Colin Fisher, an Associate Professor at UCL and author of "The Collective Edge," dives into the hidden dynamics of team success. He reveals that a staggering 60% of effectiveness comes from team structure, while 30% hinges on the launch. Coaching? Just 10%! Colin emphasizes the importance of clear goals and well-defined roles in fostering collaboration. He also highlights how genuine diversity goes beyond demographics, advocating for varied skills to spark innovation. Get ready to rethink how you build and lead teams!
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Casino Win Became A Team Metaphor
Colin recounts winning big at a casino as a teen and later realizing the house always wins in the long run.
He uses this story as a metaphor: good process can't overcome a rigged structure indefinitely.
insights INSIGHT
Structure Determines The Game
Team structure (composition, goals, tasks, norms) creates the game that determines long-term team success.
Moment-to-moment coaching only affects how well you play that pre-set game.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Prioritize Fixing Structure First
Fix structural problems (composition, goals, tasks, norms) before focusing on process improvements.
Avoid trying to coach your way out of a poorly structured team; it rarely works.
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Since his days as a professional jazz trumpet player, Colin Fisher has been fascinated by group dynamics. Today, he is an Associate Professor of Organizations and Innovation at University College London’s School of Management, researching the hidden processes of helping groups and teams in situations requiring creativity, improvisation, and complex decision-making. He is the author of The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups (Amazon, Bookshop).
Most of us assume that the best thing we can do for our teams is to be a great coach as they’re working together. That absolutely helps, but the research says that only 10% of group effectiveness is what we do once the team is underway. In this conversation, Colin and I explore how to get a lot better at the other 90%.
Key Points
The house always wins. If the structure isn’t right for the team to succeed, little else matters in the long run.
Leaders tend to put a majority of their attention on coaching teams in progress instead of the more significant work at the start of structuring and launching teams.
Work on fixing structural problems before you focus on fixing the process.
60% of group effectiveness is determined by structure, 30% by the launch, and 10% by expert coaching.
Critical for structure is the team goal being clear, important, and challenging. Be sure to document it.
Negotiate roles, tasks, and jobs to support structure. Determine early how to articulate progress and highlight small wins.
Ask yourself if the group has the right people to achieve the objective. Deep diversity that supports the goal is essential.
Surface discussions about norms at the start, especially related to communication and storage of information.
At a team launch, articulate why everyone is there, discuss key norms, and schedule a midpoint to reflect and align.
Resources Mentioned
The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups (Amazon, Bookshop) by Colin Fisher
Coaching for Leaders 
