The New Science of Building Great Teams

I love seeing quantitative attempts to study social dynamics, even if it's tricky to extrapolate them to other environments. There definitely seems to be a growing research consensus that people with emotional intelligence--sensitive to others, good at team-building--are more important than previously thought, especially relative to, say, technical skill.

One thing I'm very curious about, with respect to this study's findings, is the relationship with similarly-convincing research about the important of private offices and minimizing distractions. The two aren't totally exclusive, of course, but there is at least some tension:

For example, we now know that 35% of the variation in a team’s performance can be accounted for simply by the number of face-to-face exchanges among team members. We know as well that the “right” number of exchanges in a team is as many as dozens per working hour, but that going beyond that ideal number decreases performance.

That style of interaction does sound a lot easier to facilitate in an open-plan office.

Haha, Arguably all of the greatest inventions/discoveries of mankind were made by individuals.

Teams are good for some things but there's a lot to be said for quiet time to introspect.

I think this research is interesting and valuable, but it seems to oversimplify. If I intentionally hired a group of goofballs who loved each other's company, would I really expect outstanding results?