1. You Need Optimism
Optimism is one important ingredient of a well-balanced team. Optimism is particularly well-suited to a company’s CEO: the person who keeps the company moving forward towards a key vision. An optimist sees the best in every situation. This is an essential perspective for locating the best new opportunities and believing in your team’s ability to go after them. An optimist will help to push your team forward and will always believe in the possibility of success. You need that drive to keep moving towards bigger and better things.
2. You Need Realism
A good dose of realism is also important to the success of any business team. Ideally, your team’s realist will be the manager, the person who runs a project’s day-to-day operations. A realist sees a goal in terms of its practical details and down-to-earth requirements. A realist’s voice on your team will help you to make decisions that are grounded in fact, and it will help you to plan operational details that will work. A realist can take an abstract vision and adjust it to meet real world requirements. Having a realist on your team will help you to plan business strategies from start to finish and achieve the outcome you’re looking for.
3. You Need Cynicism
Although it may sound negative, cynicism is important to have within your team. Cynicism is the perfect perspective for a finance manager, who must take care of the nitty-gritty budgeting details and make sure that the business never goes into the red. A cynic naturally believes that the worst will happen. Where an optimist sees opportunities and successes, a cynic sees risks and failures. This perspective can help your team make sure that you’re aware of any possible pitfalls and risks related to your plans. You can develop plans to cope with any failures so that you’re not caught by surprise. A cynic helps you to make sure you’re prepared for the worst, as well as the best.
4. Different Perspectives View a Problem from All Sides
Having these three different perspectives will help your team to form well-rounded pictures of each challenge and opportunity you face. Team members with the same personality type are likely to focus on the same elements. If, for example, you’re working on developing a new product, the optimists on your team are likely to focus on what the end product will look like and how the new product will bring you new sales. You need realists and cynics to think about the details of production, the challenges of competition, and the costs of development. Having three different personality types ensures that you’ll be looking at every situation from multiple angles.
5. Disagreement is Healthy
Some teams try to avoid disagreement as much as possible, but it’s important to remember that disagreement can actually be beneficial for your team’s outcomes. Disagreement pushes your team into grappling with the most difficult parts of a project, and disagreement usually results in compromise. These compromises, incorporating the views of different team members, often form the foundations for the best possible ideas and strategies.
6. Develop the Best Strategies
A good strategy takes into account every possible aspect of a plan: the end goal, the development steps, the risks, the competition, the outcomes, and so on. Having an optimist, realist, and cynic on your team will help you to thoroughly address all of these aspects. You’ll end up with detailed strategies that prepare your team to deal with any possible situation. This gives you the best chance at success.
7. Balance Your Team
Finally, the most important reason to have 3 Types of Individuals on Your Team is to create balance. If a team consists entirely of people with the same personality type, it’s easy for that team to get carried away in a single direction. A team of optimists may move forward quickly without enough consideration for possible risks. A team of cynics, on the other hand, may never move forward because the risks seem too great. Balance between different perspectives helps to keep a team grounded and motivated, moving steadily towards success.
