748: What Really Matters for Team Success, with Colin Fisher
Coaching for Leaders
Dave Stachowiak
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2025
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Since his days as a professional jazz trumpet player, Colin Fisher has been fascinated by group dynamics. Today, he is an Associate Professor of Organizations and Innovation at University College London's School of Management, researching the hidden processes of helping groups and teams in situations requiring creativity, improvisation, and complex decision-making. He is the author of The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups (Amazon, Bookshop).
Most of us assume that the best thing we can do for our teams is to be a great coach as they’re working together. That absolutely helps, but the research says that only 10% of group effectiveness is what we do once the team is underway. In this conversation, Colin and I explore how to get a lot better at the other 90%.
Key Points
The house always wins. If the structure isn’t right for the team to succeed, little else matters in the long run.
Leaders tend to put a majority of their attention on coaching teams in progress instead of the more significant work at the start of structuring and launching teams.
Work on fixing structural problems before you focus on fixing the process.
60% of group effectiveness is determined by structure, 30% by the launch, and 10% by expert coaching.
Critical for structure is the team goal being clear, important, and challenging. Be sure to document it.
Negotiate roles, tasks, and jobs to support structure. Determine early how to articulate progress and highlight small wins.
Ask yourself if the group has the right people to achieve the objective. Deep diversity that supports the goal is essential.
Surface discussions about norms at the start, especially related to communication and storage of information.
At a team launch, articulate why everyone is there, discuss key norms, and schedule a midpoint to reflect and align.
Resources Mentioned
The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups (Amazon, Bookshop) by Colin Fisher
Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
Related Episodes
How to Create Team Guidelines, with Susan Gerke (episode 192)
How to Generate Quick Wins, with Andy Kaufman (episode 496)
How to Increase Team Performance Through Clarity, with David Burkus (episode 657)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Most of us assume that the best thing we can do for our teams is to be a great coach as they're |
| 0:05.5 | working together. That absolutely helps. But the research says that only 10% of group |
| 0:12.3 | effectiveness is what we do once the team is underway. In this episode, the other 90% that |
| 0:20.7 | really matters and how we get better at it. This is |
| 0:24.6 | Coaching for Leaders, episode 748. Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential. |
| 0:37.1 | Greetings to you from Orange County, California. This is coaching for leaders, and I'm your host, |
| 0:43.2 | Dave Stahofiak. Leaders aren't born. They're made. And this weekly show helps you discover |
| 0:49.7 | leadership wisdom through insightful conversations. Of course, a big part of leadership is working |
| 0:56.7 | with groups, working with teams. And as leaders, so many of us are thinking about how do we |
| 1:03.0 | actually be effective at leading teams and groups that are going to help the organization |
| 1:09.4 | to reach its goals and also do it in a way |
| 1:11.8 | where people are excited and motivated in their work. I'm so glad today to have a conversation |
| 1:16.8 | that's going to help us to look at some of the most recent research and, more importantly, |
| 1:22.0 | how we apply it to really help our teams succeed in the best possible way. I'm so glad to welcome Colin Fisher to the show. |
| 1:30.6 | Since his days as a professional jazz trumpet player, Colin has been fascinated by group dynamics. |
| 1:36.6 | Today, he is an associate professor of organizations and innovation at University College London School of Management, |
| 1:43.4 | researching the hidden processes of helping groups |
| 1:46.0 | and teams in situations requiring creativity, improvisation, and complex decision-making. |
| 1:53.3 | He is the author of The Collective Edge, Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups. |
| 1:59.0 | Colin, such a pleasure to have you on. Thanks so much for having me, Dave. |
| 2:03.3 | I'm excited to be here. Well, let's start with casinos, which is maybe an odd place to start, |
| 2:10.4 | but it's actually a great analogy for groups. Your dad took you gambling at an age that he should not have when you were young. |
... |
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