A Formula for Finding Winning Employees

Most companies, despite professing to be a singular team, are in reality a coalition of numerous, smaller, and sometimes disparate teams whose unity and cohesion are a condition for the success of the overall business. When these teams are working well not only within themselves but with each other, we can say they are a winning team: a collection of motivated and effective employees readily contributing to achieving organizational goals.

Countless books have been written about how to build such a team, and every leader follows their own unique credo when it comes to identifying and organizing talent. I’ll throw my own hat in the ring by giving you this: a metric for evaluating whether a team member will help - or hinder - your quest to fill your organization with winning teams.

I like to analyze team members according to two mostly self-explanatory criteria: Capability and Commitment. These two factors can combine in four permutations, identifying both a type of team member and an effective management action:

If a team member is Capable and Committed, they are role models. Promote this talent and let them act as ambassadors to the rest of the team.

If a team member is Capable but not Committed, take steps to secure and cultivate their belief in your vision.

If they are Committed but not Capable, consider another team that might better benefit from their talents.

If they are neither Committed nor Capable, their presence on the team may inhibit it from winning. Remove from the team or company as required.

A simple formula, but one I’ve found effective in my career as both an executive and a consultant. I hope it can help you build stronger teams and reach loftier goals.

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