On our own, we all have a measure of self awareness. We gauge our abilities, potentials, contributions and places where we missed the mark.

Good teams and friendships expand how we see. It’s like we let others borrow our iris. The new angles open up considerations of possibilities to come. They also challenge us dig in a little more to our callings.

Empathy and participation are paramount to this. An internal research project at Google found that one of the markers of high performing teams was equivalent amount of speaking time by all team members. Such a simple way to check the pulse of the team. Kind of like licking your finger and putting it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.

As a bonus, Google offers a look at how their teams are thinking about work.