21 Key Signs of the Hungry Team Player Lencioni

Hunger is the second virtue in Patrick Lencioni's ideal team player model. In The Ideal Team Player, Lencioni identifies three essential qualities, humble, hungry, and smart, that every great team member possesses. Hunger refers to a strong work ethic, internal motivation, and the drive to go above and beyond what is required. Hungry team players are not clock-watchers. They are people who are always looking for more to do and more to learn.

Lencioni defines hunger not as workaholism or unhealthy obsession but as a genuine desire to contribute, improve, and achieve. Hungry team players are self-motivated. They do not need to be managed closely because their internal drive keeps them engaged and productive. They volunteer for difficult assignments, take initiative without being asked, and always look for ways to add more value.

The absence of hunger on a team manifests as complacency. Team members do the minimum required, avoid taking on additional responsibility, and rely on others to carry the workload. Even a single team member who lacks hunger creates resentment among those who are doing more than their share. Over time, this imbalance erodes morale and reduces the entire team's output.

Below are 21 key signs and strategies for identifying and cultivating hunger on your team. For a complete overview of all three virtues, see our Ideal Team Player summary. If you want help building a hungrier, more driven team, reach out at jonno@consultclarity.org.

1. Hunger Is Intrinsic Motivation

Hungry team players do not need external incentives to work hard. Their motivation comes from within: a genuine desire to contribute, to improve, and to achieve something meaningful. They are self-starters who take initiative without waiting for direction. This intrinsic motivation is what makes hungry team players so valuable, because they consistently deliver beyond expectations without needing constant supervision.

The opposite of intrinsic motivation is compliance. Team members who do only what they are told, who meet the minimum standard but never exceed it, and who need constant direction are demonstrating a lack of hunger. While compliance may be sufficient for some roles, it is never sufficient for a member of a leadership team or a team that aspires to high performance.

2. Hungry People Think About Work Outside of Work

One of Lencioni's practical indicators of hunger is that hungry people think about work outside of office hours. Not in an unhealthy, obsessive way, but in a natural, engaged way. They have ideas in the shower. They notice opportunities on the weekend. They bring fresh thinking to Monday meetings because their minds have been working on problems even when they were not formally at their desks.

This does not mean hungry team players work around the clock. It means they are genuinely engaged with their work and find it interesting enough to occupy their thoughts. Disengaged team members leave work at the office both physically and mentally. Hungry team members carry a continuous thread of engagement that keeps them connected to the team's goals.

3. Hunger Means Volunteering for Difficult Work

Hungry team players do not avoid difficult assignments. They seek them out. They volunteer for the project nobody wants, the client nobody can manage, and the problem nobody has been able to solve. This willingness to take on challenges is what separates hungry team players from those who are merely competent. Competent people do what is asked. Hungry people do what is needed.

This behaviour is especially valuable in leadership teams where the most important work is often the most uncomfortable. Strategic decisions, difficult conversations, organisational change, and performance issues all require leaders who are willing to lean into discomfort rather than avoid it. Hungry leaders tackle these challenges head-on.

4. Hunger Without Humility Creates a Bulldozer

Lencioni's model identifies specific problems when virtues are unbalanced. A person who is hungry and smart but not humble is a Skillful Politician: driven and interpersonally savvy but ultimately self-serving. A person who is hungry but lacks both humility and smarts is what Lencioni calls a Bulldozer: hardworking but oblivious to the impact they have on others.

Bulldozers create chaos on a team. They work harder than anyone but leave a trail of damaged relationships, steamrolled colleagues, and unilateral decisions. Their hunger is directed entirely toward their own agenda, without regard for the team's needs or the feelings of the people around them. Hunger without humility is ambition without empathy, and it is deeply destructive.

5. Look for Hunger in Hiring

Assessing hunger in an interview requires looking beyond the candidate's resume and listening for evidence of initiative, persistence, and drive. Lencioni recommends asking candidates what they do in their spare time, how they have gone above and beyond in previous roles, and what they would do if they ran out of assigned work. Hungry candidates will have specific, concrete examples of taking initiative.

