Diamonds, Bricks, Dirt-clods, or Lumps of Coal; Who do you want on your team?

Better to be a strong man with a weak point than to be a weak man without a strong point.  A diamond with a flaw is more valuable than a brick without a flaw. " William Boetcker"

Building a team is essential in the success of any organization. As you look to build a team of strength, it is important to understand who you are surrounding yourself with and what are their weaknesses. Everyone you hire is going to have at least one weakness.  It is important to balance that weakness with the strength that they bring to the team.  My definition of a weakness is simply something that a person cannot claim as a strength.  With leadership these flaws can be moved into the strength column.

Those "diamonds" may have a flaw but they are still the most valuable members of your team.  How you manage and control that flaw that exists within the diamond is the most basic key to your success as a leader.

As great as that "diamond" candidate  may appear, it is still too risky to many leaders to hire a person  with a flaw.  It is always safer to hire the average person who may not shine as bright as the diamond, but does not seem to have any weak points.  An average person will never let you down, never surprise you, never challenge the direction of your leadership. A couple of things about the average person, those "bricks" that work with/for you.

If a person is average in the role they are in, they can never be great, because they are average.  No matter how hard you try to lead them, mold them, train them, encourage them, they will remain average.  As leaders we all think we are different, we can move an average person to greatness.  Great leaders understand they cannot change average, and recognize the fact that it takes the "diamonds" to advance a company to greatness.

Please understand, I am not against average. An average person may become great in another company or even another job within your company. They are simply average in the position they are currently serving. It is important to understand you will always have more average people in your organization than diamonds.

So, evaluate your team today. How many diamonds do you have?  How many bricks do you have?  How many dirt clods do you have?  As a leader you will achieve success as you balance the team between diamonds and bricks.  A proven trait of great leaders is to constantly be replacing the dirt clods as quickly as possible with diamonds, bricks, or lumps of coal.  Because anything is better than a dirt clod. It is the dirt clods that drag down an organization to mediocrity.

Do not be afraid to hire that lump of coal into your organization because if you apply constant pressure on a lump of coal it eventually becomes a diamond.  The visionary leader is the one who can successfully identify those lumps of coal that can become diamonds.

You will need bricks on your team, but keep in mind a bunch of bricks get very heavy on the steep hill of life. Many times the leader will have to carry the "average" on their back uphill to success. Carrying "average" can be an exhausting task for those in the quest of greatness if there are no diamonds helping to advance the team to success.