Pick A Tribemate I'm sure there are a few others too. The point is the team is too big. It'll take more resources to support the team, and if they are all working in a company, then they will all be using the resources that were allocated to the company. And that means they can't expand their business. And that means they won't be able to hire. And that means they won't be able to compete with other successful companies that hire. So if a company wants to stay in business then their team must shrink. The best teams in businesses are composed of smaller teams. So, if the team must shrink, then the only way for it to happen is for one team member to be eliminated. And this is exactly what happens. The player that can't work with other players is the first one to go. He or she is replaced by a new player, who will probably bring a new attitude and a different skillset into the team, and so this new team member will bring a totally new perspective to the team. It's only natural. But there is one thing that I want you to remember from this process: It is not an "easy" way out. Not by any means. Losing a team member is not a quick fix. A team is a reflection of the business the team is part of. When one team member is lost, the business will change, and when a new member is brought on, the business will also change. It's a good thing for the business, but it's also a hard thing for the people who are left behind. So think about that before you do this. Once you've done that, then you'll be ready to select your next player. The Player You Want To Select When you select a new player, you want to be careful about the type of person you select for that position. You are looking for someone who fits this description: Beautiful Mind #1: They are creative and flexible, and can quickly analyze and understand problems. They are adaptable and resourceful. Beautiful Mind #2: They have some level of talent, but more importantly, they are motivated. Beautiful Mind #3: They understand the business. They are able to adapt and take responsibility. I can't stress enough the importance of each of these points. Without these skills, your team will be weaker, not stronger. So make sure you pick a player who is a good fit. But once you've made your selection, then you must look at how you build the team. Are you pairing people up that don't complement each other? You should be, and this is the second key to team formation. Pairing Up Teams You want to start this as soon as possible, but not before selecting your player. It's important that the person who is new to the team be trained properly. And for the most part, that means by the person who is the least experienced. If you try to integrate the new member first, then you could lose some of the momentum that was built by the member who was most productive and successful. If you are pairing teams up correctly, then each team should be assigned to a different area in the company. And the pairing should be done so that the least experienced person will be the person that works with the new team member. I know what you're going to say: But I have a business partner. Okay, so here is how to handle that situation. If your partner has the same skill set as you, then I would recommend that he or she doesn't train with the new member in their free time. If they go on a business trip, then their training partner should still be on the team, but not paired up with their partner. What this means is that their partner should be someone who has the same skill set as them. And the new member should be paired with that person. So if the new member is in IT, then one of the team members should be in IT. Or if the new member is in Marketing, then another of the team members should be in Marketing. It's important to remember that a lot of the skills necessary for this type of team building are not learned over time. Instead, they are things that are born into you, which is why I don't recommend that you and your partner be trained by your new team member. It's only going to waste your time and that of your partner, who will most likely be frustrated at some point. When I work with businesses I see this happen all the time, and this is the reason why. A person can learn a lot when working on a team, and one of the ways to do that is by having a teammate there to answer questions. But even more importantly, it's because a team member has a better understanding of what is expected of him or her when he or she works alone. So while it's not always about work, it is something that has to be done, and it's something that needs to be done for the new team member to become an equal contributor to your company. You may think that you're doing the best thing for them, but they may not see it that way. So I would highly recommend that you use another of your teammates as a resource if you don't have any experience training new team members. At the same time, don't forget that you will be training a new team member. And I would highly recommend that you spend as much time as possible pairing people up with each other. Even if your partner is there to assist with certain things, you have to make sure that your partner is available to train the new player, and vice versa. So when pairing players up, look at their needs and their skill sets. One person may have the responsibility for training the new player, while the other can do the rest. When you're doing this, make sure that you keep track of how many times each team member trains with each other, in order to see who is using up the most time with the new player. If there is a problem with a player and a team member that should be addressed, then you want to be able to track this down. By tracking how many hours each player has spent with each team member, and how much each team member has spent training with the new player, you can analyze whether or not these numbers are correct. And if they are not correct, then you have an easy solution. Remove the person that's not doing their job, and make sure that the ones that are doing their job are the ones that are using the new player for training. Or if one team member is training with the new player more often, than you want that person to be the main partner for training the new player. So it's important that you keep track of how often each team member is working with the new player, and how much each team member has trained the new player in the past. So what if you have more than one team member working with a new player? What if they all worked together on the same project? And what if one of those team members was only there for a short period of time? What if they did something amazing in that short amount of time? You can easily handle this situation. All you have to do is give each team member a different name. For instance, you can name them Team1, Team2, and Team3. Or Team Joe, Team Jim, and Team Jane. Or whatever other names you'd like to use. You can even have different colors for each team member. So Team 1 is Red, Team 2 is Green, and Team 3 is Yellow. The most important thing is that you label the team members in a way that makes sense to you and your business. Because when you're working with a new team member, you're going to need to know which players are working with them, and what they did before that. And I'd also like you to remember that you can have more than one team for your business. For instance, if you have a company that has the potential to expand and reach more potential clients, then you should have two teams, but with each of them having different names. One could be "A Team", while the other could be "B Team". Or you can have the two team names be the same, but with a "W" added to the end of one of the teams, like "Blue Team" or "Red Team". So after all of this, you should be ready for the first real test. Pairing Up The Players For this test, I recommend that you build two teams. Each team will have three players. Each team member will play the role of an individual within the business. One team member will be in Sales, and one in Support, and the third team member will be the Head of Operations. The first team will be paired with the second team. I recommend that the players have different attributes in order to see how well the pairing works. The second team will have a Salesperson that's smart, but a bit slow. The second team will have a Support player that's dumb, but fast. And the second team will have a Head of Operations that's also smart, but slow. Before you begin training, here are a few more things you need to think about. First, you need to build the teams. At this point you have to decide how to build the teams, depending on your business. If you're working with an ecommerce website, then you can have three