Three Problems with Top-Down Teams (and How to Fix Them)

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At a recent Stanford Medicine X lecture, Stanford Graduate School of Business organizational behavior professor Lindred Greer described three problems with top-down team structures — whether in a hospital setting or an office — and shared tips on how to make better decisions as a group.
Statistically speaking, decision-makers in a top-down team structure do 80% of the talking in a group setting, while everyone else contributes 20%, Greer says.
“We have to combat what we naturally do — to fall into rank — to try to actually be equals with one another in the ways in which we interact, because everybody in the team has value, has voice, and [those voices] need to be heard to have good outcomes,” Greer says.
Greer encourages team leaders to create a climate “where it’s OK to make mistakes, it’s OK to say something that isn’t so smart, and it’s really OK to have a crazy idea.” Instead of dismissing ideas that challenge the working hypothesis, the leader should acknowledge the idea and attempt to incorporate it into the discussion.
That’s dangerous when the team’s leader knows less about the subject than his or her team, Greer says.
“When you’re in a meeting and everybody’s speaking up, it’s critical to make sure you’re listening to the right person,” Greer says.
“Taking the time to check in with a team before you get into a discussion about who has relevant knowledge is critical because otherwise you’re going to miss important insights and give influence to somebody who actually doesn’t deserve influence in this situation,” Greer says.
“Ideally it should be whoever knows most for that situation,” Greer says.
“In order to have the humility to let someone other than the formal leader lead, it means the person in charge of the team has to be a team player, and they have to be willing to let whoever knows most take the lead in that situation,” Greer says.
“Having a culture of healthy disagreement is useful,” Greer says

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