Imagine waking up from a coma to find the world has been over run by zombies, or worse, you’re part of a dysfunctional and ineffective team at work. Either way, the day in and day out trials are exhausting. The other night I was watching AMC’s hit show, The Walking Dead. As I went through a mental recap of the prior seasons, it hit me that the zombies tend to be issue B, and the team dynamics are what often lead to trouble.

From a leader’s perspective, there is a lot more to managing a team than the generic go-to “good communication”. Knowing how people will function together as a team, what their individual strengths and weaknesses are and what triggers their motivation is what is needed to create and maintain a successful team.

Find the Strengths in Your Team

One of the toughest, strongest and cunning members of the main team on WD is a former pizza boy, who had to prove his worth early on. No one thought Glenn had it in him, but as the team has evolved, Glenn has proven indispensable in areas that no one would have guessed.

Employee assessment tools highlight strengths that might be hidden, or not so obvious to identify, especially if you aren’t looking for them. Employee assessment tools also help leaders to find the areas of weakness, so they can construct teams accordingly. Think of the members of a team as puzzle pieces; they have to be put together in a very specific way.

Research by Gallup revealed that only 37% of employees surveyed said their supervisor focuses on their strengths or positive characteristics. Could that be attributed to the fact that most supervisors might not know what those are? Probably.

Discover Their Motivators

Carl Grimes is the young, brave to-a-fault member of the team who had to push his way out of gardening, and onto the front lines. While his place in the team as a farmer was necessary, his intrinsic motivators weren’t inline with his position. He became complaisant, insubordinate and detached from the team.

Employee assessment tools allow employers and leaders to discover what motivates each person on a team, so they are rewarded and incentivized in the most effective way. Additionally, knowing an employee’s motivators, allows leaders to position each member optimally within a team. What we’re good at, and what drives us, isn’t necessarily always the same thing.

While 89% of employers think their voluntary turnover can be attributed to money, the reality is that only 12% of employees actually do leave for more money. When employers don’t know what motivates their workforce, the results can be incredibly costly.

Reveal What Your Team is Missing

Just in the nick of time, Hershel Greene, a religious former veterinarian and farmer joined the WD team. Between his knowledge of farming the land, his medical background and ability to act as the team’s moral compass, Hershel was exactly what this team needed. The right puzzle piece!

Many leaders with whom we have worked are surprisingly detached from the team they’re supposed to be facilitating. Leaders and team members often need help identifying exactly what hard skills, soft skills, experience or personality that they are missing that will enable them to run on all cylinders.

A Family and Work Studies Institute study revealed that over 50% of U.S. employees feel overworked or overwhelmed at least some of the time, and 70% say they often dream of having a different job. Creating better teams ensures that the workload is evenly distributed, and redundant work is not created. If there is a gap in your team, you need to know about it before stress, lack of resources and overload destroy it.

Very often teams are thrown together haphazardly, or based on resources. There is a better way, and employee assessment tools are it. The intrinsic disconnects and dissonances that come along with teamwork are no longer simply part of being a team. Employee assessment tools let leaders craft teams thoughtfully, and optimally.

You know what they say, A team that slays together, stays together

Bio: Ryan Mead, CEO/Partner

Vitru is an online application that provides tools to evaluate and build better teams. Powered by science yet practical and easy to use for a variety of teams. From students and nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies Vitru works!

Great organizations, regardless of size or mission, understand that powerful team chemistry is impossible to force; but when it happens, it’s magic.

Vitru allows team leaders to create and assess teams virtually and in doing so helps quantify what makes an outstanding team outstanding.

Want more? Visit our blog and sign up to automatically receive our fresh-weekly articles.

Tweet me at @GoVitru