Teamwork Behaviors: The Nine Principles
“Teamwork and taskwork are distinct.” — Guzzo & Salas (1995)
Teamwork behaviors are the interpersonal processes that allow a team to function as a collective unit. They are distinct from taskwork — the technical work that team members perform individually — representing instead the relational, communicative, and adaptive processes that bind individual effort into coordinated team action.
Guzzo & Salas (1995) articulated nine foundational principles of teamwork that remain central to team science. These principles describe how teams must behave, not just what they must accomplish.
Principle 1 — Mutual Performance Monitoring
Teamwork means that members monitor one another’s performance.
Effective team members do not work in isolation. They actively observe what their colleagues are doing, identify potential errors or gaps, and adjust accordingly. This shared monitoring reduces individual failure points and creates a safety net of collective vigilance. In science teams, mutual monitoring extends to tracking progress on shared experiments, data collection, and analysis — ensuring that no single team member’s misstep goes undetected.
Principle 2 — Feedback Exchange
Teamwork implies that members provide feedback to and accept it from one another.
Feedback is the lifeblood of team learning and improvement. High-performing teams develop a culture in which giving and receiving feedback is normalized, expected, and constructive — in contrast to traditional hierarchical or evaluative/blaming organizational cultures.
Principle 3 — Effective Communication
Teamwork involves effective communication among members, which often involves closed-loop communication.
Closed-loop communication — where the receiver confirms understanding and the sender verifies accuracy — is especially important in high-stakes science team environments. Ambiguous information, unconfirmed assumptions, and silent misunderstandings erode coordination. Effective communication also includes information sharing: the transfer of tacit and explicit knowledge from individuals to the collective (Bontis et al., 2011).
Principle 4 — Backup Behavior
Teamwork implies the willingness, preparedness, and proclivity to back fellow members up during operations.
Backup behavior requires that team members understand each other’s roles well enough to step in when needed. This requires cross-training, role clarity, and a team culture that values collective success over individual credit.
Principle 5 — Collective Identity
Teamwork involves group members’ collectively viewing themselves as a group whose success depends on their interaction.
Teams that see themselves as a unified entity — rather than a set of individuals — perform better. This collective identity is the psychological foundation of interdependence, trust, and shared accountability.
Principle 6 — Within-Team Interdependence
Teamwork means fostering within-team interdependence.
Interdependence is not simply task overlap — it is the structural and psychological condition in which team members need one another to succeed. High interdependence increases motivation, communication, and commitment to the team’s shared goals.
Principle 7 — Behavioral Flexibility
Teamwork is characterized by a flexible repertoire of behavioral skills that vary as a function of circumstances.
Teams operating in dynamic and uncertain environments — like science and work teams — need to adapt their processes in response to changing conditions. Rigid role adherence and fixed procedures reduce resilience. Behavioral flexibility means knowing when to lead, follow, challenge, or support.
Principle 8 — Temporal Dynamics
Teams change over time.
Teams are not static entities. They develop, mature, and sometimes decline. Membership changes, task demands shift, and relational dynamics evolve. Recognizing team development as an ongoing process — rather than a one-time formation event — is essential for sustained effectiveness. This principle directly challenges stage-based frameworks such as Tuckman’s forming-storming-norming-adjourning model, which oversimplify the complex, non-linear dynamics of real teams.
Principle 9 — Taskwork vs. Teamwork
Teamwork and taskwork are distinct.
Technical expertise is necessary but not sufficient for team effectiveness. A team composed of brilliant individual scientists who cannot coordinate, communicate, or trust one another will underperform a less technically gifted team with strong teamwork processes. Science teams must invest in both technical training (taskwork) and interpersonal/collaborative training (teamwork).
See Also
References
Bontis, N., Richards, D., & Serenko, A. (2011). Improving service delivery: Investigating the role of information sharing, job characteristics, and employee satisfaction. The Learning Organization, 18, 239–250. https://doi.org/10.1108/09696471111123289
Guzzo, R. A., & Salas, E. (1995). Team effectiveness and decision making in organizations. Jossey-Bass.