Chemistry Magic

I once participated in a summer enrichment program sponsored by our local school when I was younger.  I don't remember which year or how old I was, but I do remember that one of the classes was called "Chemistry Magic."  Chemists are apparently enamored with "magic tricks" - almost every chemistry teacher (in high school) or professor (in college) that I have ever had performed live demonstrations in class on the wonders of different chemical compounds and reactions.  Well, this particular summer class was exactly the same.  I suppose I should have been impressed, but there was one problem.  My father was a chemist.  I had grown up watching him perform a variety of chemistry magic tricks.  Every Christmas, his company would play host to all of the families, and my father would do a magic show in his laboratory (the "tricks" I remember best were writing in invisible ink, hammering a nail into a piece of wood with a banana, or turning "lemonade" into "grape juice" and back - see a version of the lemonade trick here).   He even performed some of these "magic tricks" at home.  So, I guess anything that an otherwise complete stranger (my "Chemistry Magic" teacher) did was unlikely to impress me.


Here's the truth though.  There is absolutely nothing magic about chemistry.  There's an explanation for everything that happens.  And it takes hard work, knowledge, and practice.  Team chemistry is the same way.  As I wrote last week in an earlier post, team chemistry takes time to develop (as LeBron James says, it's like instant oatmeal that way), and it also takes hard work, knowledge, and practice. 


So if team chemistry takes an investment (some would say a substantial one) in time and energy, the question clearly is whether it is worth it or not.  The answer is most definitely yes.  Chester Spell (Professor of Management at Rutgers University School of Business in Camden) and Katerina Bezrukova (Associate Professor of Organization and Human Resources at the University of Buffalo School of Management) have studied and written extensively on this particular subject (see "The Magic Potion of Team Chemistry"), finding that in almost all cases, team chemistry is critically important for high-performing teams, regardless of setting.  For example, they found that team chemistry was worth about three extra wins per season for major league baseball teams (and if you don't think that three extra wins in a season that lasts 162 games means all that much, just look at this most recent season when four teams ended up having to play a one game play-off at the end of the season to determine who won the division championship).


Decades of research has found that a few things are important for team chemistry.  Teams that think too much alike are prone to "groupthink", so having a team with a diversity of opinions and backgrounds is important.  Conversely, there has to be at least some degree of compatibility for teams to function well together.  Stability is important too.  Teams that are constantly changing may not have the time to develop team chemistry.  Similarly, having stable leadership is important too - at least for successful teams.  Research by investigators at the University of Colorado has shown that changing the head coach doesn't necessarily help losing sports teams get better (similarly, winning teams that have a coaching change usually fare worse).


Team chemistry is certainly difficult to measure (and some would argue that "you know it when you see it").  However, there is an emerging body of research that explores this topic in depth.  Regardless, suffice it to say that there is more to team chemistry than just "magic."  Given the likely rewards, leaders should spend some time learning more about team chemistry.