From Me to We: Collective Subconscious Processes and their Implications for Team Outcomes

ABSTRACT

Research on team formation has mainly focused on relatively long-term emergent processes, such as cohesion or psychological safety. Yet, in today’s organizations individuals are frequently required to assemble into new or ad-hoc teams, and swift “teaming” is essential to address discrete, time-bound tasks and outcomes. To understand the more immediate processes that take place among individuals who form a team, we apply theory and methodology from neurodevelopmental psychology, focusing on the classic infant-caregiver bond, as captured by bio-behavioural synchrony.  This form of synchrony represents affiliative bonding, characterized by behavioral, autonomic nervous system (e.g., neural), and physiological manifestations, all of which are different aspects of social connections. I will present the results of multiple studies that demonstrate how different supervisory interventions shape patterns of synchrony, ultimately impacting team outcomes. In one study, we utilized the biobehavioural perspective to explain the unfortunate effects of sexism on team outcomes. In another set of studies, we build on the notion of synchrony to redefine and offer a new approach to charismatic leadership. I will report initial results that, we believe, open a new window into human cognition and connection as they occur within the social brain—an approach still largely absent from organizational science.