What is the best team? Before Google made a large study, they believed, as most of us, that building the best teams meant compiling the best people. So the best engineers plus an MBA, throw in a PhD and an AI expert, and there you have it, the perfect team, right?
“We were dead wrong”, - as Google themselves put it.
Sure, skills are definitely part of it. But other parts are equally or even more important. Googles research identified 5 characteristics of the best teams (In order of importance):
- Psychological Safety
- Dependability
- Structure and Clarity
- Meaning
- Impact
The single most important dynamic in an effective team was psychological safety, which is also supported in other research. Without trust, you cannot achieve the other traits. Psychological safety means don’t worry to be seen incompetent or disruptive, instead of feeling confident about admitting mistakes, asking questions, or taking risks and offering new ideas.