You've seen teams that work amazingly well together. On the Tuckman Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing Scale, those at the Performing level, have fluid, clear communication. They are achieving big, stretch goals and transparency is high.

No doubt, you've also seen teams of smart, capable and driven individuals who can’t seem to perform. At their worst, they mired in confusion, negativity and conflict. But even on a less dramatic scale, they are simply not performing or meeting objectives effectively.

Harvard Business Review has an incredibly insightful article on the science of great teams, and the findings are both fascinating and telling. So what is this new science of great teams?

According to the research, from MIT’s Human Dynamics Lab, one factor stood out more than any other: Communication Patterns.

Surprised? I was…somewhat. I work for a company that works with teams and employees to help them be more productive and collaborate and work more effectively. The biggest challenge we hear from organizations and teams is not knowing how to communicate. These are also the biggest A-ha moments. But, to see this via scientifically studied research and to know that the MIT research team found that communication patterns outweigh skills, personality and intelligence in terms of predicting team success was surprising.

Knowing this, what can we do better? How can we transform the workplace to harness this insight?

The researchers found that specifically, communication patterns that harnessed energy, engagement and exploration were critical for performance.

I've got one easy suggestion that builds from the science behind the study.

In order to harness the science of team performance, create deliberate opportunities for team members to communicate and seek out different perspectives.

Why is this important?

1. It acknowledges that every team is unique and dynamic and that openness to this uniqueness will generate new opportunities to communicate.
2. It creates a culture where engagement and exploration are the norm. If individuals on a team are simply programmed to work in a certain way, even the most effective communication will simply be in support of what’s worked in the past. The energy piece can be missing.

The deliberate activation of communication and different perspectives is what we call Cognitive Collaboration. It’s developing a practical way to push for new ideas and communicate with those people who are different from you. And in the case of the research from HBR and MIT, it is a way to open the door into building the kinds of communication patterns that make a difference for team performance.

Originally published at www.linkedin.com on August 15, 2014.