Secrets Of High-Performing Teams
Team members have to like each other. You know it makes a diference. 1
Another study found that what makes sharp groups is not their average IQ but the average of their social skills.
You need one team member who is not a team player. You need a disagreeable person. Not a jerk – but somebody who says the honest thing that’s not going to be popular.
And what’s the diference between a “manager” and a “leader”. Management is about consistency and order; leadership is about fulflling human needs and creating change.
A huge part of team leadership is merely creating the right environment. Want to become a better leader? Three things: develop your people skills, grow your network, and have a future focus that sets a course for the group.
A good team environment has 3 parts: safety, vulnerability, purpose.
By admitting weakness group members learn to trust, to be honest, and to ask for help. And by reviewing their mistakes they improve.
Research shows you inspire people by reminding them why their jobs are important. What positive efect are they having? Find a way to make this visible.
What really motivates people is a feeling of progress toward important goals. Like points in a video game or completed miles.
What really motivates people is a feeling of progress toward important goals. When we see we’re making progress, we keep going.
Research validates what you’ve intuitively suspected – individuals become less productive once they’re part of a group. Studies frequently use words like “process loss” or even “collaborative inhibition. Most of it comes from the energy wasted in email chains, organizing, logistics, etc. It’s like planning an epic road trip but spending the whole time in the driveway arguing over the playlist. You waste more hours in meetings discussing what you’re going to do rather than actually doing it.
Once you get past 5 people in a team, quality declines quickly. The “60/30/10 Rule. 60 percent of a team’s success is “Who’s on the team?” 30 percent is how you organize it. And 10 percent, at most, is leadership.
If you make clear what every member is responsible for, you get the most out of that 30 percent. The number one easy thing you can do to improve a team’s performance is to clarify roles.
The secret to a team’s success lies in how the members feel about one another.