Prism Decision Systems

  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • HOME
  • SCHOOLUTIONS
    • Vision, mission and core beliefs
    • Targets, priorities and strategies
    • School improvement planning
  • TOOLS
    • Dynamic Group Process
    • Group Decision Support System™
    • Shared Decision-Making
  • DECISION SUPPORT
    • Strategic Planning
    • Decision Support
  • THE EIGHT KEYS
    • Buy Now
    • Reader Praise for the Eight Keys
  • BLOG
  • TESTIMONIALS
  • ABOUT
    • Client List
    • Papers
    • Readings
You are here: Home / Decision-making / What Google learned about high performing teams

05/06/2016 by Sean Brady

What Google learned about high performing teams

Google recently devoted considerable resources to determine the characteristics of a high performing team. What did they discover?

googleAs reported in the New York Times, no, it’s not the team’s e-mail patterns, social relationships or leadership styles. Nor is it the team’s make-up:

No matter how Project Aristotle researchers “arranged the data…it was almost impossible to find…any evidence that the composition of a team made any difference. According to Abeer Dubey, a manager in Google’s People Analytics division: ‘We had lots of data, but there was nothing showing that a mix of specific personality types or skills or backgrounds made any difference. The who part of the equation didn’t seem to matter.'”


So I guess we can all can stop spending money and wasting time on Myers-Briggs or all those other four quadrant analyses!

What was the determining factor?

“Google’s data indicated that psychological safety, more than anything else, was critical to making a team work.” On high performing teams, members

  • Speak in roughly the same proportion, a phenomenon the researchers referred to as “equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking.”
  • Have high “average social sensitivity” — aspects of what is known as psychological safety: a “shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”

Google’s findings affirm

It sure is a good day in the office when three years of Google research confirms the efficacy of what we have known and practiced for nearly two decades.

Whereas in large teams, the sum IQ of a group is often lower than that of any single member, Prism strives to maximize a group’s collective IQ and make it additive  —  even to achieve group genius. Our first priority with any group is to create a psychologically safe, risk-free environment where participants listen deeply, respectfully and empathically to one another.

Our deliberate processes and meeting structures ensure that

  • Each member — even those most reflective and shy — has equal voice and stature.
  • All ideas are first evaluated for their promise and potential before they are criticized or rejected.

Indeed, we strive to achieve a “shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking…a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up…a team climate characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves.”

We couldn’t have said that any better ourselves.

Share this post:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Print

Related

Filed Under: Consensus-building, Decision-making Tagged With: consensus, creative problem solving, creativity skills, decision-making, idea generation

Like what you’re reading? Subscribe now!

Contact

[email protected]
607.727.1088

Buy Now!

You Are What You Decide is now available in paperback and for all e-Readers.

BLOG: SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Blog: recent posts

Selfie-seekers are Instatrashing our beautiful places

Does your school really have a chronic absence problem?

How to serve ice cream to your kids and other negotiation strategies

Resilience in three steps: endure, adapt & thrive

New York’s ESSA accountability system nightmare

Blog: all posts

Recent tweets

Twitter
Maine-Endwell
Maine-Endwell
@MECSDSpartans

The district's strategic planning committee met today for its annual review of the plan which sets the course for the district going forward and identifies key targets and priorities. @VanFossenJason @prismdecision pic.twitter.com/LXzwWD7kkJ

reply retweet favorite
2:24 pm · 12/06/2019 ·
Retweeted by Sean Brady
Twitter
Sean Brady
Sean Brady
@prismdecision

maurabrady.com/shop Looking for a holiday gift idea? Check out these beautiful 2020 calendars and note cards featuring stunning photography from the Pacific Northwest. @maura_brady

reply retweet favorite
2:24 pm · 12/06/2019
Twitter
Richard Engel
Richard Engel
@RichardEngel

“I, in my great and unmatched wisdom,... ?” Who talks or writes like this? The closest i can come up with was Qaddafi. Not Mubarak. Or Ben Ali. Or Assad, let alone any European leader. Really can’t remember a current or recent example. twitter.com/bencnn/status/…

reply retweet favorite
7:29 pm · 10/07/2019 ·
Retweeted by Sean Brady
Twitter
Eric Bell
Eric Bell
@ASMS_Bell

Excited to work with @prismdecision today with the @CVESBOCES district planning team to update our priorities and strategic plan. Today is about empowering all groups of CVES stakeholders with a voice to improve our organization.

reply retweet favorite
8:03 pm · 09/26/2019 ·
Retweeted by Sean Brady
Twitter
Sean Brady
Sean Brady
@prismdecision

Suddenly, every where you go selfie-seeking narcissists are disrespecting, trampling, and Instatrashing our most beautiful places. @outsidemagazine @adkexplorer @Interior @forestservice @BLMNational @onpoint @ADKmtnclub prismdecision.com/selfie-seek…

reply retweet favorite
2:08 pm · 09/23/2019
Twitter
Sean Brady
Sean Brady
@prismdecision

prismdecision.com/selfie-seek…

reply retweet favorite
6:20 pm · 09/19/2019
Twitter
Sean Brady
Sean Brady
@prismdecision

"Kids need recess. They need longer lunches. They need free play, family time, meal time. They need less homework, fewer tests, a greater emphasis on social-emotional learning." twitter.com/MikeHynes5/sta…

reply retweet favorite
3:30 pm · 08/18/2019
Twitter
Sean Brady
Sean Brady
@prismdecision

Does your school really have a #chronicabsence problem? @NYSEDNews @sarbetter @NYSchoolSupts @nyschoolboards @NYRuralSchools @NYSPTA @SAANYS @ChalkbeatNY @NYCSchools prismdecision.com/does-your-s…

reply retweet favorite
6:44 pm · 08/15/2019

BLOG: SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Some home page icons courtesy,
The Noun Project

Contact

Sean Brady
President
Prism Decision Systems, LLC
[email protected]
607.727.1088
Skype: PrismDecision
Twitter: @prismdecision

 

Join us on social media

  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2019 · Prism Decision Systems, LLC · [email protected]