Another effective technique is to ask about their track record of self-development. Hungry people invest in their own growth: reading, taking courses, seeking mentors, and learning new skills. They do not wait for the organisation to develop them. They develop themselves because their internal drive compels them to improve continuously.

6. Hunger Is Not Workaholism

Lencioni is clear that hunger and workaholism are not the same thing. Workaholism is driven by anxiety, insecurity, or an inability to disengage. Hunger is driven by genuine passion, purpose, and a desire to contribute. Hungry team players work hard because they want to achieve something meaningful, not because they are afraid of what happens when they stop working.

This distinction matters because workaholism is unsustainable and often leads to burnout, resentment, and deteriorating quality. Hunger, properly channelled, is sustainable because it is energising rather than depleting. Hungry team players finish a hard day tired but satisfied, not exhausted and resentful.

7. Hunger Includes Desire to Improve

Hunger is not just about working hard. It also includes a desire to improve, to learn, and to grow. Hungry team players are not satisfied with the status quo, including their own skills and capabilities. They seek feedback, invest in development, and challenge themselves to perform at a higher level. This growth orientation makes them increasingly valuable over time.

A team full of hungry learners adapts faster, innovates more, and outperforms teams of complacent experts. The desire to improve is contagious: when one team member is visibly investing in their growth, it motivates others to do the same. This creates a culture of continuous improvement that elevates the entire team.

8. Hunger Means Finishing What You Start

Starting projects is easy. Finishing them requires hunger. Hungry team players follow through on commitments, even when the initial excitement has faded and the work becomes tedious. They understand that the value is in the completion, not in the initiation, and they persist through the difficult middle that causes others to abandon projects.

Teams that start many initiatives but finish few are demonstrating a collective lack of hunger, or at least a lack of the disciplined form of hunger that turns ideas into results. Leaders should pay attention to their team's completion rate as an indicator of hunger.

9. Model Hunger from the Top

As with humility, the leader must model hunger. When the leader demonstrates hard work, initiative, and a genuine drive to improve, it sets the standard for the team. When the leader coasts, the team coasts. The leader's visible effort and engagement send a powerful signal about what is expected and what is acceptable.

Modelling hunger does not mean working the longest hours. It means demonstrating engagement, initiative, and a commitment to excellence. It means tackling difficult problems rather than delegating them downward. It means investing in personal growth visibly and encouraging the team to do the same.

10. Address Complacency Early

Complacency, the absence of hunger, is one of the hardest issues to address because it often masquerades as competence. The complacent team member does their job adequately but never excels. They meet deadlines but do not push for better outcomes. They participate in meetings but do not drive them. The gap between adequate and excellent is where hunger lives.

Leaders should address complacency early and directly. "Your work is acceptable, but I know you are capable of more. What would it look like for you to bring your best to this role?" This conversation respects the person's ability while challenging them to raise their standard. Some people respond well to this challenge. Others reveal that they are not willing to increase their effort.

11. Hungry Team Players Take Ownership

Ownership is one of the clearest expressions of hunger. Hungry team players treat their responsibilities as if they owned the outcome personally. They do not wait for permission to solve problems. They do not pass issues up the chain when they can resolve them directly. They act with the urgency and accountability of a business owner, regardless of their title.

This ownership mentality is invaluable on a leadership team because it means problems are solved faster, opportunities are seized sooner, and the leader does not need to micromanage. When every team member takes ownership of their area, the team operates with the speed and agility that competitive environments demand.

12. Hunger Prevents Entitlement

Entitlement is the opposite of hunger. Entitled team members believe they deserve recognition, rewards, and advancement based on their tenure or title rather than their contribution. They view their role as a right rather than a responsibility. Hungry team players view their role as an opportunity to contribute and earn their place through effort and results.

Cultures that reward tenure over performance breed entitlement. Cultures that reward contribution and initiative breed hunger. Leaders who want hungry teams must ensure that their recognition and reward systems are aligned with effort and impact rather than seniority or politics.

