I have a top team around me who quite simply lack any kind of
personality, let alone the charisma that some of your writers bang
on about.
What am I to do? Shall I recruit a new team, or is there any
quick fix I can buy and apply to help them?
Appreciate their strengths
Robina Chatham
Lecturer in information systems, Cranfield School of
Management
I do not think you can buy "personality" off the shelf. Neither
do I believe that you can change the intrinsic nature of one's
character. However, I do not believe that you should replace you
team - indeed, you would be on sticky territory both illegally and
ethically.
My suggestion would be to develop your team's emotional
intelligence, influencing skills and political acumen. Being part
of that process yourself, you would get to know and understand your
team better and thereby appreciate their strengths as well as their
weaknesses.
Don't recruit looking for charisma
Roger Marshall
IT director, Corporation of London
I do not think you can buy "personality" off the shelf. Neither
do I believe that you can change the intrinsic nature of one's
character. However, I do not believe that you should replace your
team - indeed, you would be on sticky territory both legally and
ethically.
My suggestion would be to develop your team's emotional
intelligence, influencing skills and political acumen. Being part
of that process yourself, you would get to know and understand your
team better and thereby appreciate their strengths as well as their
weaknesses.
So you have a top team. I presume you mean that they are the
tops technically. That is excellent. Be happy and think of all the
benefits that gives you.
But you clearly feel that you need more from the team. Perhaps
they need more "people" skills because they have a support role and
come into contact with users in that most stressful situation, when
systems fail and users cannot get their work done.
In that case I would say stick with your top team. What the user
wants most of all is someone to fix the problem, not someone who
will explain beautifully why he cannot fix it. Accept that you will
only rarely find individuals who are brilliant at both. Customer
care training will make up for any shortfall in your current team -
this is much more likely to succeed than trying to make top
technicians out of people you recruit for their supposed
"charisma".
Perhaps the reason for your concern is that you need sales and
marketing people, rather than technicians. If so, you may need to
accept that there is no quick fix you can apply, and your current
team are simply not going to make it. But if that is so, ask
yourself why you are in this situation. Has the nature of your
business changed, so that it needs to move from a technical to
sales orientation? Has the business grown to date because it was
good at selling, or because it was good technically? Be sure that
in pursuing a new business strategy you do not throw away your
existing competitive advantages.
Start with self-appraisal
Colin Palmer
Programme director, Impact
There are a number of issues here, not least, I suspect, your
attitude towards your team.
Anyone would feel uninspired if their boss viewed them like this
and might even be regaling them with the fact (even if you are not,
I bet they sense your attitude). Start with yourself - how good is
your leadership? How well do you understand and tap into the
excellent qualities that your team possesses? You may want to
consider some personal development or leadership training, which
will put you in a better position to understand their needs and the
gaps. Fire them by all means but do not be surprised if the next
lot turn out to have the same faults.
Think interpersonal, not personality
John Eary
Senior consultant, NCC Group
Do not confuse charisma with the ability to get the job done.
Some sports stars - I am thinking of football and Formula 1 - may
not be sparkling personalities but they can be excellent in their
chosen profession. There are jobs in IT, such as development, where
a good programmer will still be valued even if they are not the
most communicative individual.
However, interpersonal skills rather than personality are
becoming more important to IT professionals as they become more
client-focused and regarded as an integral part of the
business.
You need to differentiate between what the job needs and what
you would like to see. Charismatic team leaders are clearly an
asset but too many egos in the team could lead to more arguments
than productive work. In IT, a truly motivating team leader will
need to have professional respect as well as charisma.
People often show different behaviours between work and play. If
you take the trouble to find out, the shy and retiring programmer
in the office may well be the life and soul of the party outside of
work in their own group of trusted friends. Look at how you are
managing your team - are you encouraging people to shine?
Confidence-building measures, such as praise and opportunities to
demonstrate their expertise to users, may help to develop these
shrinking violets.
If you want to rebuild the team more formally, team-building
exercises and psychometric assessment can be helpful. First you
must define the ideal profile of the person who is required to do
the job. Putting staff through psychometric tests will then
indicate those staff that are most suited to these roles. Only if
there is a clear absence of likely candidates that can be developed
should you consider bringing new people in.