Team Chemistry

We have asked hundreds of leaders to share stories of their best teams and to then identify the factors that made those teams great. Team chemistry is central in those stories.

What is Team Chemistry?

When asked what they mean by team chemistry, people describe a hard-to-pinpoint quality of interplay between team members. They use phrases like, “well-oiled,” “mutually supportive,” and “synergy.” When we think of great teams with chemistry, we think of talented individuals interlocked, synchronized, and flowing effectively to create inspired results. A team with chemistry is more than the sum of its parts—it is better together.

Building on the work of Joan Ryan in her book Intangibles: The Science and Soul of Team Chemistry, we define team chemistry as the dynamic interplay between team members that amplifies individual talent and elevates team performance. Notice that the output of chemistry includes elevated performance; without that, you don’t have chemistry.

How do you create this dynamic interplay between team members?

Pause to reflect: To answer that question, begin by thinking about your personal experience with team chemistry. What is one team you have been part of in your life—even if briefly—that had chemistry? This could be a work team, or any group of two or more people joined in common purpose who need each other to achieve success (think parenting, sports, a band, etc.). As a litmus test, there must be elevated performance, not merely a “nice work environment,” for you to claim chemistry.

• How did the team’s chemistry show up?
• What was the interplay between team members that brought out the best in each other and elevated team performance?
• What specific behaviors or attitudes contributed?

Then turn your attention to the present: What is your relationship to the chemistry of your current team(s)? Does your presence make your teammates better and help elevate performance?

We can’t force team chemistry—that usually backfires—but we, every individual member of the team, contribute to it—for better or worse. And given the stakes of your work, positively contributing to your team’s chemistry is more than a nice-to-have effort; it is essential.

Call to Action

Deliberately pause and reflect on what contributed to the chemistry of a team you were on in the past, and then decide on one specific action you will take this month to contribute to the chemistry of one of your current teams.

Ryan’s research pointed her to the essence of chemistry being one person elevating another. Success on this call to action might be as simple as thoughtfully elevating one person on your team. What works for you will be unique to your team, the personalities, and culture you are operating in, but here are some more ideas to consider:

Focus on why your team exists and what matters that requires the team’s best efforts; spur each other on to be better; be a great teammate; practice putting your teammates first over self; sacrifice and suffer for and with your teammates; really get to know your teammates; believe in them (and communicate that belief); assume the best intentions in others; have fun and laugh together (to include at each other); break bread together; infuse energy and encourage one other; appreciate and even admire each other; show up and be there for each other across the ups and downs. 

Randy (coauthor of this article) provides additional thoughts:

I’ve been lucky enough to serve on a number of really good teams that had chemistry. Each member was uniquely talented, individually driven, and adaptable. It is hard to put my finger on exactly what the chemistry on those teams was, but I know for certain that the way we were with each other created an excellence that was above and beyond what we imagined possible—well beyond the sum of our individual talents. I’d say talent is necessary, but not sufficient for elite team performance; you need chemistry. And I like Joan Ryan’s emphasis on elevated performance because team chemistry is in service to the higher mission…and each other.

We often think about mission-focused teams or sports teams, but I think music is a great place to look. Bandmates don’t even necessarily like each other offstage, but there’s something magic about how they push and inspire each other artistically to take risks and make phenomenal music. Team chemistry is dynamic, it is human interactions—bandmates mixing together to create something special. And each person matters. Just think about bands that lose one member and are never the same again. Or the musicians who go solo and you never hear from again. Something about their interplay as a band elevated their performance. So, I believe chemistry has something more to do with inspiring each other. The nicknames and shared meals may or may not follow.

In my experience, a shift occurs when teammates start doing the hard, right things because they don’t want to let their mates down. They don’t want to let the mission down. They don’t want to let their art down. I knew without a doubt my teammates had my back and would come through, which allowed me to take risk—and they inspired me to match their intense devotion to the mission and to each other. Ryan describes it as a “gravitational force, bending everyone toward each other and a common goal.” I like the last two sentences of her book, which puts into words the deeper meaning and purpose of serving on the teams I am remembering: “You feel the joy and exhilaration of being part of a truly connected, focused, driven group. There is a sense of completeness, of being the perfect you in this moment, with these exact people, in this exact quest.”

In closing, we want to encourage you to read Joan Ryan’s book Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry (2020). It is a good book. It will make you think and can serve as a catalyst for conversations with your team.

For example, read Chapters 3 and 4: “Super-Carriers” and “Super-Disruptors” with your team and have a conversation. Ask, “What strikes you in these chapters?” “What signals are we putting out to each other that might be altering our effectiveness—for the better or worse?” “Are we bringing out in each other our true, full potential?”

Ryan tells us that “chemistry cannot manufacture talent, but it ignites the talent the team does have, getting the most from every player and boosting performance.” And quoting the Cy Young winning pitcher Jake Peavey, “Your teammates bring out a fight in you that you can’t willingly summon for yourself.” On Amazon: https://amzn.to/4b8juey