What I (We) Believe In — 5 Key Elements of High-Performing Teams from Google’s Project Aristotle
In today’s fast-paced and constantly changing business world, effective teamwork is essential for success. Teams are responsible for driving innovation, productivity, and growth, and building and maintaining high-performing teams is challenging. However, Google’s two-year study called Project Aristotle identified the key elements of successful teams. Organizations can use these insights to create a team environment that fosters collaboration, innovation, and success.
The Importance of Effective Teams
Effective teams are crucial for any successful organization. Studies consistently show that teams are more productive than individuals working alone, and that good teamwork leads to product innovation, better results, and higher job satisfaction. The project identified the key factors that contribute to team effectiveness, and its findings have important implications for organizations of all types and sizes.
The Five Key Elements of High-Performing Teams
The project identified five key elements essential to building high-performing teams. These elements are:
1. Psychological Safety
According to the project, psychological safety is the most critical of the five key elements. It allows team members to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, ideas, and concerns without fear of criticism or negative consequences. Managers should create an environment where everyone feels valued and motivated to contribute their best work. To foster psychological safety, they should frame work as a learning problem, acknowledge their own fallibility, model curiosity by asking lots of questions, and mind their body language.
2. Dependability
Dependability is the second key element of effective teams. On dependable teams, members reliably complete quality work on time. Managers can foster dependability by clarifying roles and responsibilities of team members and developing concrete project plans to provide transparency into every individual’s work. They should have clear expectations and accountability for each team member’s tasks and ensure that everyone understands their role in achieving the team’s goals.
3. Structure and Clarity
Structure and clarity are also essential. Goals must be set at the individual or group level and must be specific, challenging, and attainable. Regularly communicating team goals and ensuring team members understand the plan for achieving them can also foster structure and clarity. To achieve these elements, managers should develop a clear roadmap for the team’s objectives and keep everyone informed and updated about progress and next steps.
4. Meaning
Finding a sense of purpose in either the work itself or the output is important for team effectiveness. To foster meaning, managers can give team members positive feedback on outstanding work and offer to help them with something they struggle with. Publicly expressing gratitude for someone who helped you out can also foster meaning. They should create a culture of recognition and appreciation where each team member’s contributions are acknowledged and valued.
5. Impact
Finally, the subjective judgement that your work is making a difference is important for teams. Co-creating a clear vision that reinforces how each team member’s work directly contributes to the team’s and broader organization’s goals can foster impact. Reflecting on the work you’re doing and how it impacts users or clients and the organization can also foster impact. Adopting a user-centered evaluation method and focusing on the user can also help foster impact. Managers should have a strong sense of purpose and mission for the team and ensure that everyone’s work aligns with the overall goals and objectives of the organization.
Creating a Positive and Inclusive Team Environment
Creating a positive and inclusive team environment is critical to the success of high-performing teams. Leaders and team members must work together to create an environment that is safe, respectful, and supportive. Here are some strategies that can help foster a positive and inclusive team environment:
Promote Open Communication
Open communication is essential for building trust and fostering collaboration. Team members should feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas without fear of criticism or retribution. Leaders should create opportunities for team members to share their perspectives and actively listen to their feedback and ideas.
Encourage Empathy
Empathy is essential for building strong relationships and fostering teamwork. Team members should be encouraged to put themselves in each other’s shoes and understand each other’s perspectives. Leaders should encourage empathy by modeling it themselves and creating opportunities for team members to get to know each other on a personal level.
Emphasize Inclusivity
Inclusivity is essential for creating a team environment that is welcoming and supportive of all members. Leaders should work to create an environment free from discrimination and bias and that values diversity of thought and experience. They should create opportunities for all team members to participate and contribute and ensure that everyone feels valued and respected.
Foster a Culture of Feedback
Feedback is essential for building strong teams and improving processes. Leaders should encourage team members to provide feedback to each other and should model feedback themselves. They should create opportunities for regular feedback and ensure that feedback is constructive and focused on improvement.
Establish Clear Expectations and Goals
Clear expectations and goals are essential for creating a team environment focused on success. Leaders should work with team members to establish clear goals and objectives and ensure that everyone understands their role in achieving them. They should provide regular updates on progress and next steps and ensure that everyone has the resources and support they need to succeed.
The Benefits of High-Performing Teams
High-performing teams offer numerous benefits to organizations, including increased productivity and efficiency, greater innovation and creativity, and improved employee morale and retention. When teams work well together, they are more likely to meet their objectives and achieve success in their projects. They are also better equipped to handle challenges and adapt to change.
In addition, high-performing teams can create a positive ripple effect throughout an organization. When one team demonstrates success, it can inspire other teams to strive for excellence as well. This creates a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, where everyone is working together towards a common goal.
Creating and maintaining small, high-performing teams is essential for any organization’s success. By prioritizing the five key dynamics of psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact, organizations can build strong and effective teams that drive innovation, productivity, and success. By fostering open communication, empathy, and inclusivity, leaders can create a culture of teamwork and collaboration that drives success and creates a more positive work environment.
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Check out these good reads:
- Google’s Project Aristotle: This blog post discusses the findings of Google’s Project Aristotle, which aimed to identify the factors that make a team effective.
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni: This book explores five common dysfunctions that can hinder team effectiveness: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.
- Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler: This book focuses on communication strategies for handling high-stakes situations. .
- The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle: This book explores the factors that contribute to a strong team culture.
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries: This book provides a framework for developing and launching new products and services.
