I mentioned previously that productivity comes in two varieties: individual and group. I addressed individual productivity. Let's turn to team productivity. How many of you remember in school when a teacher announced that your class would be broken up into teams to work on an assignment. It would be a group project and the teacher would assign your partner - you couldn't choose. How many of you were excited about that prospect? If your class was like my class, there were groans. You dreaded it. And yet, we're taught from very early on that teamwork is the best way to get things done. From a fourth-grade standardized test given in Ohio - given to ten-year-olds! - was this question: When people work together to finish a job, such as building a house, the job will probably:a) get finished faster
b) take longer to finish
c) not get done The test scored A as the correct answer. Despite the fact that we wish it were so, and teach our kids that it's so, it's usually not. Teams don't often look like well-coordinated game plans driving the football down the field. They usually look more like a three-legged race, where the more people you add, the more cumbersome it becomes. Those who groaned in your classes when you were assigned group projects knew this by experience.Yet team productivity is something we encounter often. We encounter it in our marriages, we encounter it in our jobs... What's the key to team productivity? It starts with an understanding of what works well for teams and what doesn't. I'd like you to name for me one fiction novel written by a team that became a bestseller. Can you name one? How about a team painting? Are there any? Let's flip that around. Do you know of anyone who built a house with no help from others? That's why that fourth-grade question shows a bias. It gives you the example of building a house. Nobody constructs a house alone. It requires at least two people. But the bias we're given in the way that the question is phrased is that "when people work together to finish a job, the job will probably get finished faster." But most of the time the data doesn't support that. Most teams underperform their expectations. And most of the time, it's because of dynamics on the team itself. When the teacher assigned that first group project to elementary school students, the students weren't given any direction on how to work together within a team. They were just thrown to it, as most of us are. Consider that the teacher who assigned that group project works alone. Group teaching in a classroom doesn't happen. Teachers operate alone and independently. They're not trained in team dynamics and how to make them successful, which is why it's not taught to the students, and that's why everyone comes to dread the group project. Consider any project... there are four main tasks: - You have to set the overall direction. What's the goal? What outcome is expected?
- You have to set up the organization to best accomplish it. What roles are needed? Who might be best able to fill those roles?
- You have to monitor the progress and ensure that the work being done meets the standards and expectations set.
- As the work is completed, you have to turn it loose for its purpose. Sometimes, this is all at once, and sometimes it's released in stages.
Each of these offers a hurdle to teamwork. Can we all agree on the goal? Can we all agree on who is to do what? Can we agree on the expected quality as the work progresses? Can we agree on when it's actually done and ready to release?This is why the data on team success shows that teams typically underperform their expectations. The more people on a team, the more opportunity there is to get tripped up in one of these areas. When it comes to team productivity, the fewer members, the better. John Gottman is arguably the leading researcher today on relationships and marriages. Just by watching a couple over the course of a few minutes, he can, with a 90% accuracy, tell you whether that couple will last or fail. That's an astounding feat. It doesn't come to him intuitively. It comes through years of studying what makes a relationship work and not work. He can now recognize in gestures and words and facial expressions the signs of erosion that lead to demise. Marriage is the quintessential team. It is certainly the most widely recognized and popular team. For most of us, it's the first team we experience as children. Millions of people crave to be on the team called husband and wife, and yet most marriages fail. Why is that? Gottman writes: In pursuit of the truth about what tears a marriage apart or binds it together, I have found that much of the conventional wisdom - even among marital therapists - is either misguided or dead wrong. For example, some marital patterns that even professionals often take as a sign of a problem - such as having intense fights or avoiding conflict altogether - I have found can signify highly successful adjustments that will keep a couple together. Fighting, when it airs grievances and complaints, can be one of the healthiest things a couple can do for their relationship.If there's one lesson I've learned in my years of research into marital relationships, it is that a lasting marriage results from a couple's ability to resolve the conflicts that are inevitable in any relationship. Many couples tend to equate a low level of conflict with happiness and believe the claim 'we never fight' is a sign of marital health. But I believe we grow in our relationships by reconciling our differences. Folks, that's counter-intuitive. He's saying that it's not how well you get along it's how well you disagree. It's easy to get along when you agree on everything. It's a lot tougher when you disagree. And the telltale sign of your ability to last it out comes down to your ability to fight well when you encounter inevitable disagreements.If the idea that fighting well can lead to marital harmony still seems counter-intuitive, I offer you one term well regarded in marriage: make-up sex. Know what I'm sayin'? What derails the ability to reconcile differences are what Gottman refer to as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: - Criticism - attacking someone's personality or character and not their behavior - and usually with blame.
- Contempt - intention to insult or psychologically abuse someone's sense of self. Disgust is usually the result.
- Defensiveness - usually escalates the conflict and keeps us from hearing the other person.
- Withdrawal - stonewalling the other person, ignoring them.
Now let's bring this back to team productivity. Recognize any of this behavior during disputes? Teamwork productivity is all about good social processes. Just like in marriage, the team will break down when Gottman's Four Horsemen are allowed to fester. Good management will prevent and stop this derailing behavior. Good management will create conditions that increase the chance that a team will evolve into an effective performing unit.You begin by focusing on the strengths of the individuals. By recognizing these strengths publicly, within and without the team, you foster respect for each member of the team. Appreciation for each individual's indisputable strengths goes a long way. Look at how a team leader can act in such a way as to make a team member feel defensive or even prompt them into withdrawal. A great team leader will seek to "instill in the team members not just the desire, but the burning desire, to contribute to the team again and again." You don't do that with public criticism, scorn, mocking, favoritism, disorganization, or a lack of clear goals. You do incite them to look forward to coming to the team by publicly recognizing their contributions and individual productivity, by openly embracing them, by setting clear and attainable standards and helping them to work toward those standards. Ask yourself the next time you are on a team: how am I helping to resolve the inevitable disputes and bring us closer to our team goals? How am I encouraging others to have the burning desire to return to the team again and again? Your quality of life is largely determined by what you do and how you showcase your productivity, whether it's your individual productivity or your productivity on a team. Your productivity is only as strong as its value to others. This week, focus on Brand You and how you can increase the value of your stock. | 
