Secrets to a Dream Team: Psychological Safety, Superstars, and Battlebred Chickens

If you want to encourage trust and foster the sense of psychological safety that distinguishes exceptional teams, be wary of superstars, and careful with competition.

Superstars bring loads of talent and impressive personal contributions, but they may not be the best team players or contribute positively to psychological safety because they are usually more accustomed to competing than collaborating. The route to superstardom runs through individual talent and achievement so it’s their ability to separate themselves from others that has distinguished them in their lives and careers as, well... super. This disposition proves pretty useful in creating high caliber individual performers, but not so helpful in cultivating the kinds of players that contribute generously to a team. Most superstars’ have risen to the top of the pecking order by increasing the distance between themselves and everyone else, and many are prone to advance themselves, in part, by suppressing others.

This principle is vividly illustrated by the genetic research of William Muir at Purdue University. In a study about the productivity of chickens (the original architects of the pecking order premise) he assembled a flock of what we might call superstar chickens. This was a Poultry Dream Team comprised of individual chickens that had distinguished themselves as especially good egg-layers. He also assembled a flock of what might be called Average

Everyday Chickens, ones who were not especially impressive layers, and he observed the two flocks and their egg production over time. After six generations, there were notable but surprising differences between the dream team and the everyday one.

The everyday flock was doing great. Its members were individually healthy, fully feathered, strong and impressively productive. In fact, their egg laying had increased 160% since they were first assembled. By stark contrast, the supposed Dream Team was in disarray. After six generations of superstar-selective breeding, it had devolved into a battle dome of hyper- aggressive hens. Most of these standout chickens had been pecked to death by their peers, and only three bullied, and unproductive hens still survived. Despite their individual prowess, the superstars didn’t play nicely with others and their overall productivity suffered.1

There’s a lesson here for team leaders. If you want your flock of team members to perform well over time, you need to elevate collaboration over competition. Make sure your model of success is an interdependent one that includes everyone. Obviously, the quality and quantity of individual contributions matter, but when you want to build trust, these factors are fostered best by focusing on the productivity of the team as a whole. Praise individuals that go out of their way to support others and set goals that elevate collective rather than personal productivity. Above all, don’t let individual performance eclipse or impair the team’s.

One of the organizations I work with is unusually assertive about this principle. It’s a tech company in the highly competitive healthcare industry, so it depends on top-notch talent, but it’s leaders have decided it can’t afford superstars who don’t play well with others. They’ve codified this commitment in the motto: “No Brilliant Jerks”. It’s not just a cute saying, either. They’re serious. They’re convinced that their competitive advantage depends upon their collaborative attitude, and they’ve demonstrated it by dismissing bona fide superstars who proved more concerned about their individual performance than the team’s success.

If you want to increase the psychological safety that fires up team members and keeps them burning bright over time, be wary of competition. In small doses and friendly contexts it might encourage performance, but typically only individual performance. That’s shortsighted or even counterproductive when it’s collaboration you really want. Instead, build a team of confidants and contributors that are interested in fanning the flames of each other’s success.