Charles Duhigg wrote the book Smarter Faster Better, in which he discusses the eight secrets of being productive in life and business. One of the eight principles is the role that cultural norms play in effective teamwork.
In this post we’ll discuss how norms impact team productivity along with two keys to creating effective teams. And we’ll finish off with a case study on how Saturday Night Live fostered team productivity from the very beginning.
Cultural Norms in the Workplace
Grouping smart individuals together does not necessarily equal an effective team. Studies have shown that IQ and productivity of individual team members does not result in productive teams. Instead, they repeatedly show that the most important factor is the team’s cultural norms.
For example, having a group of high-achievers might make it easy for the group dynamic to resort to individualistic competition. But if members of the team put their own individual needs ahead of the group, the team can’t flourish. The group needs to develop a healthy culture to unlock its full potential.
Creating effective teams was a focus for Google in 2013 when they launched Project Aristotle. The goal was to discover the secrets of what makes an effective team within Google. After two years of research, they reached their conclusion.
They started the research assuming productivity came down to who was on the team. But they soon realised that culture played the largest role in determining team effectiveness.
The Aristotle research team uncovered two keys of effective teams.
Two Secrets for Creating Effective Teams
The Google research team split the most productive teams from the most unproductive teams. Their goal was to isolate the factors that contribute to effective teams to optimise the company’s productivity.
What they quickly realised was that there is no single best approach to effective teams. The most effective teams differed greatly from one another. Yet, they uncovered two trends that nearly every effective team had in common.
On the best teams, leaders encouraged members of the team to contribute to group discussions. Members of the team also felt like they could be vulnerably honest with one another. As a result, they felt they could suggest ideas without fear of being punished.
These were the two behaviours that all the good teams shared.
1. Equal Time speaking between members
Members of the best teams contributed similar amounts to group discussions. Each day, every member of effective teams would have spoken roughly the same amount.
The researchers referred to this as “equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking.”
If everyone has a chance to talk, the team does well, but if only a small group spoke all the time, the group intelligence suffered.
The first key was that the most effective teams’ members contribute similar amounts to the conversation. The culture, as well as the team leader, encourages everyone to contribute.
2. Social Sensitivity & Psychological Safety
The second finding showed that good teams have “high average social sensitivity”. In other words, the best groups could tell how members felt from their tone of voice and body language.
Psychological safety is a shared norm that the group is a safe place to take risks. It’s a sense that the team won’t embarrass or punish someone for speaking up. This cultural norm hinges on interpersonal trust and mutual respect. As a result, people are more comfortable being themselves.
The most effective norms included allowing others to fail without repercussions, respecting different opinions and feeling free to question other people’s choices.
It was also important that group members realise that people weren’t trying to undermine them.
In short, productive team cultures avoided harsh judgments. It involved a sense of togetherness and encouraged people to take a chance.
Psychological safety was the second principle of team effectiveness.
Five Key Norms for Team Effectiveness
When the Google research team presented their findings in 2015, they identified five norms for effective teams.
- Teams need to believe that their work is important.
- The team needs to feel their work is personally meaningful.
- Teams need clear goals and defined roles.
- Team members need to know they can depend on one another.
- And most importantly, teams need psychological safety.
The first two norms involved members feeling their work is important and meaningful. For the third, everyone understands the team’s goals and their own area of contribution.
In the fourth norm, everyone should contribute to the group’s collective performance. And the final and most important norm involves fostering psychological safety within the group.
To foster an effective team culture, team leaders need to model these behaviours.
The Leader’s Role in Facilitating Team Effectiveness
In hierarchical teams, it’s important that the leader take steps toward fostering psychological safety. There are lots of things the leader can do to foster a positive group setting.
For example, if the leader cuts people off while they’re talking, it might discourage team members from speaking in the future. Instead the leader should encourage others to speak their mind and focus on listening to others.
Another aspect is how the leader acts when someone in the team is upset. Demonstrating sensitivity to what people think and feel is a critical part of people feeling safe in a group setting.
In general, the route to establishing psychological safety begins with the team’s leader. If you lead a team, consider the following questions to help foster psychological safety.
- Are you encouraging equality in speaking, or simply rewarding the loudest people?
- Do you lead by example and show the team that you value listening?
- Are you demonstrating a sensitivity to what people think and feel? Or are you valuing decisive leadership over paying closer attention to the group’s dynamics?
The leader needs to facilitate the right norms to make sure arguments are productive, not destructive. Otherwise, a team can not become stronger.
Google-designed checklist for psychological safety
Following project Aristotle, the working group identified six norms that the most productive teams valued.
- Leaders should not interrupt teammates during conversations. That would establish an interrupting habit in the group.
- Team members should demonstrate they are listening by summarising what people said after they say it.
- They should admit what they don’t know.
- Teams shouldn’t end a meeting until each team member has spoken at least once.
- They should encourage people who are upset to express their frustrations, and encourage teammates to respond in nonjudgmental ways.
- They should call out looming conflicts and resolve them with an open discussion.
Following the six principles above will help any team work productively. The foundation of this checklist is that everyone has flaws and we should try to be honest and ensure everyone feels valued.
Case Study: Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is often credited as a textbook example of an effective team. This TV show brings together comedians with various backgrounds and comedic styles.
When people with such different personalities and temperaments come together the occasional conflict is inevitable. SNL’s defining factor was the group’s ability to give everyone a voice and sensitivity toward each other.
Lorne Michaels fostered this culture like a true leader, facilitating the group’s needs. He enjoyed seeing many people collaborating on skits together working like a team.
Michaels was also the person who consoled people in the early years. He would offer kind words to a crying writer or pause rehearsal to take someone aside to see if they wanted to talk about something.
Since Lorne exemplified the culture, the team began to adopt the norms themselves. The reason Saturday Night Live has aired for 46 seasons comes down to these two simple concepts.
Everyone should have a voice and everyone should show sensitivity to their team members.
Team Effectiveness in a Nutshell
When it comes to creating effective teams, cultural norms play a larger role than many people might realise. The two secrets of productive teams were core aspects of the teams’ culture.
First, each member of effective teams contributed similar amounts. There were no superstars who took all the spotlight. The group encouraged each member to contribute, which brought the team a more diverse range of perspectives and opportunities.
Perhaps most important of all, effective teams value psychological safety and social sensitivity. As a result, each team member feels they can share their thoughts and feelings without fear of conflict or judgment.
Create more effective teams with these cultural norms and Mind & Practice today.