Mortensen, M., & Gardner, H. (2017, September). The overcommitted organization: Why it's
hard to share people across multiple teams - and what to do about it. Harvard Business
Review, 95(5), 58-65.
Organizations are made up of numerous people; complex and ever-evolving organizations have multiple priorities, thus they ask employees to multiteam, committing to multiple projects at once. While this model of work is efficient and brings individuals with experience together who might not otherwise collaborate, it also puts a strain on employees' time and attention, potentially leading to burnout. In order to combat these potential outcomes, this research suggests ways to effectively navigate the challenges posed. First, leaders need to help set priorities and provide engagement incentives for their teams; building trust and creating connections early in the team formation process will help prevent issues down the line. Skills should also be mapped and shared out so that team members can have a full pictures of the expertise they and their colleagues bring to one another in order to work together to achieve shared goals and use each other’s' skills. Transparently identifying competing priorities from all multiteamers should occur in order to acknowledge the ebb and flow of individuals' time; this will help prevent assumptions about teammates' commitment. Since learning can get lost in multiteaming environments, fostering a culture of providing and seeking feedback and others' experience should be prioritized. Inevitably, some team members will be stretched and interested in only giving their minimum so team leaders must build motivation for all members. Additional organizational leaders should track multiteaming in an effort to watch out for potential shocks to the organization; knowing where many links exist will help direct the correct response or support when shocks come. Finally, they should also promote sharing work across teams or projects, as it can be easy to lose sight of larger impact.
This article put a name to what I have experienced during several rounds of workplace reorganization; many of my responsibilities have remained the same or increased, be the number of teams of which I am a part has grown. I can employ several strategies suggested in team-based environments to help manage my workload as well as respect those of colleagues.
LO2: demonstrate the ability to assess complex organizational environments and achieve communication goals.
LO3: address complex challenges by collaboratively leading teams across disciplines, distances, and sectors.
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