'Shared mental models' or 'joint mental models' denote a team's shared understanding of the task it faces, the team's structure and the different roles of the individual members. Shared mental models enable team members to predict both task needs and the actions of other members. They can do this because they have an immediate understanding of how the team coordinates behavior and knows what needs to be done, without the need for direct coordination existing.

To get an idea of how it works, imagine the trauma team at your local emergency room. Everyone on the team seems to act without any clear leadership or coordination. Everyone is able to anticipate what the others are doing and what the task requires. It is like a carefully choreographed dance, where all participants have an in-depth knowledge of what the result should be.

And trauma teams in particular greatly benefit from shared mental models. A group of researchers from i.a. The University of Bergen set out to examine, the impact these shared mental models have on team performance. And it turns out that it is significant.

What has the greatest impact on performance? Shared mental models or collaborative skills?

Through a series of observations of 27 different Norwegian trauma teams, the researchers examined the different teams shared mental models where they specifically looked at the extent to which team members:

• Provides information (before being asked)
• Provides support (before requested)
• Shows team initiative (guides or suggests something to team members)
• Communicates situationally (gives updates).

In addition, the researchers examined the teams collaboration skills by examining how often teams:

• Coordinates (eg, confirms team members' roles and responsibilities)
• Information exchange (e.g. provides situational updates)
• Uses authority (eg gives clear orders to team members)
• Uses judgment (e.g. notices that a team member is performing a task that is not up to standard)
• Uses supportive behaviors (eg, anticipating a team member's need for equipment or information)

To see which of these indicators have the greatest impact on the team's performance, the researchers assessed these in relation to how well the team performed a medical procedure. Specifically, they examined how well the different trauma teams performed the ABCDE procedure (Airways, Breathing, Circulation and haemorrhage control, Disability, and Environment and exposure).

Shared mental models are more important for team performance than collaboration skills

As expected, the studies showed that collaborative skills, especially information exchange and communication, had a direct impact on a team's performance.

Furthermore, the studies also show that certain indicators of common mental models have a great influence on the performance of trauma teams. And that to a greater extent than certain collaboration skills.

“[…] specific indicators of shared mental models were significantly related to performance in trauma teams, over and above specific teamwork skills.”

In particular, information exchange and a lack of insight into the roles of other team members explain a large part of the difference between whether a team performs well or poorly.

If you want to improve your team's capabilities in these two areas, according to this report, you need to focus on the following two things:

• Communication and information exchange
• Increase awareness of the different roles of the team members. Here the researchers propose a role reversal.