Recent research from Bocconi University highlighted that we often develop the best ideas when we work with people we don’t know well, but then we develop those ideas most effectively with people we know well.
The study found that during the idea generation phase, weak ties were particularly useful because they expose us to new and interesting points of view, which opens us up to a range of new possibilities.
When it comes to expanding and executing the idea, however, the study found that it’s best to work with people with whom you have strong ties. The researchers found that these people are most likely to focus on the idea and provide criticism in a more constructive manner.
Team working
The research highlights the way in which the strength of the relationship we have with colleagues affects how we work. While this could be due to how well we bond with our colleagues, it could also simply be the length of time that we know them for.
Research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign highlights how we respond differently to new colleagues throughout the early months of their tenure. The researchers explain that while organizations often invest in onboarding new hires to help them adapt to the organization, they typically spend much less helping existing employees adapt to the new recruit.
Yet as the Bocconi paper highlights, the ease with which people can be integrated into a team can have a big impact on how those teams function. It’s not only the educational background of new hires that can change the dynamics of a team but also their personality and relational attributes.
“Creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce is one of the most important trends in the workplace right now, and employers are definitely doing a much better job in investing in the recruitment and hiring of more diverse employees,” the researchers explain. “But that’s only the first step. To truly achieve a sustainable workplace with diversity and inclusion, employers also need to properly onboard these diverse new hires for them to stay longer. And at the same time, they can’t overlook the need for an adjustment period for established workers who suddenly have a new teammate who may be different from them.”
New influence
Across both a laboratory simulation and a field survey, the researchers examined the ways in which the addition of a newcomer to a team affected the way colleagues behaved and how the team functioned.
The results show that each new addition to a team has a distinct impact on established members of the team. The nature of this impact depends upon both the existing team dynamic and also the characteristics of the newcomer.
“Overall, established employees react more negatively toward the entry of a relationally dissimilar newcomer in terms of attributes such as likeability and other more observable demographic attributes such as gender and race, which can trigger negative affective reactions and impair team functioning,” the researchers explain. “At the same time, long-time employees generally reacted more positively toward the entry of a functionally dissimilar newcomer—that is, someone who had a different background or educational experience from the group.”
Team performance
In other words, as the Bocconi research suggested, teams can often benefit from the introduction of someone who is functionally different to those already in the team, but this diversity depends on whether that newcomer is likeable or not.
Indeed, the researchers found that when teams underperform, it can often be due to a large amount of time and energy being devoted to ironing out interpersonal frictions as a result of these personality clashes.
These issues can quickly escalate out of control, as the negative feelings towards the newcomer can deepen while the more positive feelings towards existing colleagues can also deepen, creating a rift that is hard to bridge between the team and the newcomer.
“By contrast, in better-performing teams, the reactions of established team members toward relationally or functionally dissimilar newcomers were much more muted,” the researchers explain.
Smarter onboarding
The results provide a timely reminder that onboarding needs to be a two way process whereby existing employees can adapt to the newcomer just as much as the newcomer adapts to them.
For instance, existing employees could be informed of the reasons for the new hire and the skills and expertise they bring to the team. This can help to emphasize the benefits of functional dissimilarity to the team.
Equally important are attempts to ensure a relational onboarding with the team. For instance, managers could identify existing employees who are similar to the newcomer and assign mentoring responsibilities to them. This can help the newcomers to integrate themselves with the team.
It’s also important to ensure that the state of the team is honestly assessed whenever new members are added to ensure that the integration process has a decent chance of succeeding.
“If the team has been underperforming and a new member needs to be added, managers can conduct a performance review with the team before the newcomer’s entry and provide the necessary support and resources to help the team improve and clear hurdles to their success,” the researchers conclude. “Doing so can reduce team insiders’ negative reactions toward relationally diverse newcomers due to concerns about the team’s poor performance.”
