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What Exactly Defines A Team?

What Exactly Defines A Team?
by Betty Boyd

Do members of your team seem to be at odds with each other? Maybe it's time to examine what exactly makes a team.

How can an organization best define its teams, while keeping its employees engaged and productive? A recent New York Times article explored that very subject by taking a look at how tech giant Google approached teamwork.

"The company’s top executives long believed that building the best teams meant combining the best people," according to the article. "In 2012, the company embarked on an initiative — code-named Project Aristotle — to study hundreds of Google's teams and figure out why some stumbled while others soared."

What teams are made of

The researchers involved in Project Aristotle began by looking at various data spanning a half-century of what teams are made of. No matter how they reviewed this data, they could not up with any real patterns "or any evidence that the composition of a team made any difference."

Google seemed to be at a standstill. Nothing seemed to matter — the skill set, education, personalities types, or even stronger or weaker leaders.

Another idea came into play: to focus on what psychologists and sociologists study. Thus, the study came across what are called "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," the article stated.

"Norms can be unspoken or openly acknowledged, but their influence is often profound. Team members may behave in certain ways as individuals — they may chafe against authority or prefer working independently — but when they gather, the group's norms typically override individual proclivities and encourage deference to the team."

The Project Aristotle researchers reviewed more than 100 groups within Google, and they soon discovered that both understanding and influencing group norms were the most effective path to improving Google teams.

Read full article on MultiBriefs.