The Ideal Team Player

The Ideal Team Player is a 2016 book by leadership development expert Patrick Lencioni. The book provides an extension of the work Lencioni performed for his 2011 book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Lencioni employs a two-part structure for the book, as it begins with a third-person fictional narrative before shifting to a first-person, instructional point of view. In both sections, Lencioni examines the significance of being able to identify three essential characteristics of an ideal team player: humility, hunger, and people smarts. Lencioni argues that companies that are truly interested in making teamwork an embedded aspect of their corporate culture must learn to identify these three values in both current and prospective employees. The end result is that teamwork enhances performance, making operations more efficient while increasing overall employee morale.

This guide references the Kindle edition published in 2016.

Summary

Lencioni begins the book by introducing its purpose and stating its main argument, claiming that leaders who learn to identify three core values in employees—humility, hunger, and people smarts—have an inherent advantage over those who do not prioritize these values. Lencioni argues that among all human values, being able to operate within the dynamics of a team is near the top of the list. He establishes that there is a wide variance in people’s ability to be good team players, noting that some are weaker than others. However, like many soft skills, one can eventually learn how to become a good team player. Lencioni aims the book mainly toward those in leadership positions, such as hiring managers and other employees tasked with making sure that teamwork is not only valued in their company but also embedded within their company’s culture. In the book’s Introduction, Lencioni also establishes his own credibility in the topic, mentioning his 20 years of experience as a consultant with the company he cofounded, The Table Group. The book is largely a product of this experience.

As the Introduction concludes, the book undergoes a stark transition and shifts into a fictional narrative entitled “The Fable.” This narrative follows its protagonist, Jeff Shanley, an established consultant in the leadership development field who tires of his corporate life in Silicon Valley and grows restless for change. As Jeff considers new career paths and options, he speaks with his uncle Bob, the CEO of a successful construction firm called Valley Builders. It turns out that the timing of their conversation is serendipitous because Bob has recently received alarming health news. Doctors have informed him that he needs to undergo a dramatic lifestyle change, which includes stress mitigation. For this reason, Bob’s doctors recommend that he retire from his position at Valley Builders. As Jeff and Bob converse, Jeff spontaneously offers to assume the role, a request that Bob enthusiastically agrees to.

At first, Bob helps Jeff with the transition, but with an impending heart procedure quickly materializing, Bob abruptly informs Jeff that he must assume the CEO role fully and without further delay. Jeff is thrust into the position at a time when the company is taking on two major projects, a dynamic that it has heretofore never encountered. Jeff feels the pressure and begins second-guessing his decision, though he ultimately recognizes that there is only one way to move forward. He digs into the role and immediately begins discussions with Clare Massick and Bobby Brady, two executives at Valley Builders. Clare manages essentially all administrative duties in the company, while Bobby supervises all field operations. After a practical joke in which Bobby and Clare both pretend to quit, the three of them begin the long work of situating Jeff in his role and then plotting a path forward.

When Jeff learns that the company has an abnormally high employee turnover rate, he realizes that the company’s most significant need is a hiring model that selects for team players and excludes those who are not. Jeff has made his living in this area and has even consulted with his uncle at Valley Builders on the most effective ways of developing teamwork in the company. Bobby and Clare are both supportive but skeptical of Jeff’s new directive to make teamwork an essential focus for all new and prospective employees. With the pressures of the looming projects, Bobby and Clare worry that now is not the time to risk some new strategy. However, Jeff ultimately prevails, and the three of them begin to refine the values they want employees within the company to have.

The first thing they do is conduct a diagnosis on their current employees. They openly discuss the character traits of all those currently in the company, paying special attention to two of the managers, Nancy and Craig. Jeff discovers a source of dysfunction between these two managers, which Craig attributes to Nancy’s poor people skills. Jeff converses directly with both people and further investigates other sources of dysfunction within the company. He discovers that Valley Builders is behind on completion of a project that has stalled because a quality foreman left the job. While Jeff’s uncle had been a leader who valued forthrightness in communication and a degree of humility in his daily interactions with people from all walks of life, his company had picked up some bad habits.

Jeff convinces Clare and Bobby that to efficiently manage operations, they should look to hire a vice president of field operations. Jeff argues that installing a quality person in this position will help streamline the company’s simultaneous projects. As Jeff, Bobby, and Clare discuss what to look for in this new hire, they organically develop a list of indispensable traits. After much discussion and reflection, they ultimately decide that anyone hired should exhibit humility, should be hungry, and should have strong interpersonal skills, a trait they winnow down to “smart.”

Bobby mentions that he knows of a man named Ted Marchbanks, a newly retired former executive of a large construction company. Bobby has heard that Ted is a little restless and thinks that he can lure Ted out of retirement with an offer for this new position at Valley Builders. Clare and Jeff agree, and they bring Ted in for interviews. At first, Ted makes a great impression on the three. He is professional, courteous, and apparently successful. He is results oriented and has the track record to prove it. However, Jeff retains some uneasiness about Ted, though he is unable to put his finger on the source until he holds a formal interview. Jeff decides to be direct about the company’s new cultural focus, which Ted seems to accept in stride at first. However, as Jeff continues the interview, it becomes clear that Ted feels uncomfortable and uneasy himself. Jeff expresses the company’s adamant desire to hire only people who are humble, hungry, and smart. Jeff asks Ted for references, and the interview concludes awkwardly. A few days later, Jeff learns that Ted has withdrawn himself from consideration for the position. As it turns out, Ted has the reputation of being arrogant.

Bobby is upset at first about the news about Ted. He questions whether Jeff went too far in insisting on the three core values with Ted. The three associates talk through the decision, and eventually Bobby recommends Craig for the role. After some deliberation, Jeff and Clare agree. They interview and then hire Craig for the role. They also begin implementing their newly developed cultural model across all aspects of the company, including but not limited to human resources. As “The Fable” wraps up, the narrative moves forward a month, then six months, and then a year, examining the positive results the company experiences due to embedding their core principles into the company’s culture.

The book then abruptly transitions toward a more instructional voice in “The Model.” Lencioni interprets “The Fable” within the rubric of the three core values. Lencioni defines the three values and delves deeper into each of them. He examines the overlap of these values and how an employee who shows inadequacy of one value could impact a company’s operations. He discusses how the model at the heart of the book came into being, providing a brief history of its formation at The Table Group and its application in hypothetical scenarios. Lencioni provides guidance on effectively interviewing prospective employees to screen for evidence that they are good team players. He also shows how the three values apply to current employees, suggesting that a cultural emphasis on teamwork has a way of weeding out those who are unwilling to embrace it. He also illustrates how to embed these values into workplace culture, mentioning strategies such as leadership modeling. If the company desires a team-first orientation, then those in leadership positions must exhibit the kinds of behaviors they want from all their employees. Lencioni then connects the three values with some of the work he performed for his earlier book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, which serves to re-emphasize the significance of humility, hunger, and smarts as the traits that comprise an ideal team player.