Google’s Secret Productivity Formula To Building Efficient Teams

For many people, Google, the company founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, is synonymous with efficiency and productivity, attributing  its  success to a  particular characteristic of the company. However, the perfect productivity formula is an ideal combination of various factors that make the American giant an example to follow for many of the emerging companies around the globe. Google decided to study these factors and find out what was the key to its success.

The “Aristotle Project” is a study published by Google where it tries to determine the characteristics that a work team must have in order to generate the highest possible productivity. In addition to the other basic conditions that we already know and that every company should promote: establishing and sharing a clear and healthy organizational culture that allows employees to feel part of their company; create a good work environment that awakens in its people the aspiration necessary to go the  extra mile; and to adapt to the new ultra-tech times to offer the necessary digital tools to foster the collaborative work demanded by the new generations.

This last point was of vital importance for Google´s productivity formula and came to the conclusion  that teamwork was one of the main reasons for the company’s sustained success. It was not enough and useful to know that they had teams with a natural disposition to  collaborative work, rather they were looking for answers to a specific question: what are the factors that make work teams efficient and productive  in our company?

It took two years of research to study the work dynamics of more than 180 teams. More than 200 employees were interviewed and more than 250 competencies of each of the working groups were studied.

At the beginning of the study the idea was to identify the ideal combination of workers and skills to enhance the performance of work teams. However, once the study began, the first results obtained changed the focus of the research: the secret to group productivity was in the interaction between the parts of the team and not in the elements that formed it.

Productivity Formula: The Five Keys to Identifying a Successful Team by Google:

Psychological safety

The absence of fear is vital for building productive teams. Each member of the group must have the confidence necessary to risk sharing their ideas in front of their peers, without feeling self-conscious or vulnerable  in front of the rest of the team.

Dependability 

Ideal team members rely on the competitive skills of their peers and trust  that the work will be done in a timely manner with the quality required by the challenge.

Structure and clarity 

Each member of the team is aware of their functions within the team. Each objective  is clearly stated and the assigned work will be attained in the time and form that it was assigned to them.

Meaning of work 

The work to be done is not just one more job. Each activity has a personal and professional relevance for each of the team members.

Impact of work

All the works carried out have a transcendence within the company. It is not enough just to fulfill their assignment in the established time, but each of the team members must be aware of the impact, consequences and changes that each of their responsibilities will have.