Webster’s dictionary defines the word Team as: a number of persons associated together in work or activity. All of us at one time or another have worked as part of a team.
Many people think of their fellow workers as their other family. They can spend as much time with this work family as they do their home family. Both of these families can be enjoyable or dysfunctional. Birth order can explain why.
Successful Team Building
Birth Orders
For those of you that have never heard an explanation of birth order there are 5 ordinal or single number birth orders. The Only child, 0. The firstborn #1, second born #2, third born #3 and fourth born #4.
If families are larger than four children and there are no gaps between individual children larger than three years then the birth order numbers repeat.
They become 5=1, 6=2, 7=3, 8=4. These second level birth orders show muted characteristics of their counterpart birth orders. All birth orders have both positive and negative predictable personality characteristics.
The Dysfunctional Family or Team
A team is nothing more than a family that doesn’t live in your house. At home a family becomes dysfunctional when someone doesn’t perform the duties of their birth order or tries to steal the birth order of another sibling.
This behavior is known as sibling rivalry. The same is truth in the work place. When someone doesn’t do their job others have to pitch in, team killing resentment takes place.
The Power is in Your Number
Like a family, those at the office with the lowest numbers, the 0nly or #1 want to take charge. Should the Only or firstborn be in a subordinate role, working under someone with a higher birth order number such as a #2, #3 or #4 they will not be happy.
Each birth order has something to offer but only if in the right position. Thankfully, given enough time most people find their perfect job. Wouldn’t it be nice to start there and not take 20 years to find it?
Double birth orders: The Death of the Team
If births are spaced 4 or more years apart or there are groups of children separated from other groups by four or more years we get Double birth orders.
One type of Double birth order is an ordinal number combined with the Only birth order, 1/0,2/0.3/0,4/0. The other type is seen when two or more groups in the family have a four-year separation. Their Double numbers are ordinal, 3/1, 4/2, 5/3 etc.
Why are Double Birth Order Team Killers?
People with Double birth orders have two different personalities. When growing up in the home they had their own individual family, because of the large gap in age between their siblings.
Because of the difference in age the siblings didn’t have to interact. In the workplace these people are difficult to work with as their fellow workers never know which person has come to work. The adjustments can be overwhelming.
President Donald Trump and Colin Kaepernick
These two people have Double Birth orders. President Trump is a #4/1 Double birth order. The #4 gives him childlike behavior, his compulsion to use twitter to express himself. The #1 birth order gives him adult behavior.
Very difficult for team development for the people that work with him will always be on edge. Colin Kaepernick is a #3/0 Double birth order. He has his own agenda driven by his sensitivity expressing his #3 birth order. The selfish side of the #Only birth order allows him to ignore the destruction his behavior has on his team.