Four Things Successful Teams Do Differently

Issue 161: We put our own research team to the test–see how we performed!

We write a lot about cooperation & team performance, but talk is cheap. It is easier than ever to talk about how your team or organizational culture is excellent. There is an endless stream of this type of commentary on podcasts, social media, and conference stages.

But what really matters is how a team actually performs. One of the beautiful things about sports is that the results are easy to see. After each game, the result is plastered on the scoreboard and the wins and losses are there for everyone to see. But in many organizations—or research labs, for that matter—it can be hard to see if a team is working well together.

One challenge is that many tasks take a long time before they bear results. Another is that teams start with radically different resources, challenges, and talent. This makes it hard to know when a team is flourishing or floundering—and obscures the keys to collective success.

This creates a ripe field for pundits: People can easily pontificate about the secrets to …