Ron Edmonson published an excellent post on his blog earlier today listing 7 Non-Negotiable Traits to Work on my Team. It’s a good list and includes:
- Responsiveness
- Honest
- Respect
- Openness
- Follow Through
- Limited need for oversight
- Participation
I encourage you to read Ron’s entire post to see his reasoning for each.
Ron asks at the bottom of his post “So what do you think? Fair? Harsh? Reasonable? What would you add or take away from your list?” Immediately, a few ideas came to mind which I started typing into the comments. Before I knew it, I realized there was enough there for a post of its own, so I’m going to see Ron’s 7 and raise him 5…
5 Additional Non-Negotiable Traits to Work on My Team:
8 ) Positive attitude: Complainers and pessimists drag the whole team down. I want to work with people who make the most of every situation and think the best of other people.
9) Adaptability: We all end up doing things that are not in the initial job description. Culture changes. Technology changes. Schedules change. We all have to adapt and change.
10) Initiative: While adaptability is reacting well to change, initiative is seeing the opportunity to improve something and proactively taking that opportunity. I expect everyone on my team to go the extra mile with a customer, to suggest improvements that will improve the quality or efficiency of our work, and to read about new ideas and recommend innovations.
11) Problem solver: Life doesn’t follow a script. When you run into a barrier or problems arise, I need the people I work with to find a solution. I’d be happy to review options or your proposed solution, but don’t just come to me with the problem.
12 Good communicator: Teamwork is all about relationships and the foundation of all relationships – with team members, clients, vendors, partners, collaborators – is good communication. For our team to excel we all need to listen well, explain things clearly, avoid a lot of jargon and rambling, and do it in a way that shows we value the people they’re communicating with.
So, just as Ron asked… what do you think? Fair? Harsh? Reasonable? What would you add or take away from your list?
I had Ron’s list printed up for a staff meeting this week. I added yours to that list as well. Great list!
Thanks Rusty!
Paul, I like all of yours. Thanks for sharing!
Ron, thanks for the original idea & for taking the time to come by and post a comment.
Thanks Paul your list is what I needed last night at a board meeting.
Thanks John. I hope it’s not too late to be useful for you.
Great list! Positive attitude and adaptability are the MOST important for me..
Thanks Anne! It’s interesting to me that while resumes tend to focus on skills, attitude and other personal attributes often prove to be more important.