Collaboration
at Work:

Collaboration at work has become more complex, as teams have become more diverse, digital, and dynamic. Yet in spite of this, the fundamental behaviors and attributes that drive team success remain the same: What are those behaviors and attributes shared by high performing teams? Here are 5 questions that predict successful collaboration at work- and emotional intelligence tips to implement them with your team.

The first two come from Google’s Project Aristotle, a multiyear study that investigated what made teams effective at Google.

by Michael Miller

1. and 2. Do people talk roughly the same amount, and do people really listen?

Yes, that’s right. One of the most powerful companies in the world studied teamwork for years, and in the end confirmed what your Kindergarten teacher told you all those years ago: Take turns and listen. Google’s People Analytics team started with other, more complex explanations. They thought maybe the secret to creating high performing teams is grouping people together who like each other, who socialize outside the office. Or maybe it’s about having different personality types, like the right ratio of introverts and extroverts. But in the end they found that it didn’t really matter at all who was on a team. They found literally no correlation between who was on a team and the team’s success – a finding that has been replicated elsewhere. 

What did correlate with team success? How teams acted, and in particular, these two behaviors: taking turns and listening. (They used the terms equality in conversational turn taking and ostentatious listening, to make it sound more advanced.) When a group’s members spoke at roughly the same amount, that team was much more likely to be successful. Likewise, when group members practiced active listening – closing one’s laptop, making eye contact and repeating back what someone just said, for example – that also correlated strongly with team success.

How to use emotional intelligence to leaders implement this finding with emotional intelligence: 

• Observe the conversational equality within your team and use your power as an amplifier. Some people are quiet because of their personality style, while others may be quiet because they don’t have the positional power or influence. In both cases, their comments are often ignored, which reduces their feelings of safety and also signals to other group members that, “Here, it’s okay to ignore some people,” which will reduce safety for all. Use your power to amplify those voices by calling the group’s attention to the contributions that are being overlooked: “I want to circle back to Joanna’s comment earlier, I’m not sure everyone heard it. Joanna, would you mind repeating your observation?”
• Model active listening. Close your laptop, make eye contact, repeat back what you’ve just heard and ask for clarifications. Set that as the standard for the group during meetings. 

Does it matter what team members say, or just that they take turns and listen? The next question dives deeper into this topic.

When a group’s members speak at roughly the same amount, that team is much more likely to be successful, per research at Google. This behavior matters more than the composition of the team.

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3. Do team members share genuine feelings?

Recent research from Wharton management professor Michael Parke found another, related behavior correlated with team success: emotional openness. The study, published in Organization Science, found that when employees express emotions at work, and coworkers respond empathetically, it unlocks a whole range of productive and beneficial outcomes for the group: more creativity, more effective problem solving, an increased ability to generate new ideas, et cetera.

This finding runs counter to old-school management beliefs – still pervasive in organizations around the world – that it’s best to “leave emotions out of it” at work. Because of this belief, it has become common practice to ignore, suppress or dismiss employees’ emotions, but this study suggests leaders should do exactly the opposite. In Parke’s own words to Wharton Business Daily on SiriusXM: “I think most significantly and probably urgently for leaders is having the courage to deal with emotions, and not just the positive ones, but being curious, validating people’s experiences, not trying to shove them away, not trying to ignore them.” 

Expressing emotions, and responding empathically, unlocks a team’s team potential

How leaders can implement this finding with emotional intelligence: 

• Watch and listen for cues that show discomfort or dissatisfaction and ask good questions about those. There’s a vast quantity of data in any interpersonal interaction. To access this data, pause to watch the meeting — who’s sitting forward, who’s holding back? Who’s frowning? Who’s tone of voice is escalated or tight? By attending to these cues, you can identify if there’s an unspoken issue about safety. Sometimes this is best addressed one-to-one after a meeting: “I noticed that in the meeting you were frowning and didn’t say much, and I’m hoping you’d be willing to tell me a bit about what you’re perceiving that I may have missed.” Or, if it’s a generalized feeling, address the group: “I‘m noticing there are mixed emotions about this topic. I want to take a moment to hear some of the feelings in the room.” The more this is practiced, the quicker it simply becomes the norm for the group.

