How To Avoid Too Much Teamwork?

Too much teamwork exhausts employees and saps productivity. Here’s how to avoid it. 

- Rob Cross, Reb Rebele, And Adam Grant

Collaboration is taking over the workplace. As business becomes increasingly global and cross-functional, silos are breaking down, connectivity is increasing, and teamwork is seen as a key to organisational success. According to data we have collected over the past two decades, the time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has ballooned by 50 per cent or more.

Certainly, we find much to applaud in these developments. However, when consumption of a valuable resource spikes that dramatically, it should also give us pause. Consider a typical week in your own organisation. How much time do people spend in meetings, on the phone, and responding to e-mails? At many companies the proportion hovers around 80 per cent, leaving employees little time for all the critical work they must complete on their own. Performance suffers as they are buried under an avalanche of requests for input or advice, access to resources, or attendance at a meeting. They take assignments home, and soon, according to a large body of evidence on stress, burnout and turnover become real risks.

What’s more, research we’ve done across more than 300 organisations shows that the distribution of collaborative work is often extremely lopsided. In most cases, 20 per cent to 35 per cent of value added collaborations come from only 3 per cent to 5 per cent of employees. As people become known for being both capable and willing to help, they are drawn into projects and roles of growing importance. Their giving mindset and desire to help others quickly enhances their performance and reputation. As a recent study led by Ning Li, of the University of Iowa, shows, a single “extra miler” – an employee who frequently contributes beyond the scope of his or her role – can drive team performance more than all the other members combined.