science - Columinity Blog

science

A collection of 7 posts

How to Prevent Team Burnout

How to Prevent Team Burnout

In a previous post, we discussed how high-performing teams can burn out. Team burnout is a recognized concept in the scientific literature on teams. While it shares similarities with individual burnout—people are exhausted and can no longer function correctly—it also contains a substantial subjective component of how stressful

When Do High-Performing Teams Burn Out?

When Do High-Performing Teams Burn Out?

“Can a high-performing team burn out?” recently appeared in a community meetup. It's an intriguing question because it starts from a favorable situation. If you’ve ever been part of a high-performing team, you know how exhilarating it can be. But paradoxically, it's also a place

How Social Cohesion Shapes Teamwork

How Social Cohesion Shapes Teamwork

Do you remember the best team you’ve been part of? Can you name the factors that made this team so successful? Chances are, your list will include things like “There was a sense of pride in what we did,” “We really felt like a team,” and “We had each

Why Good Goals Create Great Teams

Why Good Goals Create Great Teams

This post briefly overviews research on (team) goal commitment. We then offer three concrete actions you can take with your teams to improve goal commitment.

"Who is part of this team?", and why teams need to be in control

"Who is part of this team?", and why teams need to be in control

Who decides who is part of a team? Is this decision primarily up to the members themselves? Or does management decide everything? Or is it somewhere in between? This type of autonomy is called team composition autonomy. Many organizations are still figuring out how to provide it, given the increasing

How Does Working From Home Influence Teamwork?

How Does Working From Home Influence Teamwork?

Is working from home a good idea? When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, almost everyone suddenly had to work from home. But since then, many organizations have reverted back to requiring employees to be in the office. A common concern is that working from home harms teamwork and reduces the performance

Is Your Team Actually A Team?

Is Your Team Actually A Team?

"Teams don't work" is the pragmatic conclusion of Richard Hackman, one of the founders of modern-day team research. Based on his research, Hackman concludes that teams generally perform worse than groups of individuals. This conclusion is surprising, given that most modern-day organizations rely on teams and