The five conditions behind effective teams.
An interactive session based on Google's Project Aristotle research, which identified psychological safety and four other factors as the key ingredients of effective teams.
A shared understanding of what contributes to great teamwork, with a clear picture of where the team stands against each of the five pillars.
Have the five factors from Google's Project Aristotle visible throughout. Introduce the research briefly, have the team score itself honestly against each factor, then discuss the two or three that most need attention.
Frame the research briefly. Google found that the most important factor in team performance was how the team worked together. Walk through the five pillars: psychological safety, where people feel safe to speak up, disagree, and admit mistakes; dependability, where team members reliably complete quality work on time; structure and clarity, where roles, plans, and goals are clear; meaning, where the work feels personally significant; and impact, where the team believes their work makes a difference. Keep the introduction tight, and have a summary of the five pillars visible on a flip chart or screen throughout.
Ask people to rate their team against each pillar on a 1 to 5 scale. Give five minutes for individual reflection and scoring first, stressing this is their honest personal view, then share scores in a quick round-robin. Record the scores so the whole team can see agreement and spread. Ask everyone to write privately before sharing, because if a senior leader scores first, others will often anchor on them.
Focus on two or three pillars: any where scores are consistently low, and any where there is a wide spread. Use open questions: what does this pillar look like when it is working well for us? Where do we notice it breaking down? What gets in the way? Hold back from jumping to solutions in this phase.
Psychological safety is often the most sensitive pillar, so if scores are low or there is visible discomfort, slow down. If a pillar scores very high across the board in a team that has just described real friction earlier in the day, probe gently: I notice you have all scored that highly, but some of what we heard earlier suggests it might be more complicated, so is that a fair observation?
Use Great Teams when a team wants a shared understanding of what makes teams effective and an honest read on where it stands. Google's Project Aristotle gives five conditions, and the team rates itself against each to see its strengths and gaps.
Using this tool with a skilled facilitator means that discussions are focused, time is used efficiently, and the group moves toward consensus, making the session productive and impactful.
