The only think I know about teams is that there are no rules, and that there are too many variables involved (especially context, team goals and membership) to rely on a set of laws.
Most people develop teamwork from some key ideas based on either personal experience or some good reading on the subject. There’s nothing wrong with that. But what if some of those ideas were no longer true? After all, the infamous “forming, storming, norming, performing” model of group development” dates back to the 1960s.
So what’s new in the, say, last 50 years of study and research on how to develop teamwork?
Most of the literature is unanimous on the difficulty of creating a silver bullet or holy grail for teams, focusing instead on conditions that make or break developing teamwork.
Here I want to challenge my readers with the research findings of the last few years on high-performing teams and invite people to take this test.
Are the following statements true or false according to the latest research?
- The ideal number of people for a team is 12
- The presence of an expert in a team increases its effectiveness
- The Team kick-off meeting loses its value if it is repeated in mid-stream
- Teams negotiation of deliverables/resources with stakeholders diverts team energy
- If team members are familiar with each other and have worked already together, it is not necessary to define team’s working agreements
- Research shows that in successful teams conversations there are 2.9 positive comments for each negative comments
- High-performing teams have less conflicts than low-performing ones
- For a team to succeed clear roles and responsibility are more important than an emotional connection among team members
- It’s good for an efficient and effective team to have “silent ones” or members that decide not to share their opinions
- If the team has effective formal meetings, then frequent interpersonal communications among team members is not required to reach excellence
- Empathetic decision making in teams is counterproductive if the decision has a strong rational component
- High performing team members have more answers than questions
- Agreeableness is a valuable trait for team members during decision making
- High performing teams focus on team’s internal resources and information rather than reaching out of the regular team membership
- The timing of team coaching interventions is different for high performing teams versus lower performing teamsSo what are your answers? How many are true, how many are false?
Click here for the correct answers to these questions based on the latest research development on teamwork skills.

Adriano understands how to increase your returns on leadership. He works with professionals in world-class organizations that include Philip Morris, Microsoft, the World Bank, Johns Hopkins University, the US Marine Corps, the State Department and NASA. A skilled experiential educator with corporate leadership experience, he is the Founder & Principal Consultant of ParticipAction Consulting, Inc., a firm committed to help clients redefine change, collaboration and power in their organizations. He co-authored "Teachable Moments of Leadership" with Jill Hufnagel in 2016, on a learning methodology that gets results by going from PowerPoint to …powerful!
Adriano Pianesi | adriano@pianesi.com
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