Google's Aristotle Project

In 2012 Google launched a research project to study what contributed to their highest performing teams.  The research was conducted over 5 years and included hundreds of teams and a storehouse of data.  The biggest take-away from the project was that the highest performing teams exhibited what Google described then as psychological safety.  When team members felt safe to be themselves, spend less time managing perception of others and work through conflict directly, they delivered more effectively on their mission.  What most often contributed to this team attribute is the leader’s willingness to own his/her mistakes, reveal intent, share context and lead with authenticity (ie., more vulnerability).