Social psychologist: Return to office is ‘lazy leadership.’ Here’s what actually makes high-performing teams

Social psychologist Ron Friedman argues that mandating a return to the office is "lazy leadership" and that high-performing teams are built on specific, science-backed principles, not just physical proximity. Friedman, author of "Superteams: The Science and Secrets of High-Performing Teams," studied 6,000 knowledge workers across industries like tech, legal, marketing, and sales to identify the characteristics of "superteams" that score a perfect 10 out of 10 in effectiveness and performance. His research revealed consistent patterns in how these exceptional teams operate, focusing on how they manage meetings, recover from work, structure their teams, and optimize their time, energy, and attention. Friedman highlights that the average worker loses 18 hours per week to meetings and another 11 hours to communications like email, text messages, and Slack, totaling 29 hours lost before a single task is accomplished. Superteams, in contrast, are 50% more effective at avoiding unnecessary meetings and 54% less likely to schedule recurring ones. Furthermore, these high-performing teams actively schedule dedicated focus blocks for deep work and are significantly more likely to implement meeting-free days, demonstrating a proactive approach to managing distractions and maximizing productivity.