Episode 24. Where Strategy Isn’t Born, Collaboration Dies: How I Made A Team Out Of A Bunch Of Folks

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Team coaching motivational talks and brainstorming sessions can only do so much They work only for groups who have already found their footing But if your team is just a motley crew such team-bonding shenanigans will be as effective as adults giving advice to teens You need a strategy to make the team Spaghetti marshmallow and human natureIn what way are kindergarteners smarter than business school students Peter Skillman conducted an experiment He assembled a series of four-person groups at Stanford the University of California the University of Tokyo and many other places He challenged groups to build the tallest possible structure using twenty pieces of uncooked spaghetti one yard of transparent tape one yard of rope one standard-size marshmallowEach team had 18 minutes to build the tower They couldn t split the marshmallow into smaller pieces and had to put it on top Daniel Coyle mentioned the contest in his book The Culture Code The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups He notes The fascinating part of the experiment however had less to do with the task than with the participants Some of the teams consisted of business school students The others consisted of kindergarteners Who do you think almost always built the taller structures I bet you ve already guessed

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