What makes a successful team?

Teams are made up of people, so you would think that putting the best people together on a team would make it successful. You would be wrong.

Google has teams, lots of teams, and they wanted to find out what the best of them had in common. A group in Google People Operations (what they call HR) conducted over 200 interviews across more than 180 teams and came to a surprising conclusion: Who is on a team matters less than how the team members interact, structure their work, and view their contributions.

They learned that there are five key dynamics that set successful teams apart:

1. Psychological safety: Can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?
2. Dependability: Can we count on each other to do high quality work on time?
3. Structure & clarity: Are goals, roles, and execution plans on our team clear?
4. Meaning of work: Are we working on something that is personally important for each of us?
5. Impact of work: Do we fundamentally believe that the work we’re doing matters?

Of the five dynamics, psychological safety was by far the most important, affecting each of the other four. Julia Rozovsky, a Google Analyst wrote on the re:Work blog:

Taking a risk around your team members seems simple. But remember the last time you were working on a project. Did you feel like you could ask what the goal was without the risk of sounding like you’re the only one out of the loop? Or did you opt for continuing without clarifying anything, in order to avoid being perceived as someone who is unaware?

...Although this kind of self-protection is a natural strategy in the workplace, it is detrimental to effective teamwork. On the flip side, the safer team members feel with one another, the more likely they are to admit mistakes, to partner, and to take on new roles…. Individuals on teams with higher psychological safety are less likely to leave Google, they’re more likely to harness the power of diverse ideas from their teammates, they bring in more revenue, and they’re rated as effective twice as often by executives.

Not only did Google do the research, they also created tools that their teams can use to improve their effectiveness. Their Team Effectiveness Discussion Guide helps identify problem areas, along with some guiding questions. A few examples:

Signs that your team needs to improve psychological safety:

• Fear of asking for or giving constructive feedback
• Hesitance around expressing divergent ideas and asking “silly” questions ​

• Do all team members feel comfortable brainstorming in front of each other?
• Do all team members feel they can fail openly, or will they feel shunned?

Signs that your team needs to improve dependability:

• Team has poor visibility into project priorities or progress
• Diffusion of responsibility and no clear owners for tasks or problems

• When team members say they'll get something done, do they?
• Do team members proactively communicate with each other about delays and assume responsibility?

Download the whole thing and ask the questions in your next team meeting. I’d be very interested to know how it goes, just click reply to this email.

Until next week...