Using Behavioral Science to Improve Team Dynamics

Approach

Our two hypotheses going into the analysis were that we could improve team dynamics by (i) minimizing the impact of individual biases in the decision-making process and (ii) ensuring that members are aligned on team goals so that they can all aim for the same target.

Therefore, to help the team we studied (composed of about six analysts, three managers, and one director) improve their decision-making, we analyzed their team dynamics along two different axes. The first axis focused on how each individual team member was affected by cognitive biases. The second axis was focused on understanding if the group was aligned on what their key markers of success were and how they should be prioritized. A clear understanding of these two axes could in turn inform the design of new processes to help the team improve cooperation and alignment.  

Axis 1: Understanding the individual

From running in-depth interviews with the team members, we uncovered three biases that directly impacted each team member: 

1. Confirmation Bias: The tendency to favor evidence that confirms our existing beliefs. In our workplace context, this manifested as team members wanting to collaborate more with customers whom they had previously collaborated with, especially when positive outcomes were achieved in the past.
2. Overconfidence Bias: The tendency to over-rely on our own judgments and abilities. In our workplace context, team members showed signs of this bias by prioritizing projects that fell within their realm of expertise or those where they were in charge of the main deliverable. 
3. Emotional Bias: The tendency to depend on our emotions when making decisions. In our workplace context, this bias became clear when team members preferred customers with whom they already had positive, friendly relationships and found enjoyable to collaborate with. 

To develop adequate interventions, we needed to know how “strong” each of these biases was across the different group members. To do this, we designed and executed a customized Implicit Association Test. This quantitative tool measures subconscious attitudes and beliefs regarding project considerations that might not be readily self-reported due to a response bias. 

Axis 2: Aligning on key markers of success

To learn how aligned the team was in their priorities and preferences related to the key markers of success, we ran a Discrete Choice Survey. In this type of qualitative assessment, we simulated different project scenarios and asked the team members to state their preferences several times in a row. This aimed to understand how each team member considered project characteristics such as (i) alignment with the team's goals, (ii) past relationship with customers as well as (iii) personal expertise when making their project prioritization decisions.