What Traits Do I need in my Comms Team?

​Famed Harvard organizational psychology professor J. Richard Hackman, who spent 40 years studying teams, identified the three main conditions of effective teams: direction, structure, and support. 

• Clear direction is the main component of a great team. Teams work towards a common goal and grasp how their work impacts an organization's mission.
• A strong structure ensures that the team balances diversity in knowledge and views while promoting positive dynamics.
• Support includes reward, information, and development. Team members are aware of their roles, know how to obtain the information necessary to complete tasks, and are continuously encouraged and developed.

What are the traits that I should look for in my teammates?

There are three essential skillsets/traits that I look for in my teammates - communication skills, agility, and composure. As long as someone has the capabilities for these three skills, a team leader can guide them to be an effective and skilled comms professional. In fact, by design, most of the teams who have worked for me didn't have any direct comms background and were in other fields when recruited.
 
Having a good grasp of your team's capabilities will allow you to grow and encourage these skills.

• Strong communication skills are at the heart of an effective comms professional. Being able to listen, comprehend, speak and write is necessary. 
• Agility is an essential skill for any comms professional. The nature of the work requires this skill, and those who cannot be flexible will soon burn out and become dissatisfied. This is especially true when a team is just starting. Everyone needs to have a common goal and be willing to take on new responsibilities depending on the day or project.
• Composure. Ideally, we want all of our teammates to be resilient. However, comms professionals are under a great deal of stress and pulled in many different directions. Resiliency, or grace under pressure, is ideal, but not everyone has this trait. (That being said, the team leader must be a resilient professional and calm under fire.) For everyone else, I will accept at least the appearance of composure. Comms professionals can, at times, be front-line workers and need to be composed and professional. 

So, what about from the teammate POV? 

Six Key Traits to a Great Employee Experience
Comms shops are fast-paced and, at times, stressful environments. Your role as a leader is to cultivate your talent and build a great culture to create engaged teammates. Below are six traits of a high-functioning shop from a teammate's point of view.
​
Glint has a great article on People Success, and I've been following these tenets for many years in all of my shops.

• Well-being. Feeling safe and valued and treated with respect.
• Connection. Mutually respected relationships; a sense of belonging.
• Focus. You know what success looks like and what to prioritize.
• Empowerment. Ability to make decisions and direct own effort.
• Growth. Your development is encouraged and shepherded.
• Purpose. You know how your value and contribution adds to the whole.