If you or your organisation’s teams are now working either virtually or in hybrid mode (part office, part working from home) building high performance has gotten a little more complex. Virtual or hybrid teams present new challenges in terms of informal communication, trust, a sense of connection and purpose, information sharing, role clarity, managing healthy conflict and a culture of accountability.
Let’s face it, none of these elements are easy to nail in a face to face environment. And with hybrid working now becoming standard, we just can’t rely on developing a team using the same thinking and behaviours we have historically.
People’s motivators of Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness are all impacted differently when not face to face with their colleagues every day. As a leader, you need to be more conscious of helping people tap into these motivators, otherwise you run the risk of disengagement and performance being negatively impacted. The good news is that you can use strategies that leverage these key motivators, even in a hybrid environment.
Google researchers embarked on an initiative to discover the secrets of effective teams at Google. Code-named ‘Project Aristotle’, the goal was to answer the question: “What makes a team effective at Google?” The aim was to find the secret ‘special sauce’ that makes a team high performing, so this could be replicated in how other teams were set up and developed.
Below are the 5 key findings that Google made regarding what most effectively contributes to high performing teams in the organisation. The researchers found that what really mattered was less about who is on the team and more about how the team worked together. They are listed in the table below in order of importance. The Google research was done on teams in general, so in the right hand column of the table, we’ve added our take on how you can tap into this for a virtual or hybrid team.
Contributing elements to building a
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How to leverage this with virtual/hybrid teams |
1. Psychological safety |
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”Psychological safety refers to an individual’s perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk or a belief that a team is safe for risk taking in the face of being seen as ignorant, incompetent, negative, or disruptive.” In a team with high psychological safety, teammates feel safe to take risks around their team members. They feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea |
Show the team the survey results and have a discussion which includes asking ‘based on this what could we do to create better psychological safety in this team?’ and ‘as the leader of this team what’s one thing I could do less of or more of to foster improved psychological safety?’
In parallel, the team leader back in the main meeting room can also write down their 3 key expectations of what they want from the team. In sharing back the leader should always listen to the team’s thoughts first, before sharing their own, in order to demonstrate listening and empathy. |
2. Dependability |
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| “On dependable teams, members reliably complete quality work on time (vs the opposite – shirking responsibilities).” |
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3. Structure and clarity |
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| Structure and clarity: “An individual’s understanding of job expectations, the process for fulfilling these expectations, and the consequences of one’s performance are important for team effectiveness. Goals can be set at the individual or group level and must be specific, challenging, and attainable. Google often uses Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to help set and communicate short and long term goals.” |
Note: Shared goals require that team members work together to produce joint work products (not going off and doing actions in silos).
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4. Meaning |
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| “Finding a sense of purpose in either the work itself or the output is important for team effectiveness. The meaning of work is personal and can vary: financial security, supporting family, helping the team succeed, or self-expression for each individual, for example.” |
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5. Impact |
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| “The results of one’s work, the subjective judgement that your work is making a difference, is important for teams. Seeing that one’s work is contributing to the organization’s goals can help reveal impact.” |
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