Discerning a Builder, Maintainer, a Tearer Downer
What is a Builder, Maintainer, Tearer Downer and Why Do I Care?
The quality of your team and how they work together is the most significant determinant of how a company will perform. A team that works well together can outperform a highly educated group of PhD’s that do not perform well together. Interviewing and discerning an individual as a potential member of your team is critical. A thorough interview process includes many evaluation points. One of the characteristics that I seek to discern is whether a person is a Builder, a Maintainer or a Tearer Downer.
A Builder is a person that makes things better. They build up their colleagues and team members, increase the level of service to their customers, produce new products or services, or produce them in a new manner that is more efficient and higher quality. They are constantly thinking about how to do things better. They are comfortable with and even thrive on doing things that have never been done before. Builders leave things better than they found them.
If your company is not growing or not growing at the rate you think it should be, maybe you have a team of Maintainers and Tearer Downers.
A Maintainer is a person that is excellent at maintaining and producing a product or service consistently. This type of person is very good at doing the same activity day in and day out. They are open to change but will not actively drive change themselves. Maintainers and Builders work extremely well together. Maintainers leave things in the same manner in which they found them.
A Tearer Downer can look like a Builder on the surface. Tearer Downers are change agents, but their projects and initiatives result in decreased efficiency, quality, customer service, and teamwork. They tend to implement change without reason or logic. You will know a Tearer Downer because there is no measurable improvement as the end result. Tearer Downers leave things worse than they found them.
If your company is not growing or not growing at the rate you think it should be, maybe you have a team of Maintainers and Tearer Downers. As the CEO, it is your job to know whether your direct reports are Builders, Maintainers or Tearer Downers, and what each position needs to make your vision a reality.
Thinking Organizations TM interview with these characteristics in mind.
Behaviors that Denote a Builder
I use the interview questions in the next section to discern whether someone is a Builder, Maintainer, or Tearer Downer and look for the following behaviors.
As the CEO, it is your job to know whether your direct reports are Builders, Maintainers or Tearer Downers, and what each position needs to make your vision a reality.
Interview Questions for Discerning a Builder, Maintainer, Tearer Downer
Q: Describe a situation when you worked on a team where you encountered problems. What were the problems? Did they get solved? How did they get solved?
Q: What is required to ensure long term success?
Q: Tell me about the most complicated project/initiative you have worked on. What was your role? What was the outcome? What were some of the challenges?
Q: Give me an example of when you demonstrated initiative to solve a problem.
Q: Tell me about a time when you experienced setbacks in trying to reach an objective.
Q: Tell me about the most challenging project you were responsible for.
Q: Tell me about a failure you were involved in.
Q: Describe the time you believe you “went the extra mile” in order to accomplish a goal.
Q: What are you enthusiastic about?
Q: What causes you to lose enthusiasm?
Q: Describe a time in which you took a reasoned risk.
Q: Describe a time when you questioned the value or utility of a process, product or policy.
Q: Describe a time when you had to solve a problem that required coordinating numerous different processes or integrating different types of information or describe a time when you have taken into account several different considerations to be successful or describe an effort you led to improve a process, system, or policy.
Q: Tell me about a time when you had to lead a change effort.
Q: Describe a project that required you to secure scarce resources.