13. Hunger Fuels Innovation

Hungry team players are natural innovators because they are not satisfied with the way things have always been done. They ask "What if?" and "Why not?" and "How can we do this better?" This restlessness with the status quo drives continuous improvement and keeps the organisation competitive. Complacent teams repeat what has worked before. Hungry teams find what will work next.

Innovation requires both hunger and psychological safety. Team members need the drive to challenge existing approaches and the trust that their ideas will be received with openness rather than dismissal. When hunger and trust coexist on a team, innovation becomes a natural and continuous process.

14. Hunger Is Contagious

Hunger, like all the ideal team player virtues, is contagious. When one team member demonstrates exceptional drive and initiative, it raises the standard for everyone. Colleagues who work alongside hungry team players tend to increase their own effort, not because they are pressured but because they are inspired by the energy and commitment they see.

The reverse is also true. Complacency is contagious. When one team member consistently underperforms and faces no consequences, it gives others permission to lower their standards. This is why addressing a lack of hunger in one person is not just about that individual. It is about protecting the team's culture for everyone.

15. Hunger Means Seeking Feedback

Hungry team players actively seek feedback because they view it as fuel for growth. They do not wait for their annual review to learn how they are performing. They ask colleagues, direct reports, and leaders for honest input on a regular basis. This feedback-seeking behaviour is a reliable indicator of hunger because it demonstrates a genuine commitment to improvement.

Complacent team members avoid feedback because they do not want to be challenged. Hungry team members welcome it because they want to get better. The difference is obvious to anyone watching, and it has a direct impact on the speed at which each person, and the team as a whole, improves.

16. Balance Hunger with Sustainability

While hunger is essential, it must be balanced with sustainability. A team that is relentlessly hungry without adequate rest, recovery, and reflection will eventually burn out. Leaders must help hungry team members channel their drive effectively, prioritising high-impact work and recognising that sustained high performance requires both effort and recovery.

The goal is not maximum output in every moment but optimal output over the long term. Hungry team players sometimes need to be given permission to rest, not because they lack drive but because their drive can override their awareness of their own limits. Wise leaders protect their hungry team members from the consequences of their own enthusiasm.

17. Hunger Complements the Five Dysfunctions Model

While the ideal team player model focuses on individual character and the Five Dysfunctions model focuses on team dynamics, the two frameworks complement each other powerfully. A team of humble, hungry, smart individuals is far more likely to build the trust, productive conflict, commitment, accountability, and results focus that Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions model requires.

Hunger in particular supports commitment and accountability. Hungry team members commit fully to team decisions because they want to achieve great outcomes. They hold each other accountable because they are not willing to accept mediocre results. The individual virtue of hunger directly enables the team behaviours that produce excellence.

18. Develop Hunger Through Meaningful Work

Sometimes a lack of hunger is not a character flaw but a response to meaningless work. When team members do not understand how their work connects to the organisation's purpose, when they feel their contribution does not matter, or when they are stuck in roles that do not challenge them, hunger diminishes. Leaders can reignite hunger by connecting work to purpose and providing meaningful challenges.

Lencioni's Three Signs of a Miserable Job framework addresses this directly: people need to know their work matters (relevance), that someone cares about them personally (anonymity), and that they can measure their own progress (immeasurement). When these three conditions are met, hunger often follows naturally. For more on this framework, see our Three Signs of a Miserable Job summary.

19. Hungry Team Players Anticipate Needs

Hungry team players do not wait to be told what to do. They anticipate what the team needs and act before being asked. They see a gap and fill it. They notice a problem and solve it. They identify an opportunity and pursue it. This proactive orientation is what makes hungry team players so valuable. They reduce the leader's burden by taking responsibility before being assigned it.

Anticipating needs requires both drive and awareness. The team member must care enough to look beyond their own responsibilities and be perceptive enough to see what the team needs. When hunger combines with the interpersonal smarts that Lencioni describes as the third virtue, the result is a team member who is both proactive and socially intelligent.

20. Hunger Sets the Team's Standard

The hungriest person on the team often sets the standard for everyone else. When one person consistently delivers at a high level, takes initiative, and pushes for better outcomes, it becomes harder for others to coast. The hungry team member raises the bar simply by doing their work at a level that makes complacency visible by comparison.

