How to Manage the Challenges of Multiteaming

Welcome back to the Evolving Workplace Newsletter, where we will explore the changing nature of teams, collaboration, and the future of work.?

If this is your first step toward the future design of work, you can learn more about me and what I do here.

In my last newsletter, we reflected on the nature of collaboration and asked—is it worth it?

This week, I want to explore a specific form of collaboration: multiteaming, or, when individuals are assigned to multiple projects simultaneously.?

There are several pros to multiteaming:

• Sharing (human) resources is cost effective.
• It helps companies reduce costly downtime between projects.
• Companies can bring in specialized experts to dip in and out of critical projects as needed.
• It provides important pathways for knowledge transfer and the dissemination of best practices throughout the organization.

But there are also some very clear cons:

• Organizations open themselves up to the risk of transmitting negative shocks across teams when shared members link the fates of otherwise independent projects.
• The constant entrance and exit of members can weaken group cohesion and identity, making it harder to build trust and resolve issues.
• Individual employees may experience stress, fatigue, and burnout as they struggle to manage their time and engagement across projects.

So how do I manage these challenges?

Launch the team well to establish trust and familiarity.

One of the reasons teams are so efficient is that we coordinate better when we learn more about our teammates’ outside lives, which forges strong bonds and interpersonal trust. Team members need this in order to seek and offer constructive feedback, introduce one another to valuable network connections, and rely on one another’s technical expertise.

When multiteaming, people tend to be hyper focused on efficiency and are less inclined to share personal information. Shifting focus between teams also leaves us less time to establish and build connections. Make sure team members spend some time in the beginning getting to know their colleagues so you can set a strong foundation for bonding and trust. As J. Richard Hackman expands upon in his book, Collaborative Intelligence, team kickoffs can improve performance by up to 30%, partly because they increase peer-to-peer accountability. On teams that frequently cycle through different members, a good rule of thumb is to “re-kickoff” whenever 15% of the team has changed.

Donald Tomaskovic-Devey and Reyna Orellana argue the importance of a strong foundation in their Harvard Business Review article, The Key to Retaining Young Workers? Better Onboarding.

Map everyone’s skills.

Figure out the full portfolio of capabilities that each person brings to the project—both technical skills and broader kinds of knowledge. Make sure everyone knows how each teammate contributes. This increases the chances that members will learn from one another. The pride people take in sharing their knowledge and the cohesion fostered by peer mentoring are often as valuable as the actual knowledge shared.?

If team members have worked together before, they may be making assumptions about what skills their peers bring to the table. If there is clear communication about each person’s expertise, it streamlines communication and equips team members to hold one another accountable for high-quality, on-time delivery, which can otherwise be tricky when people are frequently coming and going.

Check out Heidi K. Gardner on smart collaboration in Getting Your Stars to Collaborate in her Harvard Business Review article and keep your eyes open for her new book….

Manage time across teams.

As you form a team, explicitly talk about everyone’s competing priorities up front. By preemptively identifying crunch periods across projects, you can revamp deadlines or plan on spending more hands-on time yourself at certain points. Making the topic “discussable” so that people won’t feel guilty about conflicts allows the team to openly and productively handle these issues when they come up later.

At the outset, schedule several full-team meetings at critical junctures. When you plan other team meetings, invite exactly who’s needed and no one else in order to minimize scheduling conflicts with other teams. Most of the time, you won’t need everyone. And don’t forget to leverage technology. Some meetings can be replaced by emails or an updated online dashboard.

Create a learning environment.

Learning makes work feel more meaningful and can be a major benefit of multiteaming. When much of our learning comes from feedback from team members, multiteaming may take a little extra work. It’s harder for multiteamers to give effective feedback than it is for dedicated team members because people whose time is divided among several projects are less likely to regularly observe their teammates’ actions or to be present at a time that “feels right” to offer critiques.

Try leading by example. Seek input and respond to it constructively. Foster curiosity by posing “What if…” questions when it’s likely that different members’ backgrounds will provide new insights.?

Marcus Buckingham argues that a commitment to lifelong learning within an organization is an imperative part of Designing Work That People Love in his Harvard Business Review article.

Boost motivation.

On traditional, fixed teams, a strong sense of cohesion and group identity motivates members. But leaders in multiteaming environments need to leverage more of an exchange relationship. The ability to get jazzed about a project naturally flags when members spend only a small amount of time on it. Their inner accountant asks, “If I’ll get only 10% of the credit, how much time and effort should I devote to this?” Figure out what your ten-percenters really value and frame the work in terms of those rewards.?

Remember, too, that a sense of fairness drives many behaviors. If people feel they are pulling their weight while others slack off, they quickly become demotivated. When team members are tugged in many directions, it’s often difficult for each one to recognize and appreciate how hard the others are working. As the leader, keep publicly acknowledging various members’ contributions so that they become visible to the whole team, spawning a greater awareness of the collective efforts.

It takes work to collaborate efficiently, but it’s worth it to invest time in analyzing what’s best for your organization.

The world is changing, and so is the workplace. Subscribe to The Evolving Workplace Newsletter to learn more about the changing nature of teams, collaboration, and the future of the workplace, or connect with me via email: [email protected].?