Linda Bonanno's Weblog

How can you tell if someone is going to fit into your team and become a productive member? It can be really hard to figure out without seeing the person working. Sports team typically have try-outs, or the coach will go out on scouting trips to see athletes in action. This helps to determine raw ability but it doesn’t help in figuring out if the person is a cultural match. We’ve all seen what happens when a prima donna star performer acts out. It can really blow the morale of the entire team.

Another thing that can blow morale is when a team member is added who just can’t keep up. Somehow you and your team made a bad decision to bring them onto the team. This isn’t good either. The team gets frustrated with the individual, even if they like him or her as a person. The individual can feel like they are being attacked. Recently we added a new team mate to our volleyball team. Unfortunately our captain didn’t spend enough time finding out the actual skill level of this person. It was bad. Basic technique was not there. She had no experience running the offense that we were playing. She was always standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because her skills were weak our captain would have her setup in places where she would do the least damage. This meant a lot of the time that she was out of position and the rest of the team wasn’t aware of what he was doing. People got downright angry. She also took balls away from people. Balls that were called (i.e. “mine”/ “I got it”). Balls that truly belonged to someone else by definition of the game. She did this to me a few times. One time I knocked her down because I didn’t see her step in front of me as I was running at full speed to set a ball. Someone was going to get hurt. Our captain needed to talk to her about the mismatch in skill level and the danger to her and to the team.

Luckily when you make a mistake like this at work, nobody will get injured – at least not physically. First step – make sure that your hiring process is rigorous and that you really screen people before you hire them. If it is possible to bring a person on as a temporary contractor or on probation – DO SO! Have a trial period to make sure that they will work out before you commit to them. Step two – make sure they have all the resources they need to do their job. If not, you are setting them up to fail. Step three – if after screening carefully and providing resources you find that the person cannot successfully do the job… do what is right for the team. Let the person go. This is also humane for the person who knows that they don’t fit in and aren’t able to keep up.