Build team cognitive protocols before crises occur rather
Build team cognitive protocols before crises occur rather than during them, because approximately 60% of team performance is determined by pre-conditions rather than real-time intervention.
Why This Is a Principle
This principle derives directly from Team performance is primarily determined by conditions set (team performance determined by pre-conditions). It prescribes proactive design timing rather than reactive management. The 60/30/10 rule makes this quantitatively grounded and actionable.
Source Lessons
Teams think collectively
A team is not just individuals — it has collective cognitive processes that can be designed and improved.
Psychological safety enables team cognition
People will only contribute their best thinking if they feel safe to be wrong, to disagree, and to surface uncomfortable truths.
Conflict as a team cognitive resource
Healthy disagreement — task conflict about ideas, approaches, and interpretations — improves team decisions. The absence of conflict does not signal harmony. It signals suppression of the cognitive diversity the team needs to think well.