Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Article 3
Article 3
Step 1: Visualization
- Can create maps of how the team is doing on the dimensions – visualizations that
clearly convey the data and are instantly accessible to anyone
- Maps highlight weaknesses that teams may not have recognized
- Identify low-energy, unengaged team members who, even in the visualization, look
as if they’re being ignored
o When such people are spotted, one can dig down into their individual badge
data Energy and engagement maps will make the problems clear
Once identified the problem, we can fix them
- Exploration maps reveal patterns of communication across organizations
- Time-lapse views of engagement and exploration will show whether teams are
effectively oscillating between those activities
- Possibility to layer more detail into the visualizations (e.g. breaking down different
types of communication)
Step 2: Training
- Improve performance of teams through iterative visual feedback Visual feedback
helps people improve quickly
Visual tools to improve teamwork through objective analysis
Successful tactics
How do I go about improving energy and engagement?
- Reorganizing office space and seating
- Setting a personal example
- Policy changes
- Switching out team members and bringing in new blood
- Leaders should use the data to force change within their teams (people can learn e.g.
to interrupt less)
The ideal team player
- In both productivity-focused and creativity-focused teams, we have discovered a
data signature of what we consider best type of team member
“charismatic connectors”:
▪ Circulate actively, engaging people in short, high-energy conversations
▪ Are democratic with their time – communicate with everyone equally and
making sure all team members get a chance to contribute
▪ Not necessarily extroverts, but feel comfortable approaching other people
▪ Listen as much or more than they talk – “energized but focused listening”
▪ Connect their teammates with one another and spread ideas around
▪ Appropriately exploratory, seeking ideas from outside the group
the more of these charismatic connectors a team has, the more successful it is
Team Building
- A science, but is young and evolving
- Imagine a company’s entire staff wearing badges, creating “big data” in which to find
patterns for everything from team building to leadership etc.
- Can vastly improve long-distance work and cross-cultural teams which are so crucial
in a global economy
- Beginning to create the “God’s-eye view” of the organization
o It’s an amazing view and will change how organizations work