Goal Summit 2016: The Science Behind Effective Teams at Google

Build Effective Teams Everywhere

Prasad Setty

VP, People Operations

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What comes to mind when you think of an effective team?

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What makes an effective team at Google?

Intergroup competition CohesionMental models Commitment

Goal settingGroup incentive systems

Group polarizationIndividual credibilityConformitySocialization

Team roles Inspiring mission

Behavioral approach Sharing informationSocialization Healthy norms

Organizational resources Team sizeWork-life quality Past experience

Communication Reward system ProximityCognitive ability

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Team effectiveness study design

180 250+201

35+3

interviews teams inputs

outputs stats models run

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WHO is on the team matters less than HOW the team works together

What we found

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MEANING IMPACT &Our team cares about making education better and helping teachers teach. It means a lot to me to be working toward these goals.

“Our work directly increases the success of small business and drives real economic benefits to those outside of Google on a global scale.

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Our team cares about making education better and helping teachers teach. It means a lot to me to be working toward these goals.

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external validation internal validation

Our work directly increases the success of small business and drives real economic benefits to those outside of Google on a global scale.

“MEANING IMPACT &

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CLARITY DEPENDABILITY&

If someone says they are stuck, almost always 1-3 people will offer help. Often if that requires code changes, that person will volunteer to just do it that day.

“The team is well structured and we leverage each other and receive excellent guidance and support from top management.

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Undependable team

Dependable team

Structure & Clarity

Effectiveness

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PSYCHOLOGICALSAFETYIf people on your team don’t feel safe, they won’t take risks. In anything that’s complicated like software development, you want people to take risks. What’s the point of the team if people aren’t taking risks?

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Teams that feel safe beat their sales targets

+17%

-19%

Safe team

Unsafe team

TARGET SALES REVENUE

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Five dynamics of team effectiveness

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gTeams@Google

Survey Assessed on the five

underlying dynamics of team effectiveness

Report Entire team reviewed

Action Planning Consult resources

to take action

Discussion Team set aside

90 minutes to talk through results

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Create an environment where people can speak freely

Let your team members own the process of creating new team norms

Show that you care about team dynamics

What you can do

1

2

3

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Thank you.