Meetings where people don’t speak out what they think. Business conversations that are dominated by one person with no room for others to contribute knowledge or ask questions. Brainstormings where ideas are criticised even before the sentence is finished. These examples unfortunately stay common in a lot of businesses, even in a times of flat hierarchies, teamwork and start up culture. And they clearly lack the key characteristics of high performing teams.
Lack of trust and fear to take interpersonal risks within a team are at the roots of these symptoms. The consequences: people suffer, teams underperform.
At the very heart of these malfunctioning teams, we find a lack of psychological safety – the single most important key condition for high performing teams.
According to a two years research by Google, a psychologically safe climate is by far the most important characteristic of successful teams.
What does psychological safety mean? It describes a
teamwork environment where team members feel safe to take risks without feeling insecure or embarrassed. They can be vulnerable in front of each other without fear to suffer harmful consequences. If teams work in a psychologically safe climate, team members can ask apparently dumb questions, articulate opinions that are contrary to the majority, and ask for clarification even if it could “negatively influence how others perceive our competence, awareness, and positivity”.
Psychological safety, Dependability, Structure & Clarity, Meaning, Impact
Though psychological safety is a the core of high performing teams, Google’s teamwork definition identified four additional team characteristics as key to good team work:
- Dependability: Team members get things done on time and meet the shared quality standards of work
- Structure & clarity: Team members have clear roles, goals, and plans
- Meaning: Work is personally important to each of the team members
- Impact: Team members think their work matters and creates change
Google’s data-driven insights tie perfectly into
Patrick Lencioni’s model of The Five Dysfunctions of a team. Google’s psychological safety is the solution to the two fundamental dysfunctions of teams Lencioni identified:
lack of trust and
fear of conflict.
Psychological safety affects pretty much every important dimension we look at for employees. Individuals on teams with higher psychological safety are less likely to leave Google, they’re more likely to harness the power of diverse ideas from their teammates, they bring in more revenue, and they’re rated as effective twice as often by executives.Google re:Work
Tips to create a safe space for high performing teams
In my own experience – both leading and coaching teams -, developing these safe high performing team dynamics takes time and a clear intention from the leader. Like with trust, people tend to need some proof and explicit allowance before they are willing to put themselves at risk and be vulnerable.
Be the role model
You must be the example of the things you expect from your team members. In order to create a safe space and benefit from the advantages of teamwork, you must expose yourself. You must admit own errors openly. Keep in mind that
your own behaviour is a master key to creating or impeding the safe teamwork environment.
Demonstrate engagement and show understanding
If you want others to engage,
show engagement first. You can explicitly ask for questions, doubts or feedback. This gives the team allowance to actually express their thoughts. Be focused on the conversation and listen. Don’t pretend, do it really. Pay attention to your body language and facial expressions, they speak without words. And
make sure not to use nor to allow the use of toxins, plus keep focussing on solutions rather than looking at the problems.
Be inclusive in decision-making and interpersonal settings
On top, make sure to respond respectfully and express gratitude to challenging questions and contrary opinions. Make sure not to interrupt your colleagues or allow interruptions, and show confidence and conviction without appearing inflexible.
It only works if you really believe in what you are doing
All these techn¡ques will help you to build a safe environment for a successful high performing team. But only if you fulfill the following condition: in your guts, you must believe in this way of leadership. You must believe that it matters more how the team members interact than who is on the team.
We human beings have a sixth sense to identify authenticity. If you don’t believe in this way of leading, people will notice the fake – and lose trust, the basis teams and relationship rely on.
More in-depths readings on high performing teamwork
If you want to read more about Google’s insights on team effectiveness, check these links:
New York Times long piece on Google’s Aristotle project:
What Google learned from its Quest to Build the perfect Team
Practical Google Guide on Teams:
Understanding Team Effectiveness
A group of great professional individuals is not a team.Shine
