I have always been a curious person to understand how the different group dynamics emerge. Thinking of all the groups that I have ever been a part of since my high school years, I can definitely make a distinction between the successful ones and the unsuccessful ones. Reading The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle has enlightened me so much that I can now understand what led to successful outcomes in the groups that I belonged, to and how can I make sure that I am contributing to the communities that I am, and will be part of to become more successful.
What are the key aspects of a successful group?
Daniel Coyle has examined several groups to understand the core elements of what leads to a successful group. In each one, he discovered some common features: build safety, share vulnerability, and establish a purpose. In fact, we can think of those three features as a pyramid that is built on top of each other.
1- Building Safety: Safety is one of the most key needs of us as human beings, first of all. Even from our earliest times, we always stayed in the communities where we feel that we are safe. Safety is a foundation that culture builds upon (Coyle, 6). To create safety in a group, a feeling of belonging and being safe are important phenomena. Also, we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the idea of sharing a future together as it certainly contributes to feeling safer.
2- Share Vulnerability: Sharing vulnerability within a group or an organization is considered prior to openness and trust. Most of the time, we tend to hide our insecurities and weaknesses. However, knowing that we all have vulnerabilities that we share with each other, is what supports our growth and improvements. The moment of vulnerability boosts the willingness to cooperate (Coyle, 106).
3- Establish Purpose: By establishing a common purpose, groups create a link between the present moment and future ideals (Coyle, 180). Knowing where you are and knowing where do you want to be in the next periods surely have significant effects on creating a successful environment.
“Aha! moment” from the book: Business school students or kindergarten children, who are the winners?
The Aha! moment I had while reading the book was about a competition designed by Peter Skillman to understand “Why do certain groups add up to be greater than the sum of their parts, while others are adding up to less?” (Coyle, xiii). A challenge is conducted between business school students and the children in kindergarten. They had to build the tallest tower that they can in a limited time with uncooked spaghetti, some tape, some string, and a marshmallow to be on top of the structure. The obvious winners of the competition are the kindergarten children who did not put any strategic thinking but just mere interaction. What we learn from this little piece is that sometimes what makes a group better is not the sum of the individual skills but rather the amount of interaction happening (Coyle, xv).
REFERENCES
Coyle, Daniel. 2019. The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. UK: Penguin Random House Business.
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