1. Team Member Styles:
What notes are you playing?
Dianne Rees (based on the work of Glenn Parker in Team Players and
Teamwork: New Strategies for Developing Successful Collaboration)

2. Do you know these people? Are they on your team?
communicator
collaborator
contributor challenger

3. contributor
Strengths I think we really
need to focus…
high standards
Less productive when…
organized
There’s too much information.
authoritative I may not see the big picture..
I’m pushing my team mates too hard.
responsible
I’m too much of a perfectionist

4. collaborator
Strengths So here’s the big
picture….
goal-directed
forward-looking Less productive when…
I’ve overcommitted!
imaginative
My focus is too global.
flexible I haven’t reviewed the mission.
I don’t think about the needs of other team
pitches in members

5. communicator
Strengths What do you all
think?
considerate
relaxed Less productive when…
I won’t challenge you— I want us to get along!
enthusiastic
I’m all about the process—goals may slip.
supportive I may overuse humor.
I may seem manipulative or placating.
tactful

6. challenger
Strengths Why are we doing
this?
honest
outspoken Less productive when…
I don’t know when to back off.
thorough
I may push the team to take too many risks.
questioning I can be self-righteous
I become too much of a nit-picker.
adventurous

7. It takes all four of these people to make a good team
communicator
collaborator
contributor challenger

8. But people are complex…
communicator
collaborator
contributor challenger

9. You may have more than one style…
communicator
collaborator
contributor challenger

10. The adaptable team member
Optimize your
strengths and
minimize the
traits that make
you less
productive

11. The adaptable team member
Like how
someone else
works with
others?
Borrow their
behaviors!

12. It takes different instruments to make a great band!
See diversity as the thing that makes your team shine

13. Reference:
Parker, G. M. (1996). Team Players and Teamwork: New Strategies for
Developing Successful Collaboration. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.