Improving Team Collaboration by Giving Everyone an Equal Opportunity to Speak
We’ve all been to meetings where one person (often a manager) speaks most of the time. Unsurprisingly, Google research shows that most collaborative teams do the opposite: everyone speaks the same way.
The iDoneThis blog describes an internal Google study, “Project Aristotle,” in which a search company studied the dynamics of its own team. On most collaborative Google teams, no single person took over more than 80% or more of the conversation:
Since the conversation was not monopolized by one person, they could ask clarifying questions and contribute. In situations where only one person speaks, team members were uncomfortable voicing their ideas, intervening in other people’s mistakes, or correcting the mistakes of more active team members. In short, imbalanced communication destroyed the purpose of cooperation in the first place.
It is not necessary for everyone on the team to be forced to speak (for example, some classes force students to speak “walking around the room,” which can be painful for more shy or withdrawn people). However, it was rather a tacit agreement that everyone can take turns in the conversation.
It’s not just that more people talk = more collaboration. Teams that had a “fairness” social code were more likely to generate more revenue, were considered effective, and stayed longer at their jobs at Google.
How comfortable do your team members feel about contributing?
Google’s Unwritten Rule for Team Collaboration | iDoneThis Blog