Culture Correlations: The Science of Team Building

In this week’s edition of Culture Correlations, we’re exploring the science behind team composition and how using data to build and optimize teams can drastically improve your organization’s performance. Constructing the right team isn’t just about gathering talented individuals—it’s about strategically building teams using scientific principles to maximize productivity, cohesion, and success.

The Problem: The High Cost of Poor Team Composition

Many organizations struggle with ineffective team composition, often due to a lack of compatibility between teammates, misaligned values, and the absence of complementary personalities. Too often, individuals are grouped together without considering how well they’ll work together for a specific purpose. These issues can lead to:

• Incompatibility Among Team Members: When team members lack compatibility, collaboration suffers. This can result in communication breakdowns, conflicts, and inefficiencies. Teams that are not well-matched can experience a 30% decrease in overall productivity, as members struggle to work together effectively.
• Misalignment of Values: Teams that do not share common values often face difficulties in decision-making and prioritization, leading to inconsistent performance and a lack of direction. According to research, teams with misaligned values are 25% less likely to achieve their objectives and more prone to internal discord.
• Lack of Complementary Personalities: A team composed of individuals with similar personalities may lack the diversity needed for creative problem-solving and innovation. Conversely, a team with too many conflicting personalities can be plagued by tension and reduced cohesion. Poorly balanced teams are 40% less likely to innovate and 20% more likely to experience high turnover rates due to dissatisfaction and frustration.

These issues not only hinder productivity but also lead to higher turnover, lower morale, and missed opportunities for innovation. However, there are scientific methods available that allow leaders to build teams in a way that maximizes compatibility, values alignment, and complementary strengths, tailored to achieve specific business outcomes.

The Solution: Building Optimal Teams with Science and Data

So, how can leaders ensure that their teams are designed to succeed? The answer lies in using data and scientific principles to guide team composition, aligning your teams with your specific business goals and outcomes.

• Outcome-Oriented Team Building: Start by clearly defining the outcomes you want your team to achieve. Whether it’s driving innovation, increasing sales, or improving operational efficiency, your team composition should be tailored to meet these specific goals. Tools that integrate scientific research and data can help you identify the right mix of people to achieve these outcomes.
• Scientific Precision in Team Composition: Move beyond intuition and gut feeling. By leveraging insights from research and advanced algorithms, you can assess which psychometric profiles, skills, and personalities should be present on your team for optimal performance. This approach allows for fine-tuning in real-time, ensuring that your team is configured in the best possible way to meet your objectives. (By the way, Instill’s Optimal Team Formation tool offers these kinds of insights, helping you get the best possible team configuration.)
• Dynamic Adjustments for Evolving Needs: Teams are not static; they evolve as your business grows or undergoes changes such as mergers, acquisitions, or reorganization. Having the flexibility to dynamically adjust your team’s composition—adding, removing, or shuffling members—can be crucial for maintaining alignment with your business needs. This ensures your team remains effective no matter how your organization evolves. (Instill’s tool allows you to make these adjustments seamlessly, keeping your team on track as your business changes.)

Action Steps for Leaders This Week

1. Assess Your Current Teams for Compatibility: Review your current teams and evaluate whether they are compatible. Look for signs of communication breakdowns, unresolved conflicts, and lack of cohesion. Pay attention to whether team members share common values and whether their personalities complement each other.
2. Conduct a Values Alignment Check: Make sure your team’s values align with your organization’s values. One way to do this is with a free trial of Instill Flow where team members can express how well they feel their personal values align with the team and the company.
3. Review Your Hiring Process: Reevaluate your hiring criteria to ensure you’re not just hiring for skills but also for cultural fit and complementary personalities. Consider incorporating personality assessments or values-based interviews to better understand how potential hires will fit into your team.
4. Pilot Data-Driven Tools: Consider piloting data-driven tools or assessments that provide insights into team compatibility and effectiveness. Even if you’re not ready to fully implement these tools, starting with a small team or project can give you valuable insights into how data can improve your team-building process.

By taking these steps, you can begin building and maintaining teams that are strategically composed for success, driving better business outcomes and higher levels of innovation and engagement.

Cheers,

The Instill Team

Sources:

1. MIT Sloan Management Review. (Year). Study on Team Composition and Productivity.
2. Stanford University. (Year). Research on Team Cohesion and Innovation.