This is why hiring and retaining hungry team members is so strategically important. Each hungry person added to the team raises the collective standard. Each complacent person tolerated on the team lowers it. Over time, the team's culture converges toward the behaviour that is most rewarded and most visible. Make sure that behaviour is hunger.

21. Hunger Is a Choice Renewed Daily

Hunger is not a permanent trait. It is a choice that must be renewed daily. Even the hungriest team members can lose their drive if they are burned out, under-challenged, or disconnected from the team's purpose. Leaders must tend to the conditions that sustain hunger: meaningful work, genuine challenge, authentic recognition, and a team culture that values effort and growth.

The daily renewal of hunger requires both the individual's commitment and the organisation's support. When team members choose hunger and the organisation rewards it, the result is a team that consistently operates at a level most competitors cannot match. Hunger, chosen and sustained over time, is one of the most powerful competitive advantages any team can possess.

What to Do Next

Assess your own hunger honestly. Are you taking initiative, seeking challenges, and pushing for better outcomes? Or are you coasting on past achievements and doing the minimum required? Then assess your team. Where does each member fall on the hunger spectrum? The answers will reveal where your team's drive needs to be strengthened.

For help assessing and developing hunger on your team through Lencioni's Ideal Team Player framework, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Lencioni mean by hunger in a team player?

Hunger refers to a strong work ethic, internal motivation, and the drive to go above and beyond. Hungry team players are self-motivated, take initiative, and always look for more to do and more to learn. It is not workaholism but genuine passion and purpose.

How is hunger different from workaholism?

Workaholism is driven by anxiety and insecurity. Hunger is driven by passion, purpose, and a desire to contribute. Hungry team players work hard because they want to achieve something meaningful, not because they are afraid of stopping. Hunger is sustainable; workaholism leads to burnout.

Can hunger be developed in team members?

Yes, but it is the hardest of the three virtues to develop in adults. Leaders can reignite hunger by connecting work to purpose, providing meaningful challenges, and addressing the three signs of a miserable job: anonymity, irrelevance, and immeasurement. Some improvement is possible, but fundamental hunger is largely dispositional.

What is a Bulldozer in Lencioni's model?

A Bulldozer is someone who is hungry but lacks both humility and smarts. They work extremely hard but are oblivious to the impact they have on others. They steamroll colleagues, make unilateral decisions, and leave damaged relationships in their wake despite their genuine effort and drive.

How do you assess hunger in a job interview?

Ask about what candidates do in their spare time, how they have gone above and beyond in previous roles, and what they would do if they ran out of assigned work. Look for evidence of self-development, initiative, and persistence. Hungry candidates have specific stories of taking initiative.

What is a Lovable Slacker?

A Lovable Slacker is someone who is humble and smart but not hungry. They are pleasant to work with and interpersonally skilled but lack the drive to contribute their fair share. They coast on likeability while colleagues carry the workload.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Brisbane-based leadership consultant, bestselling author, and Certified Working Genius Facilitator specialising in organisational health. His book, Step Up or Step Out, has sold over 10,000 copies globally and equips leaders with practical strategies for difficult conversations and conflict resolution.

Jonno hosts The Leadership Conversations Podcast, reaching listeners in over 150 countries across 230+ episodes. He works with CEOs, school principals, and executive teams across Australia, the USA, UK, Singapore, Canada, and India, delivering keynotes, workshops, executive team offsites, and facilitated strategic planning sessions using Patrick Lencioni's frameworks.

As a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, Jonno helps teams build both relational health and operational effectiveness. His services include Working Genius facilitation, DISC workshops, StrengthsFinder sessions, executive coaching, and leadership team development. To discuss how Jonno can help your team develop hunger and drive, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

21 Key Traits of the Humble Team Player Lencioni

Hunger without humility becomes self-serving ambition. Where this article focuses on the drive and initiative of hungry team players, our comprehensive guide to the humble team player covers 21 key traits that ensure hunger is directed toward the team's benefit.

If the hunger insights in this article resonated, the humility guide will complete the picture.

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