What Kind of Team Are You Joining

A Musical Analogy 🎺

Looking back, I’ve definitely failed some candidates. Not because they weren’t skilled or experienced. But because I didn’t ask the right questions about how they liked to work. I also wasn’t transparent enough about how my team actually worked, or what it needed at that point in time.

The problem wasn’t about capability. It was about alignment. When the way someone prefers to work doesn’t match how the team operates, it creates needless friction. That’s a mistake I’ve tried to avoid since.

At some point, I started thinking about teams in terms of jazz bands and orchestras. It’s not a perfect model, but it has helped me spot mismatches earlier and talk more clearly about what candidates can expect from the team they might join.

Two Teams, Two Modes 🎼

Jazz teams are not chaotic or unplanned. They still use frameworks. They still write documentation. They still make time for planning and design.

What makes them different is how they treat structure. Jazz teams rely on shared awareness, quick adaptation, and fluid roles. They trust people to step into what is needed, often beyond their formal responsibilities. They learn by doing. They adjust quickly. There is often less formality, but more individual accountability.

Orchestral teams also deliver great work, but they rely on more defined processes. Roles are clear. Coordination is deliberate. Handovers and dependencies are mapped. Execution follows a shared plan, and success depends on everyone doing their part at the right time.

That does not mean orchestral teams are inflexible. But they tend to change direction more slowly, and only when the entire system is ready to move.

Both types of teams can be effective. The key is understanding which one you are in, or trying to build.

How I Use This When Hiring 🧭

This lens has changed the way I approach interviews.

I try to understand what kind of environment the team is currently operating in. Some teams need people who can shape their own role and thrive with loose structure. Others need people who value clarity, process, and consistency.

When I talk to candidates, I try to give them a real picture of the day-to-day. I describe how we make decisions, how responsibilities are shared, how we communicate, and what kind of flexibility or structure they can expect.

I also ask questions like:

How do you like to work when priorities shift quickly? Do you enjoy building process or prefer working within an existing one? How do you feel about loosely defined responsibilities?

These questions help both sides assess whether the environment is a good match.

If You’re a Candidate 👤

You don’t have to fit into one category or the other. But it helps to know what kind of team brings out your best work.

Ask yourself:

Do I want more autonomy or more structure? Do I get energy from figuring things out as I go, or from executing against a clear plan? Do I want to shape my role, or focus deeply within a defined scope?

In interviews, try to go beyond the job title and project scope. Ask how the team works. Ask how they handle change. Ask what kind of collaboration and ownership is expected.

These questions will give you a much clearer picture than a job description ever can.

If You’re a Hiring Manager 🧩

Be honest about how your team works today. Not how you want it to work. Not how the company says it works. Just how this particular group of people currently gets things done.

Then ask yourself: will the person I’m hiring be set up to succeed in that environment?

Some candidates thrive in fast-moving, lightly structured settings. Others do better in clearly defined, well-planned environments. Neither is better. But one is likely to be a better fit for what your team needs right now.

Making this visible helps everyone. It sets better expectations. It builds trust. And it reduces the risk of a misaligned hire.

A Final Thought 💡

Most teams are not purely one or the other. They sit somewhere in between. And they shift over time.

But thinking about teams in this way has helped me hire more thoughtfully and support my teams with better awareness of how they operate.

It has also helped me have better conversations with candidates. Instead of focusing only on skill, we also talk about how people work best, and what kind of team they want to be part of.

Have you worked on a team that felt more like jazz or more like an orchestra? How did that shape your experience? And how do you assess this kind of fit, whether you’re hiring or interviewing?

I would love to hear your perspective.