Hiring decisions would have to be among the most challenging decisions that leaders face. Credentials, experience and ‘team fit’ are all on the table. Selecting one candidate over another can have far reaching implications on the future performance of a team.

The question is, what is ‘team fit’, and actually, why do we rate it so highly? While ticking the box on diversity is more and more normalised as an HR policy, here’s another take that has given me some food for thought lately.

Recently I have been devouring the book, Think Again by Adam Grant. In it, he makes an argument in favour of including the “disagreeables”. As he says, too much agreeableness in a team can increase the risk of mediocrity, where everyone agrees and no one will take a stand and say, “we can do better”. 

In Think Again, Adam relays the story of how the animation movie, The Incredibles came to be. Producer Brad Bird broke with Pixar tradition and deliberately assembled a team of animators who were seen as marginals and misfits by other studios. They had a momentous mission. It required the invention of new technologies to transform human actors into animated creatures. Agreeableness was never going to cut it (excuse the pun). Instead, the team embraced the courage to challenge each other, to push the boundaries of possibility. The result: The Incredibles was produced at a fraction of the projected cost and heralded a radical evolution in cinematography. It won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and become one of the highest-grossing movies of its time.

While no doubt a good portion of the animation team’s success came down to a culture of psychological safety that was naturally due to good leadership, selecting team members who challenge the accepted norms was quite possibly equally important.

With that in mind, if you’re considering a candidate who is a challenger, perhaps the thing to consider is their ability to communicate radical ideas. How well can they challenge others without polarising? Can they contribute new ideas and still give air-time to others who might be pushing the boundaries in a different way?

Of course, the leadership responsibility doesn’t end there. Maintaining a culture of safety for team members to be courageous and outrageous with their ideas is still important. But, when it comes to ‘team fit’, I wonder if it’s a case of being careful what we wish for.

Wendy Clarke

Senior Consultant