Strong team dynamics depend on more than talent. In this episode, Bill and Ralph break down the three elements that often determine how well a group actually works together. They explore how likability, personality awareness, and shared commitment to performance shape collaboration, sense of belonging, and sustained results. Learn how to recognize these forces at play and how small shifts in mindset can improve the way your own teams connect, communicate, and achieve.
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Bill Berthel
Welcome to the Get Emergent Podcast. The Get Emergent Podcast guides leaders to creatively strengthen relationships and improve performance of their leadership and those that they lead. We like to provide concepts and ideas that you can turn into pragmatic experiments to help you develop your higher potential in your work and in your leadership. We hope you’re going to find some better practices to apply directly into your work. I’m Bill Berthel.
Ralph Simone
And I’m Ralph Simone. And Bill, I’m excited about today’s topic because I think I might know something.
Bill Berthel
About it. That’s always good, right?
Ralph Simone
Unlike some other topics. But the three Ps of team dynamics. Tell me about the three Ps and why they’re important for our listeners.
Bill Berthel
We’ll share the three Ps right away and then we can tease out a little bit of importance in each of them. I think as we talk about them, we’re talking about popularity, personality, and performance. Those are the three Ps. Popularity, personality, and performance. And we think they’re incredibly important. Each one is important for different reasons. Performance is obvious. We come together in an organization or a team to perform. There’s something where we’re building, creating, making, and serving. There’s a performance metric that’s there. Ultimately, every team has something they are trying to accomplish through performance. Personality. We all bring it.
Ralph Simone
We have some bring it a little more than others.
Bill Berthel
Well, that’s the truth. Whatever system, structure, or model you want to look at, we utilize DiSC in some of our training and some of our work. Looking at four personality types. Many people know the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. There’s lots of great. OCEAN is a really great personality model. Not one we particularly use that much. But personality is the way in which we are motivated, the way we behave, the way we communicate, and what we demonstrate. Personality becomes very important.
Ralph Simone
And the reason that we introduce those as part of team programs is for understanding and the ability to manage and capitalize on the differences. I think too often the personality should enhance or lead to higher performance, not get in the way or not be an excuse to performance.
Bill Berthel
One hundred percent. So we often say understanding personality gives us a framework for understanding self and others. That’s just the cognitive piece. It also gives us an opportunity to behave more effectively with self and others. So there’s a cognitive piece of understanding, and then there’s embodying, adjusting, and being agile. And then popularity. This one sounds so high school, doesn’t it? It’s not a popularity contest. I like the way you framed it when we were talking about this earlier. There’s a likability factor.
Ralph Simone
So I think that maybe it’s because I think I’m likable, but I do think there’s a likability index. You can’t say, oh, shit, I just know what I’m doing. If your likability index increases a little bit, you become easier to deal with. If you’re easier to deal with, I think you can get more done. I think it ties to performance.
Bill Berthel
Absolutely. It ties to performance. These three, performance, personality, and popularity, are connected. I don’t know if it’s a Venn diagram or what it looks like, but they’re interwoven in our team dynamics and how we operate together in a team.
Ralph Simone
Absolutely. To the extent that we can become more likable, more popular, to the extent that we can manage our personality and engage with multiple personalities, I don’t know if we call that psychological adaptability, and to the extent that we can be focused and aligned around clear goals, we should be able to check the box on these three Ps.
Bill Berthel
I think about a favorite TV show we’ve talked about often here, Ted Lasso. I think about the likability and personality differences on the soccer team that Ted works so much to get the players to like one another enough. Some of those personalities were hard to like, even as a viewer. Imagine having to perform at a high level on the field. Ultimately, that’s what Ted, as the coach, got them to click on. In the context of the game, like me. In the context of the game, know what the personalities are that are going to work in the context of the game. Perform, bring your skill sets, and utilize the skill sets of your teammates.
Ralph Simone
I think that’s beautifully said. I think some people cop out on this one very well. I don’t need to like them or they don’t need to like me as long as they respect me. But in the context of the game, there needs to be a likability. There needs to be an appreciation of the differences you bring so we can capitalize on them. There needs to be clear performance outcomes. I’ve heard this statement too much. I don’t need to be liked. I just need to be respected. I think you need both, actually.
Bill Berthel
I think so. I think you can apply that to personality. How many times do we sweep it under the carpet by just saying they’re just having a personality conflict or their personalities don’t mesh. I don’t think we should be condoning that, especially as a leader. That doesn’t mean you hit it head on.
Ralph Simone
No, no.
Bill Berthel
I think it’s thoughtfully positioning personality as complementary, not opposites. We keep looking at opposition and not the complementary opportunities here.
Ralph Simone
I’m remembering this from my Myers Briggs certification. This might have even been Carl Jung. Your personality is not an excuse for inexcusable behavior.
Bill Berthel
Love that. Say that again.
Ralph Simone
Your personality is not an excuse for inexcusable behavior. You have to own it. You have to own the ability to flex your personality to work with other personalities in a complementary way. I think that drives up your likability index.
Bill Berthel
It absolutely does. There is something about having shared language or shared models. That’s what we get to do in much of our team training or team development work. We give teams a shared understanding and a shared language so they can become more complementary than polarizing.
Ralph Simone
This may sound like I’m patting us on the back, but I was thinking about these three Ps of team dynamics as it relates to us and one of our larger clients. I’m looking at those two entities as a team.
Bill Berthel
Yes.
Ralph Simone
As an outside service provider, I think we’re one of the more popular service providers because we have a high likability index. Our personalities are very different. But we found ways to make them complementary. And I think where we aligned more quickly is on the performance we are intending to achieve. More leadership effectiveness, more team effectiveness, and people having vital conversations with one another. These three Ps are absolutely important.
Bill Berthel
We can focus on popularity and personality, but the third leg of this three legged stool is performance. It’s not just about getting along better. It will show up in our metrics.
Ralph Simone
Energetically, it’s sustained performance. If it’s too hard because we’re constantly seeing personalities as opposites instead of complementary, or if we dislike people on the team too much, we will not sustain performance or take it to the next level.
Bill Berthel
I’m going to steal a little thunder from a future offering for team development. Belonging is incredibly important on any team. Belonging is a mindset, not a location. It’s the way you approach being here. Part of that is who you’re here with. You don’t have to be best friends, but you should be likable enough to enjoy working together.
Ralph Simone
This takes me to a podcast we recorded earlier on hosting and belonging. If I’m hosting the conversation in a welcoming way, people will feel they belong.
Bill Berthel
You’ll probably be more likable, more agile with teammates, and perform at a higher level.
Ralph Simone
I play devil’s advocate a lot. Your opinion of me is none of my business. I don’t want to be attached to approval, but I want to be mindful of the importance of being liked in contributing fully to a team.
Bill Berthel
Attached enough for connection, because you’re on a team. The name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back. We get to choose how attached we are.
Ralph Simone
If I keep in mind that the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back of my jersey, I will be a better team contributor and positively influence team dynamics.
Bill Berthel
I know your microphone is on a boom, but that was a mic drop moment. Thank you, Ralph.
Ralph Simone
Okay, Bill. Appreciate it.
Bill Berthel
Thanks for listening. You can listen to a new podcast twice each month. If you apply something from today, let us know by reaching out to [email protected]. Thank you.
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