Good Team, Bad Team summary

Have you ever found yourself mystified by the way a colleague approaches a problem? You might think their strategy is slow, or scattered, or just plain wrong. But here’s the thing: chances are, they're thinking the exact same thing about you. 

It turns out that we all have measurable differences in the way we like to solve problems. These are called thinking preferences. Once you understand them, you gain a powerful lens that can help you interpret behaviors that once seemed baffling. 

According to research by Gerard Puccio at SUNY Buffalo, there are four main thinking preferences that people tend toward when tackling a challenge: clarifying, ideating, developing, and implementing. 

People who prefer to clarify like to really analyze and understand a problem before proceeding. They ask lots of questions and gather data. In contrast, those who prefer to ideate want to explore possibilities and generate ideas right away. People with a preference to develop like to compare options and craft detailed solutions. And those who prefer to implement want to spring into action and get things done.

Most of us have one or two dominant preferences. And we tend to assume everyone else thinks the same way we do. So when a colleague takes a radically different approach, we’re often quick to label it as wrong or problematic, rather than simply different. 

This leads to all sorts of misunderstandings and friction. The person who prefers to clarify gets frustrated when the ideator wants to brainstorm without fully defining the problem first. The implementer gets impatient with the developer’s desire to perfect the plan before acting. 

So, the next time you find yourself judging a teammate’s problem-solving style, hit pause. Consider that their thinking preference may simply be different from yours. In fact, having diverse preferences on a team is a strength, not a weakness. You need all four types of thinking to produce the best solutions.

To leverage cognitive diversity, work to understand each person’s unique perspective. What energizes them? What strengths do they bring? Assign tasks that play to those strengths. The clarifier can gather data. The ideator can brainstorm possibilities. The developer can compare options and craft a plan. And the implementer can rally the team to action.

When you recognize thinking preferences, you stop seeing others as obstacles and start seeing them as assets. And that leads to much more effective collaboration – and better results. So embrace the differences. They’re the key to unlocking your team’s true potential.