What makes for a great marketing team? A dynamic leader at the helm? The right mix of compatible personalities? A steady influx of new talent? Or could making assumptions like these actually cripple a team's performance? J. Richard Hackman, writing at the Harvard Business Review, argues that quite a few businesses are getting it wrong when they strive to form ideal teams.

He presents six mistaken beliefs about teamwork that can actually "sidetrack productive collaboration." Here are three:

Harmony helps. Although many might argue that effective teamwork requires a certain level of harmony and a lack of conflict among team members, Hackman begs to differ. "So long as it is about the work itself, disagreements can be good for a team," he argues. Conflict over how to best achieve an agreed-upon goal can "generate more creative solutions."

It's good to mix it up. Although you might think introducing new blood into a team spurs new ideas and creativity, Hackman makes the case for the power of familiarity: "Whether it is a basketball team or a string quartet, teams that stay together longer play together better."

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