“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life forever.” ”

— Amy Poehler

I stood alongside six of my colleagues, each of us clutching an O-shaped trophy with an inner ring of LED lights glowing orange. The words “cultural excellence” were etched at the top of each trophy along with each of our names.

We were in Munich, Germany, at an industrial production warehouse that was converted into a luxurious entertainment venue. It was our annual Orange Awards ceremony, a celebration of the company’s highest achievable award. Festive draping hung from the soaring ceilings and hulking industrial equipment stood silently as 200 of our company’s top global leaders and staff gathered around banquet tables to celebrate achievements in innovation that transcended any one department’s yearly performance metrics plan.

The Orange Award honored achievements in excellence that stood in their own class, innovation that was recognizable for greatness across a global company of 35,000 employees. This year, the team I led was being recognized. We’d been selected as the winner of the company’s top award for a new category—cultural excellence.

I was to speak on behalf of the team. I had butterflies in my stomach and yet could feel I was smiling from ear to ear. I stepped to the podium, feeling the spotlight on my face. Even though I’d rehearsed my remarks, I don’t remember what I said. I know I offered our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to the executives who sponsored our team and innovation lab, and to all those who supported our efforts or were part of our success, whether they were in attendance or not. I know I talked about how excited we were about the creativity we anticipated in the coming years.

The Culture of Successful Teams

As I looked at the audience and glanced back at my team, the one thing I remember most was feeling that it wasn’t my success, or about me at all, but rather us. Our accomplishments. Each of us had brought our passion to the table and contributed ideas to the innovation pool. We created our team of scientists and researchers. And we were being celebrated for our success.

But why? Why us? Aren’t all successful teams like this? What did we do differently?

Do a search on “high-performing teams” and you’ll find books and studies outlining the best traits of high-performing teams or, on the flip side, the worst traits of low-performing teams. Included in these results will be a barrage of advice on what to do and what not to do regarding team performance and collaboration. Most of these sources point to areas where team member alignment is required on strategy execution or the overall team objective.

We are now seeing studies and books on the link to culture on high-performing teams and organizations. Google’s project Aristotle examined which elements come together to create the perfect team. They found that team culture is critically important, meaning that the combination of effective communication, collegiality and mutual respect helps create trust, or a feeling of safety, among team members. In her books on teaming, Amy Edmondson, professor of leadership and management at Harvard Business School, writes that culture is the backbone of teaming. In her words, “Teaming IS the culture.”

The Limits of Technical Proficiency

I remember staring into the large, vacant space that would become an award-winning innovation lab. We were a group of individuals with diverse professional and personal backgrounds who would make or break this department. We were attempting to conduct human experiments with solid state LED lighting and translate these results into the development of conceptual systems and new technologies.

What made this team so special? Each of us had technical proficiency in some domain, whether mechanical or electrical engineering, lighting, plasma physics or even theater and theatrical dance. But proficiency in a broad mix of domains wasn’t the magic ingredient. There are many teams that are technically proficient but they don’t ignite that magical spark.

The creation of new innovations or technologies has no set of written rules. There’s no roadmap for individuals or teams that are bringing something new to the world, whether it occurs at an intersection or convergence of existing technologies or goes into an entirely new direction.

But since the process involves many failed experiments and many failed attempts, it requires that its practitioners set aside their egos. Innovations and successful ideas can be born anywhere and out of the contributions of anyone.

The Magic of Safety, Equality and Collaboration

This was certainly true of our team. Ideas—successful ones—came from everyone, regardless of tenure, rank, seniority or domain of expertise. I and everyone involved had to be capable of acknowledging this and recognizing when it occurred. For creatives, it was a limitless environment; for senior technical minds, a humbling environment; and, for everyone, an honest environment.

Looking back on what made our team flourish as it grew together over the weeks and months, I see we were sheltered from external pressures and criticisms. We created an environment in which there was no fear of retribution or punishment for failure. We relied on the diversity of the team. No single individual dominated the process or the innovations produced and we recognized that each of us worked a little differently from the others.

The combination of a feeling of safety and a true sense of collaboration unleashed an authenticity, a collective drive and a creative process that was unmatched in our company. Everyone embraced the belief that became our motto, “That’s a great idea in theory; now let’s build it and learn what we don’t know.”

It’s not always easy having a team as honest at this and welcoming input from everyone can wreak havoc to an agenda. But an environment that supported deep honesty and open communication without fear of ridicule, retaliation, or retribution made the individuals on our team feel unique, supported and heard.

This process taught me that once a group of people feels safe and heard, they don’t shut up and they don’t shut off. We filed more patents that year by a factor of three than in previous years.

Excellence Grows Out of Trust

But more than filing patents, we actually built the majority of our ideas into reality, which made us learn more than we expected and pushed each of us to expand our potential. Mostly there were smiles and encouragement but sometimes there were heated discussions and yelling. Sometimes we had to pick each other up after a failed experiment or stand beside a team member during a moment of failure.

But I always trusted my team and, although I never asked them, and didn’t have to, my team trusted me. This is how we created a culture of excellence. It wasn’t because of our achievements or our technical proficiency alone. It was from us, each of us, and the dynamic we created with each other. This was my most successful team and my benchmark of what to strive for with other organizations. I will forever be proud to have been a part of it.

All of us belong to teams throughout our lives. Some are successful, some not. We have stories of what made a team great and what may have made a team an example of what not to do. More and more I believe that what makes a team successful is how it brings together its members as individuals in a culture of acceptance, reliance, trustworthiness and integrity. This is the magical recipe that helps a group of individuals succeed in their pursuit of excellence.