Building Teams That Build Each Other

The best teams I’ve built weren’t created through hiring the most talented individuals, they were formed by establishing an environment where people actively invest in each other’s success. This principle of servant leadership and mutual accountability has been the foundation of every high-performing team I’ve led, from international business development groups to cross-functional AI implementation teams.

Hire for Character, Train for Skill

Technical skills can be taught. Curiosity, empathy, accountability, and resilience, these are harder to instill. When building teams, I prioritize people who demonstrate intellectual humility, the ability to give and receive feedback, and genuine interest in others’ success.

At Unosquare, we built international teams across North and Latin America. Cultural differences, time zones, and language barriers could have been obstacles. Instead, we hired people who valued collaboration over competition, and those differences became strengths.

Create Psychological Safety, Not Comfort

There’s a critical difference between psychological safety and comfort. Psychological safety means people can take risks, admit mistakes, and challenge ideas without fear of punishment. Comfort means avoiding difficult conversations and hard decisions.

The best teams operate in a space of high standards and high support. We push each other to excel, but we do it from a foundation of trust. When someone on my team struggles, the response isn’t judgment—it’s ‘How can we solve this together?‘

Model Vulnerability

Leaders set the tone for team culture. If you want your team to be open about challenges, you need to be open about your own. I make it a practice to share what I’m learning, where I need help, and when I make mistakes.

During complex AI implementations, I didn’t pretend to have all the answers. I acknowledged uncertainty, invited diverse perspectives, and made it clear that the best solutions would come from collective intelligence, not individual brilliance.

Celebrate Process, Not Just Outcomes

Winning is important, but how you win matters more. I celebrate teams that collaborate effectively, communicate transparently, and support each other—even when the outcome isn’t perfect. Those behaviors are what sustain high performance over time.

When we exceeded revenue targets, we recognized not just the numbers, but the teamwork, problem-solving, and resilience that made it possible. Those celebrations reinforced the culture we wanted to build.

Conclusion

Teams that build each other create something far more valuable than quarterly results, they create an environment where people do their best work, develop new capabilities, and find meaning in shared purpose. As a leader, my job isn’t to be the smartest person in the room; it’s to build a room full of people who make each other smarter, stronger, and more effective. That’s the work that matters.