What science can tell us about

Building Great Teams

Assembling and managing successful teams is a core leadership skill, whether you are convening a temporary task force, managing a full department, or running a school fundraiser.

But how well do you understand what makes a great team?

If you think it’s simply assembling a group of highly talented people and letting them do their thing, then you’re in good company. Research shows that’s what people tend to believe. But, unfortunately, you’d also be wrong.

Teams are more than the sum of their parts. In fact, sometimes having lots of top talent on a team actually hurts performance. We’ll get back to that in a minute.

First, let’s look at why it’s become increasingly important to know how to lead, and be part of, teams.

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Another reason not to focus solely on the best of the best: you want diverse thinkers

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Make sure your team understands the value of diversity

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Make sure teammates really “get” one another

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Double up on diverse teammates

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Talk through how to incorporate your specialists onto the team

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Don’t get too insular. Make sure you bring in new people and ideas.

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This extends to financial services, too ...

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As well as to scientific ideas.

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It also depends on how easily you can delegate tasks.

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Takeaways

Read more from Kellogg Insight on teams

A Virtuous Mix Allows Innovation to Thrive For Teams, What Matters More: Raw Talent or a History of Success Together? Science as Team Sport Collaboration and Creativity How Diverse Should Your Team Be? Everyone Loves a Generalist Want to Revolutionize Your Field? You May Need to Rethink the Size of Your Research Team. Why Income Inequality among White Collar Workers Is Growing

Credits

Writer

Emily Stone

Editors

Jessica Love

Jake Smith

Illustrations

Michael Meier

Charts and Graphs

Aaron Geller

Special Thanks to

Dashun Wang

Zach Wise

Design

Grip

Sources

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