The Psychology of High Performing Teams in 2022

Understanding the Psychology Behind High Performing Teams is essential for a business’s success. High-performing teams do not appear overnight but develop over time. Recognizing the importance of communication within businesses will improve their performance in 2022 while meeting the company’s mission statement.

The Covid-19 pandemic created a major shift in how companies distributed their responsibilities for remote work. With little to no preparation, individuals were forced to move their work online in addition to adjusting to stressors in everyday life. Let’s be honest, learning to navigate work online forced a culture change within companies. Both the employer and their employees had to reevaluate how to successfully transition the business model to continue meeting its goals, how to create or update policies and procedures, and implement changes throughout operations while generating profits.

In 2022, many companies will continue to have a large majority of their employees working from home. Recognizing the lack of face-to-face interactions has the potential to lead to decreased employee engagement which can lead to unsatisfied employees undermining a company’s success. According to Ward Zoonen, who studied Factors Influencing Adjustment to Remote Work during COVID-19, there was a lack of face-to-face interactions, and employees are less likely to have validation with their coworkers and supervisors. Validation comes through visual cues including body movements, eye contact, facial expressions, and hand gestures. A proactive company may counter this by increasing feedback examples for peers, one-on-one meetings, and performance reviews.

Recently, the Harvard Business Review discussed how using 360 performance reviews may increase self-understanding in the workforce. Traditionally, companies used top-down performance reviews which allow only supervisors to provide feedback to their subordinates. The Harvard Business Review expressed their belief that using 360 performance reviews may further improve identifying positive traits of employees as well as areas of improvement.

Overall, this tool can improve conversations between supervisors and their employees regarding job performance. Increasing interaction and communication between supervisors and employees create a psychologically safe and engaging work environment. When reinforced positive and negative constructive feedback is given regularly, employee involvement and feedback increase. Employees have an easier time giving feedback to managers when they feel their opinions are being heard. This gives individuals a sense of belonging, leading to a trusting environment while creating a happier and healthier business culture. Instill incorporates the HEXACO personality test into their product which is shown to create a more extensive image of users’ personalities. These results share significant insight into how users function and communicate leading to better team performance.

Instill’s products allow a company the ability to choose the best supervisors and employees to create successful high-performing teams. This will permit goal-oriented teams the ability to collaborate effectively while individuals produce high-quality results. Recently, MITSloan posted an analysis of measuring company culture using AI. Using Culture 500, they determined whether their leaders and employees are following the company’s core values for success. Additionally, they can compare their own company’s values to competitors or potential partners. Using today’s technology advancements, allows companies to provide a safe environment creating involved employees which produces additional information to become a successful business.

Written by: Rebecca Consigli. July 26th 2022.

Rebecca Consigli recently graduated from the University of San Diego with her Psychology degree and is currently interning for the Army Research Lab. She enjoys selling artwork on the side and is planning to get her masters in Developmental Psychology in the near future.

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