Where everyone depends on everyone else, the weakest member determines the outcome.
Some tasks succeed only if everyone manages their part. A rope team is only as fast as its slowest climber. A production line is only as good as its worst step. The weakest point limits the whole.
The team principle in detail
Four steps through the principle: understand, check, connect, apply. Open any topic to read more.
The explanationThe reason lies in the task, not in the person.
- The reason lies in the task, not in the person.
- When a mistake at one point destroys the value of the entire work, contributions no longer add up – they multiply.
- Then small differences in skill or care make big differences in the outcome.
“The weakest member” is not necessarily a person. What is meant is the point of lowest performance at a place everyone has to pass through: a skill, a level of care or a handover.
Read closelyWhat the principle says – and what it doesn’t
Where everyone has to pass through the same bottleneck, the weakest point limits the result.
- Strictly speaking
- It does not apply to every kind of teamwork. Where contributions simply add up, the sum is what counts. Where a single good solution is enough, the best person is what counts. Most real-world tasks are a mix.
- The weakest member is not a fixed quantity. People who realize that it depends on them often try harder in a group than alone.
- The principle does not imply that you must remove the weakest member. Supporting them, moving them and building in buffers are equally logical responses.
The signs3 signs that the principle is at work · 3 that it is missing
- The team knows its bottlenecks and talks about them openly.
- Handoffs are tested before things get serious.
- Anyone who is weaker at a critical point gets help or a different position.
- The team plans on the basis of averages.
- Mistakes keep cropping up in the same place.
- After a failure, the hunt for a culprit begins.
The research6 sources: 2 theories, 2 primary studies, 2 meta-analyses · 1972–2007 · with research limitations
- low
- moderate
- high
Moderate to high – high for strictly conjunctive tasks, moderate for teams in general.
- 1972Ivan D. Steiner
Task typology: in conjunctive tasks everyone must contribute, and group performance is determined by the weakest member; in additive tasks the sum counts, in disjunctive tasks the best individual contribution.
- 1993Michael Kremer
Economic model: when a mistake in any one of many steps destroys the value of the whole, qualities multiply. Small differences in skill produce large differences in outcome.
- 1997Jeffery A. LePine et al.
51 four-person teams with a leader and staff: decisions were most accurate when both leader and staff scored high on intelligence and conscientiousness. Teams helped members with low ability but bypassed those with low conscientiousness.
- 2000Guido Hertel, Norbert L. Kerr & Lawrence A. Messé
Experiments on the Köhler effect: the weaker member tries harder in a group than alone; reliable gains appear when one’s own contribution is indispensable to the group result.
- The statement holds only for conjunctive tasks; most real-world tasks are a mix.
- Moreover, the weakest member is not a fixed quantity: especially where people depend on one another, weaker members try harder, and teams often make up for a lack of ability.
- The image of the chain ignores both.
Read more: what the research shows
Social psychology classifies tasks by how individual contributions combine. Ivan D. Steiner calls tasks to which everyone must contribute conjunctive: there, group performance is determined by the weakest member. The economist Michael Kremer captured the same idea in a model. In experiments, Guido Hertel, Norbert L. Kerr and Lawrence A. Messé showed that the weaker member tries harder in a group than alone when their contribution is indispensable. These motivation gains are known as the Köhler effect. Jeffery A. LePine and colleagues found that teams help members with low ability but bypass those who are not very conscientious.
The originJohn C. Maxwell · “The Law of the Chain”
- 2001OriginJohn C. Maxwell
The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork
- The Law of the ChainA team’s strength is limited by its weakest link
- todaySharpened
What is sharpened here is the condition – the statement holds only where everyone depends on everyone else.
The related team principles01 Necessity · 04 Position · 09 Bench · 08 Bad Apple
The principle sharpens “Necessity” and “Position” and is softened by “Bench”, because backups and stepping in absorb failures.
It differs from “Bad Apple” in that here the issue is performance and there it is attitude.
It is in tension with “Effort”, because effort in groups often drops – unless the individual is indispensable.
The action steps5 steps: First check the task
- First check the task: Does everyone really have to pass through the same point, or do the contributions add up? Only in the first case does the core statement apply.
- Look for the weakest point – not only among people, but also at interfaces, handoffs and units of measurement.
- Distinguish between ability and diligence. A team can often make up for a lack of ability if it helps. It can hardly make up for a lack of conscientiousness; that is something you have to address.
- Show the weaker member that their contribution is indispensable, and let them work with stronger colleagues. On average, both raise effort.
- Build in buffers and backups where a single failure would bring everything to a halt.
The questions for your team3 questions for your team conversation: At what point in our work does everyone have to pass through – and who or what is weakest there?
- At what point in our work does everyone have to pass through – and who or what is weakest there?
- Which handoff between us, or to other teams, have we never tested?
- How do we deal with someone who can’t keep up at a critical point: support them, move them or bypass them?
Take time for one question at your next team meeting. Talk about it openly and note down what you take away from it.
The picture to rememberA chain of dots carries a load and breaks at the pale link. Its neighbors support it, it grows strong, and the chain holds.
- A chain of dots carries a load and breaks at the pale link.
- Its neighbors support it, it grows strong, and the chain holds.
What the Team Principle of the Weakest Link looks like in practice
One Slip, Four Dead
On July 14, 1865, seven men led by Edward Whymper become the first to stand on top of the Matterhorn – a roped party that formed only that same month in Zermatt. On the descent, the least experienced of them, Douglas Robert Hadow, slips and drags three others with him; none of the four survives.
Pounds Instead of Newtons
On September 23, 1999, NASA loses the Mars Climate Orbiter probe: ground software from Lockheed Martin delivers pound-force seconds, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s navigation software reads the numbers as metric. The error, a factor of 4.45, adds up over nine months of flight.
A 1,400-Yen Valve Brings Toyota to a Halt
On February 1, 1997, the Aisin Seiki plant in Kariya burns down – the plant that supplies practically all of Toyota’s P-valves for its braking systems. A few days later almost all of Toyota’s plants are idle – and more than 200 companies step in.
