The Best Time for Collective Efficacy

My feed for groupthink brought me an interesting article on collective efficacy (CE)--"When confidence comes too soon: collective efficacy, conflict and group performance over time" by Jack A. Goncalo and Evan G. Polman. (Published in the Academy of Management Proceedings; 8/1/2007).

Goncalo and Polman define collective efficacy as "a group's shared belief that they can execute a task successfully." Collective efficacy is important, if it comes at the right time. (Hint: not at the beginning of the project.) If CE arrives too early, project success rates go down. If a group pays its dues and then achieves CE, the projects tend to be more successful.

At least, that's how I interpreted the article.

So, learn about your team's strengths and weaknesses, then build on that learning to know your project will succeed. And your project will be more likely to succeed. And read the article for yourself to get more than just a summary of the summary.

And have a good day.