What associations can learn from Google’s ‘Project Aristotle’

IHAVE been attending almost regularly Gihan Perera’s webinars and reading with keen interest his published works since I e-met him a year ago. Gihan is a futurist, author, conference speaker and one of Australia’s leading online presenters. He was accommodating enough to keynote our Associations Summit last year.

It was from his latest e-newsletter, “Thinking Ahead,” that I first read about one of Google’s most interesting studies, ”Project Aristotle,” named after the Greek philosopher and polymath during the classical period in ancient Greece. I am sharing the findings of this 2012 research as I believe these insights resonate with associations as well, especially during this pandemic.

The Google researchers found that teams are more productive than individuals working on their own and that good teamwork can lead to more innovation, better results, and higher job satisfaction. In the end, the project helped the organization codify the secrets to team effectiveness, identifying the following five key traits in the order of their importance:

1. Psychological safety implies that team members should feel safe to take personal risks and be vulnerable in front of one another. During this stressful time of the pandemic, association staff members need to feel they will not be criticized, demeaned, or penalized— even with something as simple as asking a dumb question at a meeting. Gihan sums it all quite well when he said, “When you make it safer for people to fail, you make it easier for them to succeed.”

2. Dependability connotes that team members complete quality work on time and can rely on each other to do the same. More than ever, association leaders rely on teamwork and collaboration to co-create products and services relevant and meaningful to their members.

3. Structure and clarity signify that team members understand the expectations of their job, their outcomes and goals, and the process for achieving them. Regardless of working remotely or back at the office, association executives and staff should be clear on their roles and responsibilities to the organization and to their membership.

4. Meaning expresses that team members find meaning in the work itself or its output which aligns with their own sense of purpose and personal goals. The pandemic has manifested that people are motivated, not by perks, but by purpose that they are needed, nurtured, and recognized by the organization.

5. Impact denotes that team members know that the result of their work makes a difference and creates change. Related to meaning and purpose, making an impact is another pillar of an association’s reason for being. People gravitate to an organization that pursues its mission, cause, and advocacy with vigour and passion.

Developing an effective and successful team is easier said than done, but focusing on these five characteristics increases the chances that your association can build a “dream team.” This will be quite a feat from which your members will eventually benefit. The Google initiative indeed proved Aristotle’s famous quote, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Octavio Peralta is founder and CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE) and concurrently, President of the Asia-pacific Federation of Association Organizations. The views Peralta expressed in his column do not necessarily reflect those of the Businessmirror. E-mail: obp@adfiap.org