The 3 "Team Player" Qualities of Employees

By Tommy Mello, Owner A1 Garage Doors, an investment of over $100 million home service business. Sharing what I learned to help other entrepreneurs grow.

We hired over 400 employees, and I learned a lot about hiring superstars...but man, this book blew my mind.

It's called The Ideal Team Player, and it's written by Patrick Lencioni. Patrick has worked at Fortune 500 companies like Bain and Oracle, and his books have sold over 7 million copies.

According to him, there are three main qualities that make your employee a great team player: hungry, humble, and smart. Allow me to explain each of these qualities and offer some additional information.

1. Are they hungry?

It means they are willing to give more than what is asked of them. They under-promise and over-deliver. More importantly, they have the desire to win. A winning attitude is the first thing to look for, and here's what to look out for:

• Are they passionate about something? If they say they like to do everything, but not much, that's a red flag for me.

• Did they have to work hard for something? Did they dedicate their life to something important and sacrifice other things (like changing their schedule)?

• Are they competitive? How do they deal with adversity?

To find out if someone is really hungry or not, I recommend this test by Chet Holmes, the late author of The Ultimate Sales Machine. He would challenge candidates by saying something like, "I don't know if you're right for our company...I'm not sure you have what it takes."

While many candidates will wilt under the pressure, hungry and competitive true people will be excited. They might even ask to compete against your best players and prove their worth through trials!

2. Are they humble?

What does humility look like? Humble people recognize that they don't know everything and they aren't always right. They ask questions and learn from others. They are able to look at each other and think. Above all, they see themselves as part of a team.

To see if someone is humble or not, ask them about their past professional accomplishments. If they answer "I did this, I did that...", it's a bad sign. They're probably giving themselves too much credit.

If they say, "We did this, we did that..." Keep going! It's a sign that they see their success as part of the team effort.

3. Are they smart?

Being smart is about dealing with people and navigating all kinds of working relationships, whether with clients or colleagues. It's about being sensitive to the people around them.

Patrick recommends asking this question in interviews: "How would you describe your personality?" You want people to have a good sense of who they are, which helps them communicate effectively with others.

Besides these three qualities, what else do good employees have in common? We have over 400 employees, and here's another thing I noticed.

Are they happy?

Although you can train an employee to smile, you cannot train them to be happy. Generally, unhappy people make others unhappy. As the...