Question

4. What personal attributes are necessary for members of IDEO’s teams? What personal attributes would be counterproductive for members of these teams? To what extent must these attributes be present in team members when they are hired, as opposed to being developed through training after hiring?

Answer 1

The personal attributes that are necessary for members of IDEO’s teams are:

- Honesty and integrity- in the work they do

- Loyalty- to meet the employer’s best interest.

- Ability to work in teams in harmony with other co-workers

- Technical competency – and finding ways to hone the skills

- Make others successful- to value others’ ideas and suggestions

- Determination and persistence- to solve complex problems

- Interpersonal skills- to have good business relationships with others in the company.

- Learn from failures

- Take ownership

What personal attributes would be counterproductive for members of these teams?

IDEO has ‘Make Others Successful’ and ‘learn from failures’ are some of their values. These personal attributes are counterproductive to the members of these teams because for a human, it is difficult to make others successful. All a team member wants is to become a most valuable player by contributing more and being recognized for their work. Hence, ‘make others successful’ is one of the personal attribute that have a counterproductive effect because such team members would not be happy about their success which might even hinder their own performance.

The other personal attribute that has the counterproductive effect is ‘learn from failures’. There are team members who would be dejected and de-motivated when they face failure. The personal attribute of ‘learn from failure’ would not exhibit the desired effect if the team member turns back towards moving forward.

These personal attributes need to be present in team members while hiring them. Interviewers should look for signs of these attributes. For example, if a candidate is using the word ‘I’ rather than ‘we’ in the situation of solving a problem, then the interviewer should think twice before selecting the candidate for the position. These are personal attributes that are in-built. These are the values of an individual. These personal attributes cannot be developed via hiring and training. These personal attributes should be present in the team members at a large extent as they are the internal factors of an individual.