Building High Performing Teams -- Science Edition

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Teams Firing on All Cylinders

What Makes a Team Innovative…And Productive?

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Every day we have the privilege of seeing some of the most innovative teams, inside of some of the world’s most innovative brands. These teams are moving fast, innovating at crazy levels and driving business impact.

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Team performance is psychological - just like everything else we do as humans. We wanted to break down the science of what causes certain teams to be so successful (beyond having access to the Hive platform, of course!). What is going on beneath the surface that builds a productive culture of innovation & creativity? We turned to our platform with this challenge and here is what we found.

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On the surface, these teams look a lot like scientists:

• They spend more time understanding the problem & brainstorm together
• They’re more systematic and careful in their decision-making
• They don’t argue unproductively and they trust each other
• Don’t rely on their single leader to make decisions

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And interestingly, contrary to popular mantras, they do not fail fast or fail often! When you use science and you’re systematic, you don’t have to fail as often. It’s the opposite of a scattershot approach.

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What Psychological Dimensions Predict Success in These Teams?

How can leaders recruit, train & encourage these sorts of teams? We used the Hive platform to predict the underlying psychological dimensions leading teams to these patterns of behavior & ultimate innovation.

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Intellectual Humility (Cog)

It’s natural to like your own ideas more than anyone else’s. But more innovative teams are able to maintain a “beginner’s mind”. They are more open to new information, even if it contradicts what they previously believed, which makes them cognitively flexible and nimble - ready to pivot when needed.

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Conscientious (Ego) & Less Neurotic (Ego)

We can’t always control our personalities - but some people have just the right personality mix to work on an innovative team. The magic combination is Conscientiousness (being careful, considerate, and thorough) and less Neurotic (being more relaxed and easy-going).

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Risk Tolerant (Cog) & Less Socially Anxious (Emo)

These teams aren’t worried about getting it wrong - in their social interactions or in their other decisions. They’re more open to taking risks and they don’t worry that people will judge them for it.

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General Belonging (Soc)

People with high belonging feel a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and shared identity with their social groups, such as with friends, family, or people in the community. This transfers to their teams - they feel supported and psychologically safe around the people they work with. This fosters trust and reduces unproductive arguments.

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Some of our amazingly innovative customers (who exhibit all these traits and more); Global Jaguar Land Rover, Accenture Song, Hearts & Science, West Monroe, Roundpeg, MidwestOne Bank, Others

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What can we all take away from this?

Recruiting and assembling teams with individuals higher in these traits helps. But all teams can be more innovative - even if team members don’t inherently come with the dimensions listed above. Anyone can work like a scientist.

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• Build a regular practice of “how might we be wrong” where teams regularly find ways to see all angles of the problem and ‘poke holes’ in the solutions.
• Think like a scientist - instead of debating opinions and perspectives, build hypotheses that are testable, and falsifiable (meaning they can be proven wrong with evidence).
• Follow the data: look for patterns that repeat across datasets and data sources. And look for consistency in those patterns. Do data points seem to contradict each other? If so, dig deeper.
• Take calculated risks, not any risk. Moving fast or breaking things doesn’t mean new and better things will emerge on their own. The new and better things can be forecasted based on a careful understanding of the problem-to-solve. “New” may still be risky, but the risk is calculated based on the understanding of the problem.
• Spend more time in the problem-space and make that a shared goal. Teams that have shared goals have a greater sense of belonging, and dedication to the problem frees teams to focus on understanding, not on pet solutions.

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How innovative are your teams?

We are using these predictive psychological techniques to continue building and developing our team at Hive every day. Our customers are taking their teams to the next level every day as well.

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We would love to discuss ways to take YOUR teams to even higher levels of innovation, output & impact. Reply to this email to share your thoughts with the Hive team, replies only go to Hive.

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All the best,

Everyone at Hive

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