• Adopt a mindset that all emotions have value, and embrace the full range of emotions. Validate people’s feelings and explore them together. Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions is a great resource to explore the message and purpose of dozens of emotions, even challenging ones that many of us have been socialized to ignore or suppress.

Emotional Contagion and the Science of Sharing Emotions

It’s possible that tip #3 above should be worded differently. Instead of “Do team members share feelings?”, the question should probably read: “Do team members share feelings intentionally?” Because research shows that groups of people “share” emotions with each other whether they mean to or not, a phenomenon known as emotional contagion. We’ve all felt this. If you are in a meeting with someone in a foul mood, they normally don’t even have to say it for you to know it and even “catch” the feelings yourself. Emotions spread through a number of mechanisms, most of which we’re not aware of. Note: Emotional contagion is especially strong for those in positions of power or authority, so if you are a team leader, be extra aware of the emotions you’re “sharing” with others. 

This next question is about another aspect of the team’s emotional climate: safety.

4. Do people feel safe making mistakes?

In addition to the observable behaviors of taking turns and listening, Google’s Project Aristotle identified a number of beliefs or feelings that fuel effective collaboration at work. One feeling shared across the board by its most innovative, highest performing teams? Psychological safety – the belief that it is acceptable to voice your opinion and that you won’t be punished when you make a mistake. Psychological safety is hard to define. But when you’re in a group that has it, you can feel it. It’s the sense of comfort and safety that liberates employees to speak up – to share ideas that challenge the status quo, a superior’s idea, or even a company’s current direction on a project. It’s the willingness to share an idea that sounds a little crazy or isn’t fully formed yet. It’s knowing that if you try something different and it fails, you won’t be chastised, unfairly punished or fired. It’s a culture that values inclusion, honesty and reasonable risk taking.

At the heart of psychological safety is trust – that invisible feeling that drives so much of behavior, especially in group settings. The impact is massive. Research shows companies with high trust have greater efficiency and productivity, and increased collaboration – in high trust companies, employees are 76% more engaged, 50% more productive, and have 40% less burnout. 

Overall, Six Seconds’ 2017 Vitality Report found that trust predicts a whopping 62% of performance.

How to implement with emotional intelligence: 

• Collect objective data on emotions. The data above on trust and performance comes from validated EQ assessments. Unless high trust already exists, team members will be more likely to share how they really feel bringing up challenging ideas in an anonymous survey than they would with a team leader. 
• Measure trust levels, and take practical steps to improve trust, especially when it’s broken. Here are practical tips to assess a relationship’s current levels of trust, request more trust and earn trust. For a macro look at trust in organizations and its impact on performance, check out this research summary.

This last question explores the broader goals that the group is trying to achieve, and how the team members feel about those goals.

5. Do team members feel motivated by the group’s goals?

Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen have been studying team effectiveness for over 20 years, at organizations around the world. Their research, highlighted in Harvard Business Review, found that the single most important factor for team success is a compelling direction or goal.

“The foundation of every great team is a direction that energizes, orients, and engages its members. Teams cannot be inspired if they don’t know what they’re working toward and don’t have explicit goals.”

As this quote makes clear, the reason a shared goal is essential is because of motivation. Without clear goals, it’s hard to get motivated. And the goals must strike a delicate balance of being both challenging and achievable: overly modest goals don’t motivate people, and impossible goals demoralize people. Plus, to truly motivate, the team goals have to be aligned with meaningful goals that engage people’s intrinsic motivation – more on this below.

How to implement with emotional intelligence: 

• Understand the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and apply these 3 tips for engaging intrinsic motivation, which will fuel sustainable high performance.
  
• Practice clear, accountable communication to make sure team members understand the goal and the role they will play in achieving it.

This last question explores the broader goals that the group is trying to achieve, and how the team members feel about those goals.

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