Every Team Needs All Four Core Values
Regardless of your own Core Values Nature, every successful company and department must possess an appropriate balance of competencies from each core value. When a team lacks any essential value, its potential strengths cannot be fully realized. In fact, if a team remains unbalanced for too long, existing strengths become weaknesses, and performance suffers accordingly.
Understanding what each core value contributes allows leaders to build balanced, high-performing teams where every member’s natural strengths are leveraged for maximum impact.
Builder Contributions: Power That Inspires Action
A significant percentage of business owners and leaders are Builders, and for good reason—they get things done. Builders take personal responsibility, rarely make excuses, and grow impatient with those who do. They make decisions on the fly and thrive on that approach.
The power of a Builder inspires action in others, giving team members a sense of well-being and confidence. When a Builder is purposefully charged with a short-term mission, they create an unstoppable force of visible activity. The presence of this constructive power in any organization produces measurable results.
Power helps Builders contribute through decisiveness and spontaneity, which proves invaluable for short-term projects. Their emotional strength inspires teams to never give up. Since urgency is their prime motivator, you’ll find them cutting through obstacles and making things happen when others might hesitate.
Builders work extremely well with Innovators, trusting that Innovators will provide the right strategy while Builders implement the necessary steps to achieve results. This supportive relationship feeds both core value types exceptionally well.
Merchant Contributions: Nurturing That Builds Dynamic Teams
Merchants are exceptional team builders who rally people together. They’re constantly excited by new ideas and never question whether something is possible—they assume every idea they have can be achieved. Their belief that “nothing happens without a good vision” drives them to continuously inspire others.
The power of Merchants comes from their willingness to think about, consider, and expose one good idea after the next. They think as they speak, changing and modifying their vision in real time. Since every business is a constantly changing organism, Merchants are invaluable resources who inspire others to pursue shared visions.
Their nurturing nature builds dynamic teams, while their appreciation for beauty helps them create compelling presentations. Merchants take contributions from Builders, Innovators, and Bankers and package them for maximum impact. When others are stuck in present crises, the Merchant sees the future.
Merchants serve as diplomats, working tirelessly to create peace and cohesiveness. They help overcome the Banker tendency to hold back, and their enthusiasm adds an essential balancing ingredient to any team. What sometimes feels like ungrounded optimism may represent the only willingness to pick up and start again after setbacks.
Innovator Contributions: Wisdom That Never Gives Up
Innovators are the solution creators of the world. They can always think of another approach—“There’s got to be a better way” is more than their motto; it’s a pre-programmed mindset. Innovators enjoy the challenge of problems so much that they hate to settle on any single solution.
The power of Innovators comes from their unwillingness to accept that there’s anything they can’t figure out. They’re willing to put their ego at risk repeatedly, betting that they’ll come up with a plan, solution, or idea that makes things better.
When everyone around them is in a panic—the Builder shouting orders, the Merchant seeking consensus, the Banker demanding data—the Innovator tends to isolate and set quietly to work. Their flexibility is highly prized by all other players, as they make little distinction between which problems they’re asked to solve. The process of deriving a solution is sufficient to make them engaged.
Innovators are key elements in every business situation where change is occurring. Their resourcefulness brings new methods, tools, systems, and mechanisms to bear, always opening new opportunities for success. They understand potential tensions they cause with their need to perfect solutions, and they’re willing to act differently when they can see how different actions produce better results.
Banker Contributions: Knowledge That Ensures Success
The influence of Bankers rests in their ability to conserve resources, ensure longevity, and stabilize operations. These contributions are supported by their extraordinary organization skills. Bankers are insatiable information gatherers—data is always at their fingertips and they don’t miss details.
Like magnets dragged through sand, Bankers collect all valuable facts. The knowledge they gain makes them invaluable repositories of information for others who wish to explore their library-like minds.
Bankers are committed to assuring that whatever is done succeeds. Their drive to be right allows them to possess extraordinary staying power—they never give up. They keep trying, keep doing, and keep analyzing until, often by perseverance alone, they succeed where others have failed.
Extremely cautious, Bankers refuse to launch the ship before testing its seaworthiness. In situations requiring action, their analytical influence is mandatory. Without them, actions are taken without sufficient thought, directions change without considering long-term ramifications, and innovations deploy without regard to service problems or customer satisfaction.
Without Banker energy in sales departments, production shops, and marketing offices, repetitive mistakes bury businesses. Opportunities are lost, orders are misplaced, and shipment schedules become nuisances. Bankers refuse to be part of operations that don’t fulfill commitments—they’ll do almost anything to make things right.
Building Balanced Teams
The success of any business manager depends on creating the appropriate balance of core values within their company and focusing people with each core value toward tasks they’re most likely to perform well. Each business has unique core value requirements—not only for the business as a whole but within different departments and individual positions.
By allowing themselves to be balanced and guided by people with different core values, leaders become more focused on well-prioritized strategic projects. Their considerable strengths are amplified by their contributing—sometimes restraining—team members.
Discover Your Team’s Core Values
Understanding each team member’s Core Values Nature is the first step toward building a balanced, high-performing team. Take the Core Values Index to discover your unique contribution style and how you can best serve your team.