0411 | How Less Is Often More With Teams

Published on May 31, 2013. Updated on November 30th, 2023.

0411 | How Less Is Often More With Teams

Sometimes adding to the number of people on a team can actually subtract from the quality of the teams output. This isn’t a rare occurrence, it’s a well researched phenomenon. In this episode, we review the research on social loafing and share three options for counteracting the negative effect of more people.

[Special thanks to Mark de Rond for tipping me off to this research.]

Listen below or subscribe via iTunes.

This podcast is supported by Audible.com. Get a free audiobook just for trying it at www.audibletrial.com/lead.

HOME_AboutDavidBurkus

About the author

David Burkus is an organizational psychologist, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of five books on leadership and teamwork.

Learn More

Recommended Reading

0826 | The Hidden Force That Creates the World’s Greatest Teams with Sam Walker

Sam Walker is The Wall Street Journal’s deputy editor for enterprise, the unit that directs the paper’s in-depth page-one features and investigative reporting projects. A former reporter, sports columnist, and sports editor, Walker founded the Journal’s prizewinning daily sports coverage in 2009. In addition to The Captain Class, he is the author of Fantasyland, a […]

0612 | Nilofer Merchant

Nilofer Merchant is the Jane Bond of Innovation. From working with Steve Jobs at Apple, to defeating Microsoft in an epic industry battle, to advising the C-Suites of GE, IBM, Logitech and more, Merchant brings a world-class pedigree to her work. You’ve probably seen her byline and ideas in publications like the Harvard Business Review, […]

0725 | How Markets Shape Us with Tim Sullivan

Tim Sullivan is the co-author of The Inner Lives of Markets. He is editorial director of Harvard Business Review Press and has worked at Basic Books, Portfolio, and Princeton University Press, where he helped build one of the most successful academic economics lists in the world. In this interview, we discuss how we shape markets […]

Scroll to Top