How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Collaboration – and When to Skip It Altogether When it comes to productivity, more isn't always merrier. Discover how to optimize your company's balance of teamwork versus deep-focus solo time.
By Aytekin Tank Edited by Kara McIntyre
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Olympic relay races are the apex of collaboration. If one person falters, it impacts the whole team.
When it comes to order, there's no hard-and-fast rule. Some teams put their fastest runner first, but others opt to put them last. According to USC's director of track and field, Caryl Smith Gilbert, sometimes you need someone "hard-nosed" like Usain Bolt (formerly the fastest man on Earth) to close the race. Just watch Bolt's final Olympic relay race and you'll understand exactly what Smith Gilbert means. "It's anyone's race," says the announcer before the final handoff. But as soon as the baton is in Bolt's hand, the race is over. Jamaica wins by a long shot.
Imagine if runners were less likely to participate in relays if they had to run last because they figured they'd get less credit. That's the case when it comes to publications in the field of economics. Researchers found that people were less likely to collaborate on articles if their surname was lower down in the alphabet — meaning they would be listed later in the byline. The reason is that when people think they're receiving less credit, they're less inclined to collaborate.
We often hear about the importance of collaboration, but it's not without its pitfalls. After all, people will always be motivated at least in part by their individual goals. At my company, employees work in cross-functional teams. Because teamwork is our default setting, I try to be extra vigilant of when teams successfully collaborate and when they'd fare better working solo. Here's a closer look at how to avoid the pitfalls of collaboration — and when to skip it altogether.
Related: Avoid These 3 Key Mistakes for Team Success in 2024
Clarify roles and responsibilities
By now, the benefits of teamwork are well established. At Jotform, our cross-functional teams come up with more and better solutions. Team members learn from each other and build off of each other's momentum. That said, teamwork has inherent stressors that don't exist when people are working alone.
After conducting interviews with 664 managers from British workplaces, one researcher found that more teamwork increased the level of work demands on employees, which in turn, made them more anxious about their jobs. The more people felt their team members relied on them, the more they felt that they didn't have enough time to tackle their workload.
One way to reduce the inherent stress of teamwork is to be crystal clear about roles, responsibilities and priorities. Everyone should know who is responsible for what and the order of operations. At my company, I encourage everyone to think in systems. This means visualizing tasks as workflows with various interdependencies. By mapping out each step in a workflow, including who does what, nothing is open to interpretation. Tasks aren't dolled out or claimed according to whim. Employees understand that their team members rely on them, but not disproportionately.
Bring people together, IRL or virtually
Research on working alone versus together, and which results in higher productivity, cuts both ways. If a colleague is working on a different task within your field of vision, you might work slower. Researchers from the University of Calgary's Faculty of Kinesiology explain that this is a built-in response mechanism wired into our central nervous system. If we see someone working on a different task, we imagine ourselves performing that task — we put ourselves in their shoes — which slows us down.
That said, social psychologists agree that when people are observed, they're motivated to impress their audience and work harder. This might explain why pro athletes perform better in a crowded stadium. As Harvard Business Review notes, when someone is watching us, we include their perspective in our own. This magnifies the work and endows it with greater importance, which fuels motivation.
Related: Why Alone Time Gives Your Business an Edge
So, what can we learn from these studies?
When employees are focusing on different tasks, even if they're collaborating on the same project, they should have the physical space to work alone.
On the other hand, when people are collaborating, IRL or virtually, they should have the shared space or digital tools to observe each other's work. For employees collaborating remotely, that could mean sharing updates on a project management platform so that others can see your progress. Managers can even automate this communication by using chatbots to prompt status updates and sharing opportunities on the platform. That way, team members stay connected and motivated — without having to attend unnecessary meetings.
Offer training opportunities tailored to individual needs
Another pitfall of teamwork is the feeling that you have to sacrifice individual goals. It can be tricky to strike a balance between these two sometimes competing motivations. However, studies have found that teams perform better when managers provide the right skills and resources to team members. That includes giving people time away from work to improve their job skills.
It makes sense. Of course, employees want to feel like they're part of an organization with a greater mission. But they also want to feel seen and heard as individuals, which includes acknowledging and nurturing their personal career goals. At Jotform, I've found that empowering employees to gain the skills that will help them advance on their paths inevitably strengthens their performance within teams. You know the adage: A rising tide lifts all boats. One person's continued self-improvement will motivate others to follow suit and ultimately benefit the entire team — and organization.
Final thoughts
As founder of a company that's grown from 1 to over 300 employees across the globe, I've seen the benefits of teamwork. Our team members trust each other, they help each other focus, they fuel each other's motivation and they come up with more innovative ideas faster. Our small, cross-functional teams have enabled us to continue to scale without sacrificing the quality of our work.
That said, organizations benefit when leaders respect individual preferences, including when people work better alone. When I write, for example, I need to be alone to enter the flow zone. I can't imagine being able to complete my book if there had been someone sitting next to me working on their writing project.
Giving people the autonomy to choose to collaborate will ultimately improve the quality of teamwork. People shouldn't collaborate for the sake of collaboration alone.
