Are you a Thinker, Implementer or Doer?

There are different types of people in business. Different personalities, skill sets, and experiences. Getting the right combination of these differences on any team is a challenge, particularly in the legal profession and associated disciplines. There are different schools of thought when describing the makeup of a successful team. Some speak of Implementers and Enablers, while others use the terms Thinkers and Doers, but for the purposes of this discussion let’s take a look at Thinkers, Implementers and Doers; the three components which, in my opinion, form the nucleus of the perfect Project Team.

Skills on any given team fall into at least 2 categories – Thinkers and Doers. Our implementers are the planning bridge between the Thinkers and the Doers. A critical component missing on many teams.  To create a solid Project Team, such as the type that would manage an E-Discovery matter, these three elements are crucial to success.

Thinkers are the personalities open to new concepts and ideas. Thinkers are the thought leaders, constantly trying to improve or change the way things are done. They are creative instigators who are always experimenting. A thinker’s strengths are their willingness to experiment, take risks and change. They strive to invent new processes, products or services. One weakness of some Thinkers is that they often don't understand all the nuts and bolts of what it takes to implement processes and the issues required to bring these new concepts to market, or to implement them once they are sold. On an E-Discovery Project Team these people would act as the ESI Consultant or Solution architect; designing the process for a project.

“Doers” are the folks that “Get er done”. A Doer recognizes an efficient and standardized process. They are the people with the functional knowledge, and they often do not appreciate a Thinker tinkering with a process and introducing change. Doers can do without change finding change disruptive to the existing processes, particularly if a process concept has not been tested and proven. With a Doer, something is either black or white with no shades of grey. On an E-Discovery Project Team these people would act as the Project Coordinators or Technician; the people who perform the tasks associated with any given project (i.e. acquisition, processing, and production).

These two personality types appear to be in conflict with one another and, although conflict, change and improvement can be good, to make these two personalities work, a third personality is needed - an equalizer if you would. Enter The Implementer!

The Implementer works with the thinkers to shape, refine, prototype and design and a process. The implementer then works with the Doer, the one that will perform the work, to resource and implement the process. The Implementer on our perfect Project Team is the Project Manager.

Together, Thinker’s, Implementers and Doers work together to bring a project to a successful outcome.

Does your team/organization have the right mix with the proper roles defined? What role do you play?