What is a new idea for making an excellent team?

BySteve Corey

The more companies are big companies, the more they will be able to work on the team, but research that has not been regarded so much in team development so far in "communication"MIT ergonomics laboratoryI am doing. From the research results, it turns out that "How communication works in a team?"

The New Science of Building Great Teams - HBR
https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-new-science-of-building-great-teams


The MIT ergonomics laboratory studies the influence of "communication" in team development. The hospital's post-operative ward, the customer response team of the bank, the call center, etc. are selected for the research subject, and the research team can collect communication data such as "who talked with," "voice tone," "body language" "Electronic badge" was distributed. As a result of analyzing the collected data, the elements of "communication" play an important role in creating an excellent team, and the individual's "intelligence", "personality", "ability", "discussion" which emphasized so far in team development up to now It was found that it has importance comparable to the ability of combining all the elements such as "ability".

ByDavid Cosand

According to data gathered over 6 weeks, it is divided roughly into "Team energy"When"Exchanges outside the conferenceTwo key factors are key to improving productivity, and depending on the team, one third of productivity was fluctuating. The research team who received this result asked team managers to adjust the schedule so that employees can take a small break all at once. For employees, I can spend socializing among my colleagues leaving the workplace, but it seems that business efficiency will decrease at first glance to take a break at all at the same time, so the manager who received the proposal revised the schedule with doubt on doubt He said he challenged him.

With this attempt, the teams that were not very efficient in the call centerAHT(Average processing time) decreased more than 20%, AHT recorded a decrease of 8% as a whole, and employee satisfaction also improved. Following a rescheduling that showed outstanding effect, the manager led by the call center of the bank changed the break schedule for a total of 25,000 employees after the observation period, and the annual increase of 15 million dollars (about 18 It is said that it is now possible to expect revenue increase of 100 million yen).

ByINDIVIDUELL MÄNNISKOHJÄLP

"Communication" has not been regarded as important for nurturing the team so far because there was no objective data that measured how members of the team actually spoke with each other. However, at the laboratory, over 2,500 communication data from 21 organization teams over the past seven years are gathered by the electronic badge developed for the experiment. By analyzing data while comparing successful teams and failed teams, we can analyze detailed communication trends within the team.

According to the ergonomics laboratory, the important factor affecting excellent team development is precisely divided into three, the first is "Energy (Energy)". Energy can be measured by "number of exchanges" within the team, and interaction is defined as "once" for every reply or action, "yes" or "nodding". Since more energy is generated within the team as the number of exchanges increases, the energy is higher as compared to face-to-face communication. Even in remote communication such as telephone and TV conference, energy can be generated because the "number of interactions" can be counted. By contrast, communication with e-mail is communication with the least amount of energy generation, "energy is low".

The second element is "Engagement (connection)This is the act of distributing the energy generated within the team members. If it is a three-person team, it refers to one-to-one mutual communication such as "A and B", "A and C", "B and C", and performs many acts such as "consulting thought ideas" We can finish a limited amount of energy within the team as much as we can. For example, when consulting investment decisions with teams, the latter can make more useful decisions in "teams that have a lot of connections among some members" and "teams that have a lot of connections throughout the team."


The third element is "Exploration (Exploration)"It refers to the interaction with someone outside the team, such as a person from another team, and it is known that there are many members who are seeking connection with the outside for teams that demonstrate excellent performance. Especially for teams that require creative ideas, communication with outside the team is essential for refreshing the whole picture. However, since both "connection" and "exploration" require energy and time, it is difficult to achieve compatibility. It is a secret strategy to successfully distribute finite energy to inside and outside.


According to the collected data of the laboratory, it is known that even if the number of exchanges between members increases, the efficiency of the entire team increases by 35%. Managers aiming to develop excellent teams are indispensable to raise the three elements within the team to increase, but also "quality of communication" needs to be considered. For example, there is an idea of ​​"drinking party" as a place of communication between employees, but the collected data of electronic badge indicates that there is not much effect on these events. By contrast, if you lengthen your desk at the company's cafeteria, and there are more opportunities for unknown people to sit next to you, a very positive impact on the team is said to have emerged.

Also, when attention was focused on excellent teams in both productivity and creativity, an ideal leader who can communicate equally with all members and expand ideas by taking part in team mates is placed in the team I understood that it was done. Just by having such a person in the team that the laboratory calls "charismatic connector" makes it easier to develop into an excellent team.

ByAdrien Sifre

In this way, the ergonomics laboratory at MIT considers team development to be a "new science" that various factors that were not considered until now have influence. With the development and miniaturization of sensors embedded in the electronic badge, there is the possibility that stress-free data collection and factors for further team development can be discovered. The laboratory thinks that the way of working "long distance work" and "intercultural work" can be remarkably improved in the future, the research institute thinks that if succeeded it can contribute to the development of the global economy.