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How to Design Better Teamwork
Research into what motivates teams
In today’s issue, we explore recent research into what motivates teams. This research can help us design better teamwork by understanding team dynamics and what motivates different people.
It got me thinking about a group or teamwork in a school or academic setting, so I have shared some guidance and thoughts about that.
An essential affirmation I had was the critical nature of the design of teams and what they do.
Together, everyone achieves more — or less?
A team at TU Dortmund University in Germany have published an interdisciplinary meta-analysis on effort gains and losses in teams.
You can access either the academic paper or a summary blog post from the researchers on Aeon.
From the beginning, the authors highlight the importance of intentional design.
Our analysis of the data shows that whether teamwork boosts motivation or saps it strongly depends on how the work is designed.
And it looks like one of the keys to boosting motivation is how we perceive our contribution. As educators, facilitators, and designers, we need to ensure each team member can make a meaningful contribution to their team’s…
