Google cracks the code: the #1 attribute of successful teams

Have you ever wondered how to build teams that crush their goals?

Google has cracked the code.

An article by Michael Schneider in the July 2017 edition of Inc. magazine baits us: “Google Spent 2 Years Studying 180 Teams. The Most Successful Ones Shared These 5 Traits.”

By way of background: Google researchers wanted to understand why some of their teams raced ahead while others lagged.

They were surprised by what they learned.

Not one of the five keys Google identified has to do with compensation, advanced education, or even domain expertise, as they had expected. Google’s people analytics manager, Julia Rozovsky, expressed their dismay, “We were dead wrong.”

Huh? If simply compiling the sharpest, most talented people isn’t the answer, what is?

The #1 attribute of successful teams is psychological safety, says Google.

Psychological safety is a setting “in which everyone is safe to take risks, voice their opinions, and ask judgment-free questions. A culture where managers provide air cover and create safe zones so employees can let down their guard,” says Schneider.

I can almost hear you thinking: So, how in the world can I possibly build THAT into my team?!

The Flippen Group has cracked that code. With the Flippen Profile, we can measure the 13 behaviors that produce psychological safety and create high-performing teams.

For example, our 25+ years of research has taught us that the optimal range for Criticality is 4.6 to 7 on a 10-point scale, while the optimal range for Nurturing behaviors is 5.5 to 7.5.

Implication: Too much Criticality with too little Nurturing and you’ll completely ruin risk-taking, one of the delicious fruits of a psychological safe-zone.

So, what will you do to ensure that you and your teams consistently exhibit the kinds of behaviors that create psychological safety, the #1 trait of successful teams?

You and your team can achieve enormous competitive advantage by exhibiting the right amount of these behaviors. We can help.

The Flippen Profile can measure the behaviors that correlate to successful teams AND help you and your team build personalized, actionable plans to optimize your behavior and achieve your business goals.

To learn more, contact us.