336. The Science of Super Teams: What High-Performing Teams Do Differently with Dr. Ron Friedman

A team full of smart, capable people can still feel slow, stressed, and stuck and the reason usually isn’t effort. It’s the system. Dr. Ron Friedman, award-winning psychologist and author of Super Teams, joins me to challenge the way we think about high performance and to explain why “busy” often hides broken coordination, unclear roles, and incentives that pull people in different directions.We get practical about what separates elite teams from the rest, starting with the basics of a real team mindset: a shared goal everyone is pushing toward, clear roles that prevent turf wars and dropped balls, and true interdependence where we genuinely need each other to win. From there, Ron shares the three strengths super teams build: managing time, energy, and attention; making each other better through peer accountability and credit sharing; and continuously improving through feedback seeking, experiments, and innovation.We also tackle a modern workplace trap most leaders miss: individual productivity hacks can backfire at the team level. When one person batches email or disappears into deep work alone, they can become a bottleneck for everyone else. Ron explains how super teams fix this with collective focus blocks, meeting guidelines like “no decision, no meeting,” and trust behaviors rooted in competence, caring, and consistency. You’ll also hear a simple, future-focused approach to feedback that avoids defensiveness and actually improves performance.If you want a calmer, faster, more resilient team culture, hit subscribe, share this with a leader or teammate, and leave a review so more people can find the show.🌐 Connect with Ron:• Website: https://superteamsinc.com/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronfriedmanphd/• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronfriedmanphd/📚 You can purchase Ron's books on Amazon:• Superteams: https://www.amazon.com/dp/198218633X/• The Best Place to Work: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399165592/Send us Fan MailSupport the show✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here:  https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XVIf you would like a signed copy, please reach out to [email protected] and we can arrange it for you too.If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade:👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBzGet extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral LinkWise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434Strea...