The FiT In feedback talk so far went very smooth and lively. Mr. S. listened to his results with great interest and confirmed them to "fit" very well.

In the Team Role Report, he comes out as a Helper, Promoter and Perfecter.

While I am explaining to him, how the different roles contribute and how a team suffers from bad team role composition, he suddenly turns to be very serious:

"Does this mean, that a team that does not contain every role will meet performance problems?"

I reply yes, if the task is complex, but he also should keep in mind, that normally one person can perform several roles in the team. That's why most teams finally work out somehow.

"But if there is a team of only two very similar people, would they be supposed to meet problems?"

Having overlaps and missing roles does not mean, that a team is completely unable to perform in an at least sufficient way, but it is quite likely, that there will be areas in team-work, where two very similar people would considerably lack efficiency or drive or care or sensitivity - depending on the roles they are not covering. Such a team still could succeed, but to do so, it would need to know the weak areas, and would need to look for external support or to work out special support routines.

Mr. S. became quiet for a moment then said: "In fact I just was thinking about setting up my own business together with a good friend. We really wanted to start, but everything is still quite vague, and we didn't get any further yet¡­"

Now I understood his issue. They probably think and do things very similarly, that's why they are good friends. And that's what made Mr. S. worrying now. Would this step be too risky? Was there a reason, that they were not really progressing with their plan? What if they are lacking a crucial skill necessary for success?

The solution was simple: Mr. S. immediately contacted his friend. The next day the friend had taken FiT In too.

The results were clear: They proved them to be just as similar as Mr. S. thought, and it revealed very clearly two issues that they would have to take special care about.

One of these issues was quite central - and in fact most likely the one that was affecting the planning efficiency. Having faced that, the two men quickly could name a third, very closely related person, that would be able to help them out.

For the other area, we recommended external input from various sources, but it's impact on the planned project was not too big anyhow.

After compensating the missing role, they moved forward quickly. The project was on its track.

Is team role composition only crucial in small teams?

A US survey asked team leaders, team members and human resources managers to identify the top reasons of teamwork failure in 400 organizations, including many Fortune 500 companies. Among other reasons, the following top internal reasons were identified:

- Team members don't spend enough time planning how they will work together. (42% of respondents)

- Team members don't know how to reconcile differences or resolve interpersonal conflict. (42% of respondents)

That's where the FiT In Team Role Reports can help:

- in distributing tasks properly and
- in achieving optimal cooperation

by addressing individual differences in a practical and constructive manner.

How is your team set up? Is there room for improvement? With FiT In it is easier than you think!