PULLMAN, Wash. — Team members' initiative can help teams succeed, but only when it is paired with strong coordination, according to new research from Washington State University.
The study, published in Group & Organization Management , was co-authored by Jeremy Beus , professor of management at WSU's Carson College of Business, and Erik Taylor of East Carolina University. Using data from the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups, the study found that team initiative alone had no direct relationship with team performance. Instead, teams performed best when members' initiative was accompanied by strong coordination and communication.
Using GPS-generated heat maps from World Cup matches, Taylor and Beus analyzed where players moved throughout the course of a game. Each player position has an expected range of movement on the field, and the data showed how far individual players strayed from those norms over 90 minutes of play.
Initiative was measured by the extent to which players moved beyond their expected coverage area.
"We wanted to actually see the evidence of initiative, not just ask someone whether their teammates show it," Beus said.
The analysis excluded goalkeepers and adjusted the data within each position, so comparisons were made among players with similar responsibilities. For example, defenders were compared only with other defenders rather than midfielders.
When the researchers compared team-level initiative scores with match outcomes, they found that teams with higher levels of initiative were no more likely to win than other teams.
Coordination emerged as the critical factor and was measured through the frequency and success of passes between players. When team members' initiative was paired with strong coordination, team performance improved. When it was not, team performance suffered.
"For an individual, showing initiative is almost universally a good thing," Beus said. "But in an interdependent team environment, if everyone decides to go above and beyond without communicating, you can end up with people duplicating efforts, leaving other areas exposed, or working against each other without even realizing it."
The findings also revealed a threshold effect. Teams with a moderate proportion of high-initiative players who coordinated through strong communication outperformed teams where initiative was either absent or excessive. Beyond a certain point, uncoordinated initiative did not just stop helping – it became a liability.
While the specific thresholds identified in World Cup competition may not translate directly to teams in the workplace, Beus said the underlying principle applies broadly to groups working toward a shared goal.
For managers and team leaders, the findings underscore the importance of communication and coordination. For example, rewarding initiative in isolation may unintentionally reinforce behaviors that undermine team effectiveness if employees are not communicating with one another, said Beus.
"It's about creating a culture of communication," he said, "where the leader sets the example and makes clear that going the extra mile is great – as long as everyone knows about it."
