Over the years, researchers have conducted numerous studies on team dynamics. At Google, our People Analytics sought to identify those attributes that set effective teams apart from ineffective ones. The driver was that while so much of work at Google is done on teams, Googlers are rated individually; there was a gap. We felt that if we could distinguish the good from the bad, we could embark on a program to improve.

We made some surprising discoveries; many of our "common sense" initial assumptions were unfounded. We also learned that team dynamics can be surprisingly elusive to implement, even when one knows what the success criteria are. This talk addresses not only the research, but the insights of a manager who worked with his own team and others, to instill the findings and principles in the real world, along with key insights from the Pilot program at Google.