Building successful design teams is something that I’m passionate about. I’ve had the opportunity to do this at several organizations and I think I have a certain talent for it. It’s definitely rewarding. Bringing together a collection of designers — of well-meaning people — and through process and coaching helping them to become a cohesive unit that elevates the output of each other and the larger product org.
I’ve talked previously about how I build teams. You can read about it here. What I haven’t talked about though is the one metric I most closely monitor when forming a team (and maintaining its health). That one thing is: team members’ talk time. I’m paying attention to how much time each member of the team talks in any given meeting or gathering. Is it roughly equal? Then things are good. Is one person or a small segment of the team doing most of the talking? Then we may have a problem.
The more clinical way to describe the metric is: Equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking.
It’s a little obvious when you think about it. Is the culture of the team such that everyone feels able to speak their mind, contribute, and have a sense of support and safety as they do it? Or are people reserved in meetings, worried about saying the wrong thing or and being criticized for it?
Project Aristotle
In 2012, Google embarked on an effort to identify what makes a team successful. What are the markers that all accomplished teams have? Researchers set about quantifying this and looked at all factors they could think of: previous success, years of experience, awards, educational background, years together. They looked at it from every angle they could measure. This research effort was code named Project Aristotle.
Eventually they began to focus on team norms. Through research, study, and various social experiments, they found that how a team was set up — the behaviors that were encouraged and the behaviors that were discouraged — had an outsized impact on the performance of the team. More specifically, this could be boiled down to equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking (team members’ talk time). When people felt safe to speak their minds in a positive and supportive environment, the collective intelligence of the group went up (leading towards more success). Conversely, when the free flow of ideas from members was hindered because people felt less safe to share, the intelligence went down.
All of this was written about in the New York Times Magazine back in 2016, in a feature issue examining the science of working more effectively. I read the article when it came out. This was early in my time as a design leader and the lessons have stuck with me; I think about them often. You should take the time to read the article yourself, which you can find here.
As the researchers studied the groups, however, they noticed two behaviors that all the good teams generally shared. First, on the good teams, members spoke in roughly the same proportion, a phenomenon the researchers referred to as ‘‘equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking.’’ On some teams, everyone spoke during each task; on others, leadership shifted among teammates from assignment to assignment. But in each case, by the end of the day, everyone had spoken roughly the same amount. ‘‘As long as everyone got a chance to talk, the team did well,’’ Woolley said. ‘‘But if only one person or a small group spoke all the time, the collective intelligence declined.’’
Tending your team’s culture garden
Any group of team members will naturally form a culture, a way of behaving when together. These norms may be positive or negative. The only thing you can be sure of is that they will form. These norms are what an effective leader should be focusing on as their team forms.
One can be explicit in defining norms, and I think group discussion and affirmation of those norms is important. But what behaviors are written down aren’t necessarily how people act. It’s important for leaders first to model the behavior — adhere to the agreed upon norms. And it’s important to encourage the behavior, through conversation and consistency.
I think about culture and team norms like tending a garden. Provide the proper nourishment (encouragement and support) where appropriate. Weed out the elements (actions) that threaten the team’s growth. Be mindful and always attentive. Absence will lead to bad outcomes quickly.
Equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking
Which brings me back to talk time. In meetings with my team, I think about this often. I take mental note of who has spoken and who hasn’t. I solicit opinions from those who haven’t contributed. I do this in a positive way (nothing shuts down discussion like calling people out). I demonstrate real interest in what each person has to say.
I’m also mindful of my role as the boss and the weight that carries. And then I try to counteract it. In discussion I recognize that I can end discussion when I speak. Who’s going to argue with the boss? I try to withhold my thoughts till the group has shared theirs. I also encourage push back — I ask directly for people to disagree or critique what I’ve said. And I genuinely listen to the feedback.
As a leader, your job is not to have the right answer. It’s to build a team that consistently finds the right answers. Creating an environment where each member of the team feels supported and safe to share their perspective, to listen to others and adjust their thinking appropriately, is the best way to achieve this goal.
Talk time. Roughly equal amongst the diverse members of your team.
Seriously, take the time to read this New York Times Magazine write up of Project Aristotle and what Google learned about building effective teams.