PROVIDENCE, R.I. - eTradeWire -- Lynn Bentley, President of Knobull announced, "Teams outperforming individuals – is not a revelation, nor is it in question, but it had to be said in order to set up the fundamental question: Why? In the case of teams: yes, they're superior, but knowing why – and how – can further improve even the improved output of any team."

The groundbreaking and extensive work of Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), universally revered as the Father of Social Psychology, laid the foundation. In his short life, Lewin was a thought leader whose thoughts still lead modern work in industrial psychology, organizational behavior, group dynamics, and team communication. Affiliated with MIT, Cornell, and Duke, Lewin's influence was seen on the work of, among many, Abraham Maslow. The fundamentals they discovered include:

1. Team results are improved due to a phenomenon he called process gain, which increases all facets of decision making: perspective, clarity, and especially synthesis.

2. Teams are more likely to recognize and reject incorrect solutions. This, said Lewin, is the result of perspective in an environment of liberal thinking.

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3. Memory of facts is more accurate and more complete. This may sound outdated in today's world of advanced computing, data harvesting, and artificial intelligence, but we're not talking about technology now; we're talking about holistic thinking.

4. Teams tend to have higher motivation to achieve. That's because when we like the team we're on, we want that team to win.

5. "Riskier" decisions can be made more safely and cautiously. This is another way of expressing the idea of reality checks.

6. In high-performing teams, we tend to see increased commitment due to involvement in decisions.

7. Involvement in teams facilitates changes in values, attitude, and behavior needed to implement decisions. This is simple to understand if you look at the sequence backwards.

8. Members promote each other's success for another reason other than business. They like each other, advancing social facilitation.

9. Finally, great teams foster what Lewin called thought polarization, the security to adopt more conservative, aggressive, or creative positions whenever necessary.

Bentley concluded, "When you see a high-performing team, and you look for the reasons why, chances are you'll see evidence of all nine reasons, or at least a trend toward their emergence. It has been shown throughout my career as a leader that teamwork always improves results and brings to mind a millennia-old adage: We go faster alone but farther together."