What Makes Student Teams Projects Actually Work?

Roles for Students in Group Work

Student team projects come in all shapes and sizes—different purposes, project goals, personalities, and experience levels. That said, successful teams all tend to share certain characteristics that made success possible. Let's dive into what really makes teams tick.

Communication and Psychological Safety: The Foundation

Communication  is the foundation upon which all good team endeavors sit. If team members can’t (or don’t) communicate effectively, tasks are forgotten, conflict erupts, and goals are left in the dust. But communication isn't just about talking — it's about creating an environment where everyone feels safe to speak up, ask questions, and throw out ideas without fear of judgment.

This is where psychological safety comes in. Team members need to feel heard and valued during every interaction and meeting. When people feel "safe" in their team environment, they're more likely to contribute meaningfully and catch potential problems before they become disasters.

For instructors:  Make it clear that professional, open, and purpose-driven communication is non-negotiable. Walk your students through best practices for team interaction and emphasize why every member needs to feel heard and essential to the team's success.

Interdependency: More Than Just Dividing Up the Work

Here's where many student teams go wrong: they tend to split the work into pieces that each member completes on his/her own and then they throw these pieces together at the last minute. (Note to students: your instructor can tell that is what your team did.) I call this the "parallel play" approach—think of two toddlers sitting next to each other, each playing with their own toy. They're in the same space, but they're not actually playing together.

Real teamwork requires interdependency. Members need to rely on each other, work with each other, and feel accountable to each other. Research consistently shows that teams perform better when members feel they're genuinely necessary to their teammates' success.

For instructors: Don't let students default to the parallel play option. Instead, provide specific, approved methods for collaboration that actually support the project you've assigned. Also have conversations about accountability, backed up with peer evaluations that include accountability as a key component.

Collective Understanding: Getting Everyone on the Same Page

When team members share a clear understanding of goals, roles, and team norms, everything runs smoother. It's pretty simple: when everyone understands these things, the project runs smoother.  Specifically, when members understand how to act and communicate in their team, negative conflict and misunderstandings decrease.

For instructors:  Consider making Team Member Agreements a required part of your team project assignments. These agreements force students to have important conversations about goals, roles, and norms right from the start. (Bonus: these agreements are used in real-world professional settings, so you're giving students practical experience they'll actually use later.)



The Bottom Line

Setting your students up with these fundamentals—strong communication with psychological safety, genuine interdependency, and collective understanding—creates a solid foundation for successful student team projects. And when student team projects succeed, students walk away with valuable perspectives and a real understanding about how teamwork actually works. That's the ultimate goal, isn't it?

Our Workshop

In our Student Team Projects Workshop, I work with participants to develop student team projects that achieve the goals discussed above ... and more! Find out about this workshop here on our website.