Research into team effectiveness at Google has shown that the single most important factor is the extent team members feel psychologically safe. Second order of importance shows that team member dependability, role clarity, meaning of work and real impact of work also have a significant impact.

Conversely, variables found NOT to be significantly associated with effectiveness included:

  • Colocation of teammates (sitting together in the same office)
  • Consensus-driven decision making
  • Extroversion of team members
  • Individual performance of team members
  • Workload size
  • Seniority
  • Team size
  • Tenure

Read the full results at:

re:Work – Guide: Understand team effectiveness

With all of this data, the team ran statistical models to understand which of the many inputs collected actually impacted team effectiveness.

and more about the study at:

What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team

As they struggled to figure out what made a team successful, Rozovsky and her colleagues kept coming across research by psychologists and sociologists that focused on what are known as ”group norms.” Norms are the traditions, behavioral standards and unwritten rules that govern how we function when we gather: One team may come to a consensus that avoiding disagreement is more valuable than debate; another team might develop a culture that encourages vigorous arguments and spurns groupthink.

 

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