These are my reading notes for Code Fellows
Vocab word: adroitly - in a clever or skillfull way (source: Apple dictionary)
Business schools aim specifically to emphasize the ability to work on a team.
Teams are more than just the sum of their parts. You can’t judge the cohesion and efficacy of a group by how good its individual members are. Really important to note, since collaboration in the workplace has increased by 50% in the last ~20 years.
…at many companies, more than three-quarters of an employee’s day is spent communicating with colleagues… studies show that groups tend to innovate faster, see mistakes more quickly and find better solutions to problems. Studies also show that people working in teams tend to achieve better results and report higher job satisfaction. In a 2015 study, executives said that profitability increases when workers are persuaded to collaborate more.
-source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html
Google has spent millions attempting to build the perfect team – they called it Project Aristotle. Interestingly, “The ‘who’ part of the equation didn’t seem to matter.” As in, the traits of the individuals didn’t have any noteworthy pattern.
-source for quote above: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html
Group Norms - unwritten rules or team culture.
Collective smarts vs individual IQ.
The researchers eventually concluded that what distinguished the ‘good’ teams from the dysfunctional groups was how teammates treated one another.
-source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html
If one person took all the time talking in the group, the collective intelligence of the group tanked. The most effective strategy is roughly equal speaking times.
Teams are way more effective when people aren’t afraid of being judged for saying something, and are comfortable being themselves.
The behaviors that create psychological safety — conversational turn-taking and empathy — are part of the same unwritten rules we often turn to, as individuals, when we need to establish a bond. And those human bonds matter as much at work as anywhere else… What Project Aristotle has taught people within Google is that no one wants to put on a ‘‘work face’’ when they get to the office.
-source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html