John Maxwell once said, “Readers are leaders and leaders are readers.” In this industry books can have a tremendous impact on your career as a leader and entrepreneur. Today we are introducing our new series of book reviews by recapping a book that has had an incredible influence on our careers -Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni.

Synopsis

Laid out in a practical and easy to digest format, the book explores what characteristics you should be looking for in your existing and new team members to make sure you have a group of people that can work together cohesively and make the work place a positive and productive environment. Lencioni breaks this concept down into three easy to understand points- your new hire must be humble, hungry and smart.

Humble

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking about yourself less. You should be looking for individuals that will think about what is best for the group before they think about what is best for themselves. When you have a whole team with this mentality, it will really boost productivity and connectedness.

Hungry

We aren’t talking about the type of hungry that sends you to the buffet. When Lencioni says hungry he means, are you hiring the type of people that will push every day to better themselves, their group, and the business? Are they constantly working to make themselves and those around them the best they can possibly be? It isn’t hunger in the conventional sense, it is an insatiable need for growth and improvement.

Smart

There are many kinds of smart. Book smarts of course are important but, do your employees have the street smarts to handle situations that may arise in a restaurant setting? Do they have the emotional intelligence to feel empathy for the people they are working with? You need someone that can be smart enough to articulate ideas like what farm-to-table means, while also having people smarts to understand and handle people.

Notable Quotables

There were a few quotes that stood out to us that we feel you should know, even if you don’t get a chance to read the book.

The first deals with restaurant culture: “We want to be an odd company in a good kind of way.” You want to be different from other companies, not only in your business model but in the atmosphere and culture you’ve created in your work place. When you have obvious differences that make you seem odd to most people, you will attract individuals that fit in with what you have created, and those who don’t will weed themselves out.

Secondly, “Perhaps the most important question that an interview can ask, is one that they should ask themselves. Would I want to work with this person every single day?” You are going to be spending a lot of time with this person, you don’t have to be best friends, but you at least need to enjoy their company.

Lastly, the quote that stood out the most to us. “The most important part of the development process, and the part that is often missing, is the leader’s commitment to constantly reminding an employee if she is not yet doing what is needed.” This goes right back to setting clear expectations and clearly communicating them to your staff. You must be giving constant and consistent feedback so your employees know where they stand. If they aren’t quite hitting the mark yet, reassure them that they aren’t there yet, but they will be.

Patrick Lencioni’s book is full of great advice that can help you make sure you are getting the right people on your team. If you would like to purchase a copy you can do that here  amzn.to/2wBH8vA

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