Bard

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
— Walt Disney

Role description

The Bard creates an environment where the unique strengths of each individual can be used for the best team outcome. This involves creating a sense of abundance, outlining the principles of team interaction, getting agreement for objectives and facilitating discussion that fosters the best contribution for each team member while reminding all team members of the team vision and purpose. The Bard’s role is to ensure the team is functioning as a team rather than as a group of individuals.

 

Bards are extremely loyal to close friends, family and selected acquaintances. They tend to be largely misunderstood by others.

Bards are highly sensitive, very empathetic and understanding of others. They will be supportive of others as long as they demonstrate an interest and willingness to pursue the Bard’s vision.

At first tier, Bards have a changing temperament. They can be endearing one minute and moody the next. They can become quite depressed once a project has been completed and they have no vision for the future. Similarly, if things are moving too slowly they can easily become bored. They are very spontaneous and creative and more than willing to experiment.

Bards respond well to people who are balanced, predictable and disciplined and at first tier they will generally put people into two boxes – those to be trusted and those not to be trusted. They are very likely to exaggerate. They are highly competitive and enjoy being recognised for their achievements.

Bards thoroughly enjoy creating magic and, as storytellers, they are dedicated to communicating the essence rather than the detail.

The Bard is neither analytical nor objective. Responses are based on their values and beliefs, gut reaction and vision.

At first tier, Bards will feel stress, which drives them to either work harder, become more intense, talk faster or become abrupt. If confronted with aggression they will either argue, be lost for words or take it as a personal attack. They have long memories.

A Bard is most formidable when leading groups to over-achieve, resolving complex personal problems and giving life meaning.

If not present in the team

The physical environment and culture becomes hostile and the team loses hope as the future becomes bleak

Characteristics of Bards

  • Displays an allegiance to all co-workers (above, below and beside them)

  • Shows an understanding of how others are feeling

  • Makes others feel valued and important

  • Creates a workplace environment where colleagues feel they can try new approaches and take risks

  • Looks for the unique contribution all colleagues can make to the team

  • Encourages the team to be honest and open

 

As team members, Bards make the best contribution when: 

  • They are required to integrate or bring together different systems, paradigms or ideas

  • They are given freedom to define their task, timeframe and deliverables

  • They can encourage, motivate and nurture team members as socio-emotional leaders

  • The system for measuring their effort is clear and stakeholder feedback is sought

Benefit for the team

  • Gives the team freedom to try new things within the shared group identity

 

Bards best manage themselves by: 

  • Disciplining themselves to attend to detail

  • Not letting themselves get locked into one vision and instead remaining flexible and open to new ideas

  • Disciplining themselves to make the hard decisions when dealing with staff and giving negative feedback

  • Ruthlessly staying in touch with reality

 

Powerful questions asked by Bards

  • Who or what do we need to confront in order to resolve this issue?

  • Will this inspire our people?

  • Does this solution help us deliver on our agreed ‘one team’ vision?

  • To resolve this effectively, what constraints on our thinking or behaviour do we need to remove?

  • How will we empower people to deliver on this solution?

 

How you can recognise and bring out the Bards?

Creates safe environments for team members to express new ideas, resolve past conflicts and let go of old assumptions (e.g. Oprah Winfrey). Ideal for root cause analysis of complex people issues, depthing consumer insights, facilitating check-ins and tracking the sentiment in the team.