In 2004, Dan Buettner teamed up with National Geographic to discover what helps human beings be happier, live longer, and work better. The process involved identifying the areas around the world where people lived the longest. They then compared the lifestyles of these various areas to determine their commonalities. Buettner labeled these happy, long-lived areas Blue Zones, which became the title of his best-selling book. Places like Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; and Loma Linda, California routinely see populations reach age 100 while most of the rest of the world feels like they're 100 when they hit 60.

One interesting test Buettner and his team of longevity researchers conducted was to show a poster to people in various parts of the world and ask them to interpret what they saw. The poster was of a school of fish all swimming together with one single fish swimming in front away from the rest. People from around the globe were asked to describe the lone fish. People in most western cultures described the fish as brave, independent, and self-assured; a leader. People from Asia and parts of Europe described the same fish as anti-social, unable to work with others, and selfish. What a difference a fish makes.

One funny thing about the experiment is how quickly we assume that every other reasonable person would obviously come to the same conclusion as ourselves. It is a good lesson when we are faced with, "Oh. I didn't see it that way." Frankly, if I were a hiring manager I would show that poster to every applicant and ask for their interpretation; not to look for the right answer, but to see if their answer fit that of the person who was going to manage them. American businesses can be so focused on the outcome or product of employees that we care more about someone's qualifications than his or her ability to slide smoothly into a team.

When you ask most people the purpose in having teams at work they will invariably say, "To take advantage of diverse mindsets" or "To gain more ideas than you could from one person" or "To build an interdisciplinary work environment." No one would likely give the right answer, to protect each team member from the outside world. The fact is teams often do not develop more or better ideas simply by virtue of various mindsets. A study at Yale University discovered that people working alone can arrive at many more solutions to a problem than a group of people charged with solving the same issue. The study also discovered that the soloist's ideas were often judged by an independent panel to be more feasible and creative than the ideas presented by the group.

Why then, do we form teams? They take up more time, are slower to produce, and are costly. We form teams because of a simple quality that the brainiacs at Yale forgot; humans are social creatures. We may not be as productive moment-to-moment when working with others, but we do much better over time. Without face-to-face contact on a regular basis with people we know and trust, our stress level grows and we begin a long, painful shutdown. In fact, some of the Blue Zone cities take this research to heart and provide government sponsored clubs for residents to attend after each work day. Community leaders invest in the mental health of each citizen by giving them face-to-face time every day. The payoff is a longer life span and healthier population. How do you think that affects sick-leave costs?

We form teams for the same reason we adhere to family structure; humans need to be surrounded by other people whom they can trust, who will have their back when things go sour. And just like families have parents to watch over the group, a team must have a leader; not to stand in front and point the way, but to stand behind and say, "Don't worry, if you stumble I'm here to pick you up." Good families come with a wonderful quality of guaranteed acceptance. You can go out into the world and make the biggest belly flop of a mistake and your family will still say, "That's okay. You're one of us" (even if you do hear about your blunder at every family gathering).

It is sad that, in many companies, your membership in a team is only as secure as your last accomplishment. We become almost like the person in the car next to you on the commute to work; because I don't really know you I can act like a jerk. If it was my brother wanting to sneak in front of me at the entrance ramp, no problem; if it is a stranger, forget it. I really need this one car-length advantage while crawling along at 6½ miles per hour.

You see it at awards ceremonies. The CEO gets up and thanks everyone for being part of the Company Family, then proceeds to hand out awards only to those who brought in revenue. Imagine mom or dad sitting at the dinner table (that's a thing we used to eat around in the old days), and saying how much they cherished the entire family, then handed a plaque to only one child because he produced more.

Sure, working groups are supposed to get stuff done; families aren't saddled with quarterly projections, but lagging productivity ratings in the American workforce prove that we have been focusing too much on what the team does and not how to do it. The one significant factor in any child's ability to experiment and grow into a productive adult is a safe zone to retreat to after a failure. A child without a safety net will not seek challenges; no one lets go of the trapeze unless there is someone to catch them or a net below. The purpose of teams in the workplace is to be the net, not the threat.

People sometimes complain to me about team members who will not accept responsibility for mistakes. The time spent dodging around issues and redirecting work around hot-button co-workers takes an incredible toll in both hours and dollars. There is a big difference between accepting responsibility and accepting blame. Responsibility is when someone says, "I screwed up. What can I do about it?" Blame is everyone breathing a sigh of relief because the boss has someone to yell at, and it isn't me! The only time that sentiment was understandable was when you are eight years old and your sister got blamed for breaking the lamp when you really did it (sorry, sis). In a high-functioning team, the pain felt by one should be felt by all. And if a mistake is made, responsibility is laid properly and the group forgets it and moves on.

If someone is unable to accept responsibility, it is time to find out why. People from households where mistakes were shamed, or no accomplishment was good enough can spend a lifetime trying to prove themselves. People from other work environments will carry fears and expectations when they leave. One company I worked with had the most uplifting atmosphere I had ever seen. When I commented on this to one of the executives he said that he came to work for the company right after college and stayed for over 30 years. He just assumed all companies were like his. I assured him otherwise; and that he should be even prouder of his organization's corporate culture because it is not as common as he thought.

Imagine if your team was your safety net? How many new challenges would you be willing to try if you knew they would be there to catch you when you fell rather than criticize your errors? If you are a team leader, take a step back during a meeting and watch them interact. Forget about the work at hand for a moment and get a sense of how they back each other up. See if you have a team that is offering safety in numbers.

Stevie Ray is a nationally recognized corporate speaker and trainer, helping companies improve communication skills, customer service, leadership, and team management.  He can be reached at www.stevierays.org or stevie@stevierays.org.

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