The best performing group
isn’t necessarily the one
with the smartest people in it.

Team Performance is a lot like happiness: success is best brought about indirectly, a byproduct of establishing certain softer social norms of trust and emotional safety that result in ALL the skills of the team surfacing fully. Many need to have their skill sets drawn out, given an opportunity to blossom and bloom. Coordinated collaboration captures collective intelligence; for none of us is as smart as all of us. In unity, there is strength.

Team Performance depends upon a multitude of nuanced factors, including fit: how smoothly the individuals work together:

– Are the key skills of all members accessed fully?
– Do members feel free to speak their minds? Is everyone listened to?
– Do members speak on point, with respect, good intent, and no hidden agendas?
– Is the collective experience brought to bear timely?
– Is the group structured effectively and efficiently?
– How is communication clarity? Goals well-defined? Victory conditions clear? Closure given when needed?
– Tasks assigned with precision, targets and responsibilities understood?
– Accountability checkpoints set, deadlines delineated?

Closing Quotes:

“Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” – Kenyan Proverb

“In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly.” – Mark Sanborn

“The nicest thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.” – Margaret Carty

As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier