Recently, Google released a review of what is required to create great teams which has direct implications to every team in the world AND of course that includes dental teams in every dental practice. 

While this sounds altruistic, at the heart of the matter was Google’ desire to figure out how to consistently generate great teams for itself so it can maintain its dominance. 

 

Fortunately, they were willing to share their findings with the world which is fantastic since no University or professional association (like the ADA) could ever afford to do this kind of comprehensive study. So thanks to Google, dental teams everywhere could be improved.

 

Ultimately, Google took ten years of their own workplace data plus a review of 50 years of published research and they found three BIG discoveries related to what is consistent among great teams and that you have to have in order to build a great team that not only gets along but that functions at a high level.

 

Discovery One: The composition of teams (e.g. mix of personality types or skills or backgrounds) does NOT matter. This one finding throws out a myriad of tests like DISC, Myers-Briggs, etc.

 

Discovery Two: Psychological Safety underlies all great teams. The ONLY fundamental component that consistently made any team successful was the presence of this.

 

Discovery Three: Group norms (the traditions, behavioral standards, and unwritten rules that govern how we function when we gather as a teams) mattered a lot. Influencing “group norms” was both possible and a fundamental necessity for creating a successful teams.