What A Silent Retreat Taught Me About What Makes An Effective Team
- Aug 15, 2022
- 5 min read
Written by: Claire Griffin, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I recently attended a silent retreat at Gaia House, a Buddhist retreat centre in Devon, UK. During the 3 days of silence and participation in meditation practice – starting at 6.30 am and ending at 9.30 pm – I not only gained some very deep insights about myself and my habitual patterns of thinking and behaving, but I also learned something about teamwork.
This learning experience came from an unexpected source.
Google’s “Project Aristotle”
As a Mindfulness Trainer and Coach, I’m well aware that creating a sense of psychological safety in the individual and the group is a key factor in the success of the process. So I was interested a few years ago to read about Google’s “Project Aristotle,” a 2012 research project they conducted to identify what makes the most effective team. After analysing data and interviews from more than 180 teams across Google, the surprising results showed that what really matters isn’t who is in the team but how the team works together. And psychological safety was the most important contributing factor to a successful and effective team.
Google identified 5 key characteristics of highly effective teams, in order of importance
Psychological safety: Knowing you can take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed
Dependability: Knowing you can count on each other to do high-quality work within a set timescale
Structure & clarity: Having clear goals, roles, and execution plans
Meaning: Working on something that is personally important for each member of the team (either the work itself or the output of the work, e.g., financial security, self-expression, contributing to the success of the team)
Impact: Having a belief that the work matters and is contributing to the overall success of the company
What has this to do with a silent meditation retreat?
Gaia House is a large retreat centre – one of the largest residential meditation centres in Europe ‒ and the day-to-day running is undertaken by a small residential team of volunteer coordinators as well as a permanent team of paid staff. To support the smooth running of the centre, retreatants are asked to sign up at the beginning of the retreat to do an hour’s work each day. As well as contributing to the smooth running of the retreat, this also provides an opportunity to practice Mindfulness “informally” – i.e., to practice being fully present while performing an everyday task such as sweeping, washing up, or chopping vegetables. I opted for the lunchtime washing up.
This involved working in a team of 3, collecting crockery and cutlery from the dining area, and rinsing, washing and drying these in a fairly confined space using a large industrial dishwasher to sterilise everything. After the first lunch, we were shown our task by one of the volunteer team and told we should only speak if absolutely necessary – and only about the job we were doing, nothing else. As well as working in silence to minimize the risk of Covid, we were invited to wear masks in the common areas of the house if we were happy to do so – and as it turned out, both my teammates were already doing this as was I. So, no speaking AND not much opportunity for facial expression, other than using our eyebrows! You might expect (or at least I did) that under these conditions, there would be a fair amount of confusion and inefficiency and that a relatively simple job would seem more difficult to do. In fact, to my surprise, the opposite happened.
We worked more efficiently as we progressed, reduced our task completion time, AND stayed in silence apart from a few words on the final day. In fact, there was a sense of flow, connection, and communication, which felt as if we had been working together for much longer than we actually had. And all without words.
Reflecting on this experience later ‒ how had we worked so well together without words? – I realised that all of the Key Factors identified by Google had been in place for this team.
Psychological safety:
The title of the retreat was “The Path to Wisdom & Compassion.” So although we were complete strangers, there was an implicit understanding that it was unlikely that we would judge each other or show irritation with any mistakes that might be made. It also meant noticing when we were judging ourselves harshly and letting those judgments go. So instead of giving in to my perfectionist, control-freakery impulses, I could observe them cropping up – with self-compassion and even humour – and not get swept away by them. It’s amazing how much safer you feel psychological when your inner critic quietens down!
Dependability:
this was established pretty quickly – we were all working in a confined space, and we were dependent on each other to complete one task so that another task could start. So it was obvious that we were all working at a similar speed and with similar attention to detail.
Structure & clarity:
We were completely clear on the task and the time frame for the task. Interestingly here, although we began with very defined roles with each person doing something different, it became clear that for 2 of us, this meant a certain amount of waiting around for the other one to finish, so we instinctively started to share the tasks between us which kept the flow going and also improved on the completion time. And meant more variety which was motivating. Fascinating to experience this happening without any spoken communication necessary.
Meaning:
Importantly the washing-up task had been framed for us as part of our meditation practice which, among other things, meant being fully present for the experience of washing up i.e., not treating it as something which needed to be got out of the way. So it became part of the whole experience of learning on the retreat, rather than something separate from it.
Impact:
We were told a few times that the voluntary work we were doing was great support and help to the centre and that our work was appreciated and valued. In other words, we felt we were working for the success of Gaia House and contributing to the experience of our fellow retreat attendees as well as to our own.
So it seems that Google’s research findings also applied in this case – so much so that even with the usual written or verbal communication elements of working in a team removed, we were still able to work as an effective team for the short time we were together.
And for more complex projects and for longer periods? Well then, almost certainly communication skills would certainly become key again. Ideally supported and improved by providing your team members with the crucial ingredient of Psychological Safety.
To find out more about how Mindfulness can support and enhance individual performance and teams, contact me at claire@clairegriffintalent.com to book a free discovery call.
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Claire Griffin, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Claire Griffin is the founder of Mindfulness Web & a Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Trainer, Teacher Trainer & Mentor. After a 25-year career as a business owner and executive search consultant for the data & digital marketing industry, her passion is now to introduce as many people as possible to the transformative power of Mindfulness.
Claire works with individuals and groups who are seeking relief from increased anxiety and stress levels and would like to find more balance and enjoyment at work and in their personal lives. She teaches the internationally recognised evidence-based 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course as well as shorter courses adapted for delivery in to the workplace.
Her recent focus is on working with remote working leaders and teams. Her vision: kinder, happier & more innovative workplaces creating better outcomes for our global society.
