Glue Players
Q: What are “glue players”—and why do they matter in the workplace?
In his latest book, “Team Intelligence: How Brilliant Leaders Unlock Collective Genius,” behavioral scientist Jon Levy argues that so-called glue employees are the key to successful teams. WSJ spoke with Levy about what glue players do and how smart leaders can recognize and leverage them.
A
A glue player is the team member who multiplies everyone else’s results, helping the team win. They have unusually high emotional intelligence and know how to move the group forward. They anticipate needs, take actions no one asked them to and help teammates perform at their best, often without seeking recognition.
Glue players aren’t the loudest voices, but they are often the reason the room works at all. Their résumés may include mentoring, volunteer leadership or projects outside their official scope. In interviews, they tend to light up when describing how they pulled in voices from different departments, coordinated moving pieces or mentored others.
Recognizing these traits should not be the only factor in hiring, but when building teams, managers should make sure there are enough people with the emotional intelligence to navigate conflict and keep the group aligned.
The difficulty is that companies rarely track these behaviors. Yet those small acts build trust, reduce friction and unlock better collaboration. Until companies learn how to recognize these invisible contributions, glue players will remain hidden in plain sight. Leaders who can spot them hold a huge advantage.