player is someone like the local football star. That’s BS: you can suck at team sports and still be a team player; you can also be a world-famous sport star and have mediocre teamwork skills.

A real team player:

1. Creates win-win situations. They align their interests with the whole group’s, so the group’s success is their success.
2. Is strategically selfless. They can put their short-term interests aside to help the group succeed.
3. Shares the spoils of success with everyone who made it happen.
4. Gives credit where it’s due.
5. Communicates what they need, want and can do. They don’t make you guess.
6. Cares about the company and the team (not just themselves).
7. Gets things done. They’re at least as good at delivering results as they are at promising them.
8. Hates to let the team down.
9. Doesn’t keep score of everyone’s relative contributions; they believe that everyone’s contributing all they can, unless there’s overwhelming evidence otherwise.
10. Believes in the value of the project, the skills of the team and the ability of the team to deliver.

An ideal team player has all the traits above, but like most mythical beasts, the ideal team player doesn’t actually exist. If you find someone who demonstrates 6-8 of the traits above, they’re a keeper. Even someone who scores 5/10 has great potential.

Also contrary to popular belief, ‘team player’ isn’t an inbuilt characteristic, we all learn to work well with others — or not. If you’re the leader of your startup, you should aim to score 10/10 on the traits above. You’ll never get there, but you should at least set an example of continuous improvement.

Lastly, if you’re thinking of hiring someone who has great skills but isn’t a team player, don’t. You can coach someone to be a better team player, but if they currently score <3 on the list above, it will take years to coach them up to a 6-8, if they actually want to learn at all. No start-up has that much time.

A great team player can suck at sport, but they will be great at working with your team.