1. Commitment. People who are truly committed are consistently present and engaged. They show up fully. They have their heads in the game 100%. You can sense when people are truly dedicated in this way; and, on the flipside, when they are not. Trust your intuition in assessing someone’s level of engagement.

2. Fit. People with complementary strengths form the best team, and may provide a healthy source of conflict. Rather than a homogeneous group of people, having differing opinions and attitudes will create a stronger contribution to the whole. At the same time, you want team members who play well together, to minimize the destructive potential of conflict. Also:

• Consider culture (the way we work around here) and values (what’s really important to us) and how your team member will fit in within that framework.
• Assess the individual’s personality and how well it fits the job.

3. Skill and Aptitude. Of course, you want people who have the ability to do their job. Although, I have engaged team members who did not have 100% of the requirements for the job, but had the aptitude and desire to learn and bridge the gaps. As long as you sense a good fit and high level of commitment, know that attitude and personality often weigh more in the long term since these attributes are inherent in individuals and not learned traits.

• Wouldn’t it be preferable to have someone who shows up consistently, plays well with others and is growing into their role, than someone who is capable of doing the job but is consistently absent and is destructively confrontational with others?

When I am choosing a team member for my sailing team, I assess the racers with these 3 attributes. Commitment and fit are as important as skill and aptitude. Whether you are selecting a new team member, a new board member, or making a difficult decision to let someone go, consider these 3 attributes to assist your decision making.

How do you assess these 3 characteristics? Communication, through active listening, questioning, while focusing on understanding others and always, always, maintaining respect.

In Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture", he shared some valuable advice for working well with other people in a group:


Find things you have in common. You can almost always find something in common with another person, and from there, it's much easier to address issues where you have differences.  Sports cut across boundaries of race and wealth. And if nothing else, we all have the weather in common.

Try for optimal meeting conditions. Make sure no one is hungry, cold or tired.  Meet over a meal if you can; food softens a meeting.  That's why they "do lunch" in Hollywood.

Let everyone talk. Don't finish someone's sentences.  And talking louder or faster doesn't make your ideas any better.

Check egos at the door. When you discuss ideas, label them and write them down.  The label should be descriptive of the idea, not the originator: "the bridge story" not "Jane's story."

Praise each other. Find something nice to say, even if it's a stretch.  The worst ideas can have silver linings if you look hard enough. (A related piece of advice: Look for the best in everybody. If you wait long enough, people will surprise and impress you.)

Phrase alternatives as questions. Instead of "I think we should do A, not B," try "What if we did A, instead of B?" That allows people to offer comments rather than defend one choice.