Teamwork is a fundamental aspect of modern working life, and teams are increasingly going about their work via virtual platforms that allow team members to contribute from far-flung places.
A new study from Cornell researchers finds that familiarity is key to the success of those teams, with this meaning that smaller teams tend to perform much better than their larger peers.
Familiarity breeds success
The study examined a number of teams that were connected via virtual platforms. The teams, which consisted of academics from a number of universities spread around the globe, tended to work better when the groups allowed for frequent and intimate discussions.
“The key is having a cohesive team and a limited number of contacts in the communication network,” the author says. “This allows team members to benefit from the strength and relationships within their team and not have their team interactions diluted by a larger base of network contacts.”
The paper suggests that this is due to the limit we have on the number of strong connections in our network, with smaller numbers understandably linked with better quality connections, and that then translating into higher quality teams.
Such closely knit groups tend to communicate more frequently, both within the group and outside it, with this information flow underpinning strong performance both of the group itself and of the individual members within the group. What’s more, frequent communication also seemed to reduce the level of conflict experienced by the group.
“Reported conflict in teams did not demonstrate a statistically significant negative relationship with team member performance as expected in the study, but changes in cohesion were strongly and inversely related to changes in conflict, showing that over time increased levels of cohesion were associated with decreases in conflict,” the authors say. “Research has shown that a certain amount of conflict is beneficial in teams, but how much exactly is too much conflict, I don’t precisely know.”
The key to strong teams
The paper provides a number of tips that the authors believe are key to a strong performing virtual team:
- Be careful with outside communication – this is an interesting one as we’re led to believe that outsiders are often key for getting good ideas, but the authors suggest that such external communication limits the unity in the team. Perhaps therefore, a balance needs to be struck for true effectiveness.
- Familiarity reduces conflict – this is much less controversial and is a natural part of working life. That we are less hostile with those we understand better is perhaps something of an obvious statement.
- Close bonds matter – The authors also suggest that strong bonds amongst team members also have a positive impact on our individual performances, thus underlining the importance of belonging to our wellbeing and effectiveness.
All of which may provide you with some food for thought when crafting your own virtual teams.
