"Understanding Team Dynamics - Using the AthleteDISC to Create High Performance Teams"

By Bo Hanson - 4x Olympian, Coaching Consultant & Director of Athlete Assessments

Great teamwork happens when those on the team have a philosophy of being the best person for the team rather than the best person in the team. In many cases, athletes compete brutally against each other in order to be selected on the team. Once on the team, they are expected to put the team first. This is quite a departure from their previous thinking when they had to fight for themselves.

However, if their thinking does not change, we end up with a non-united team - a team of individuals. A team, without question, fails to produce their best when it matters the most. As coaches, we may or may not have a role in selecting our team. Some do and some don't. Regardless of this, every coach, is to understand the interplay of behavioral styles / personalities existing on their team. This interplay is called Team Dynamics. By just observing a team, it can be quite a challenge to accurately understand the diverse mix of these personalities and styles. To fully and accurately understand, coaches turn to the AthleteDISC and the Team Dynamics Profiling tool contained within the profiling system. After all, most teams fail due to clashes of behavior patterns ("personality clashes"). Clashes that could have been managed had the coach and team been aware of them and planned accordingly.

Creating Great Teams

Some coaches assume any group can automatically be a team. One of the biggest single reasons that teams misfire, is personality differences are ignored. In short, who's selected on the team affects the team's outcome. For best results, we are to be strategic about the athletes on the team, what their behavioral style is and what the outcome of these behavioral styles is in creating the Team Dynamics Profile. With this knowledge coaches can begin to understand likely team behaviors and the most effective way to coach the overall team. Coaches can also see where gaps are in the team's diversity and can, where able and appropriate, recruit athletes of particular profiles to fill those gaps.

When coaches create a sporting team and employ their knowledge of the four AthleteDISC behavioral styles, they can greatly improve the team's chances for success. Coaches take into account the natural allies and antagonists among the styles and also how each style functions best at a different phase in the stages of development of a team. For information on Team Development Stages, stay tuned as an article is coming out soon on this topic.

For example, Interactive styles (I's) often see Compliant styles (C's) as overly-analytical and rule governed. Dominant styles (D's) might sooner die than have to continually wait on the more considerate style of the Steady team members (S's). Compliant styles, while often drawn to Steady styles, have difficulty understanding the Interactive style's lack of focus or the Dominant style's impatience. And Steady styles only wish everyone was as amiable and tolerant as they.

So while the potential for conflict is always there, it needn't become the reality. In creating a team, think about who you are putting on it and monitor how they function during the group's evolution. That way you'll not only make the best possible use of the strengths of each team member, you can help create a whole that's much larger than the sum of the parts. Discovering what styles you have on your team is easy. When each of your team, complete an AthleteDISC Profile, they will be mapped onto a Team Dynamics Chart (within your Team Account) like the one below.

In the above Team Dynamics Profile example, a coach can see that there are two different percentage measures in each Behavioral Style. The first percentage is the Norm Group. The norm group is a measure of the % of team members that theoretically form a healthy amount of a certain behavioral style. The other percentage is Your Group. This is the actual percentage of a certain behavioral style that exists in your team.

The first aspect to look at in the Team Dynamics Profile, is the Norm Group versus Your Group percentage. We ideally want these percentages to map to the theory percentages. Successful teams tend to have healthy diversity within the behavioral profiles. Can you think of what may occur if one behavioral style is oversupplied?

In the above example, the first team issue to notice is the lack of D's (Dominant Style). In teams, D's provide a sense of urgency, a pace setting style of leadership, a love of a challenge, a strong results focus and a "whatever it takes" style of play. What do you think may be the outcome for a team that is missing these qualities? Think about team members who naturally want to assume a leadership role, what profile do you think they are most likely?

The second observation is that there are too many I's. Interactive (I) style behaviors are fast paced, people oriented, motivated by change and fun, are impulsive with their choices, will be interested in the social side of sport as well as the need for individual recognition. As well, I's are talkative types who tend to wear their heart on their sleeve more so than the other styles. With roughly twice as many I's as the theory suggests is required, this team will likely struggle at times to switch on and be focused. There may be a lot of off topic communication and if their coach does not provide excitement and fun elements at training, then they will start to disengage.

The other factor in this team, is that their Steady style (S) is under represented. S styles are described as the ultimate team player. They listen, are observant of others, portray tolerance, are highly amiable and generally will naturally put the team before themselves. Some describe S's as the glue that binds the team together. What do you think may happen in this team given that there are not enough of the S's?

Finally, the Compliant style. You will notice that this style is also over represented with 25%. Compliant styles (C's) are rule guided, motivated by structure and systems being effective and efficient, stubborn and inflexible to change unless there is sufficient evidence such as facts and figures to support the change. They are also likely to be highly conscious of quality above all else, are interested in the "right" process before the result and are more a thinker than a feeler who will be reticent to express themselves. Whilst fantastic people to have on a team, they can often be prone to preferring to work alone. So knowing this what impact do you think the impact on the team will be? Also consider this, with the particularly high representation of I's?

In summary, Team Dynamics Profiling gives us concrete indications on how the team bonds, interacts and ultimately performs. Obtaining accurate information on Team Dynamics is easy and inexpensive using the AthleteDISC Profiling system.

I have noticed when teams significantly under-perform, there are almost always critical behavioral issues (personality clashes) that were never addressed. Sport is tough enough. Coaching is one of the most challenging roles a person can have.

In a recent survey of elite coaches from a diversity of sports, coaches rated the three most challenging aspects of their roles:

1. 50% rated "Understanding individual athlete's personality and how to best motivate them".
2. 46% rated "Personal life balance - managing sport, career, home and social life."
3. 31% rated "Team/squad dynamics and managing relationships within the team/squad".

Don't make your job any harder by neglecting this critical aspect of team performance. Use the knowledge available with Athlete Assessments and the AthleteDISC to assist you to make better informed decisions.

Discover more information about the AthleteDISC profile for athletes and CoachDISC profile for coaches. Or contact us to find out how we can help you further develop your coaching.