A study published in the Harvard Business Review in 2004 shows how positive interactions are crucial for innovation. In a publication entitled, “The role of positivity and connectivity in the performance of business teams,” academic researcher Emily Heaphy and consultant Marcial Losada lay out their findings. They examined 60 strategic business leadership teams at a large information-processing company and found that high-performing teams had 5.6 positive interactions for each negative interaction. Low-performing teams, on the other hand, had fewer than 0.36.

Defining high performance in terms of financial results, customer satisfaction, and 360-degree feedback ratings, the study found that the primary factor for high performance was the ratio of positive interactions.

“I agree with that.” “That’s a great idea.” “You are so kind for helping me with this.” These are all positive interactions. Such interactions can go a long way in boosting performance and are vital ingredients for building innovative, trusting teams.

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