The Dangers of Excessive Cooperation, Part 1

Unintended consequences arise from teams that are TOO collaborative and self-sacrificing

Odd as it seems, you can become too successful at forging a harmonious relationship with your team. Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Excessive cooperation? Is this actually a problem?

You’d be rightly incredulous if you’ve only ever experienced adversarial relationships with your subordinates, or constantly mistrust your superiors. Believe it or not, some organizations do function like happy families. You’ll know you’re in one of them if everyone worships Simon Sinek. You’ll be told to that “leaders should eat last” and to always “start with why.” Such organizations reward collaboration at all levels – from the CEO down to the mailroom clerk. Employee turnover will be low, company loyalty will be high, and the harmony is so palpable that it jiggles.

But like perfume, this touchy-feely stuff can become cloying when applied in excess. Organizations that become too successful at creating a culture of cooperation begin encroaching on the Desert of Good Intentions. Let’s look at two cautionary tales of the unintended consequences lurking beneath the Desert’s shifting sands.

Excessive Teamwork and Collaboration: The Parable of Overly Protective Allen

Allen hates Machiavellian jerks. He once worked for a cloak-and-dagger supervisor who habitually withheld information, sabotaged his subordinates, and gaslit enough people to consume the entire export capacity of the Middle East. Allen resolved to escape from his tyrannical boss, and to never wage psychological warfare on his own employees.

Later, Allen became a manager and began to live and breathe the tenets of “servant leadership.” He worked long hours to cater to his employees’ needs. He praised publicly (lavishly), and corrected issues privately (seldomly). When someone encountered an issue, he rushed to their side like a guardian angel. To the present day, Allen’s still workers speak fondly of him.

But in doing too much for his staff, Allen robbed them of growth opportunities. Allen resolved all their problems, so his subordinates never learned to handle conflict, initiate difficult conversations, or make decisions under uncertainty. Allen couldn’t take vacations, lest his team fall apart in his absence. After Allen promoted to a different part of the organization, his successor was dismayed to inherit a team of timid employees who were unaccustomed to autonomy.

The ironic twist is that, despite his best efforts, Allen created an ineffective team…just like his backstabbing boss. His former boss created an ineffective team with cruelty; Allen did so by killing them with kindness, in the worst sense of the expression.

Moral of the story:
Thou shalt not steal opportunities in the name of cooperation;
restrain thine zeal for excessive teamwork.

Toxic Positivity: The Parable of Tender Tammy

Tammy worked with Allen for over 15 years. Early in their careers, they suffered together under the boss from hell. In the fires of adversity, they forged a bond of camaraderie that transcended their careers. When Allen found a new job as a manager, Tammy left to join his staff. They shared inside jokes (often at the expense of the bad boss) and soon attracted a group of like-minded, kind-hearted individuals around them.

While Allen did everything he could to reduce suffering for his direct reports, Tammy assumed the role of cheerleader and peacekeeper. She was kind, considerate, selfless, and determined to protect her work family by creating a tranquil, negativity-free workplace. Tammy’s previous experiences had scarred her and instilled an allergy to workplace conflict.

Before Allen’s promotion, he and Tammy regularly took their families on vacations together. After Allen became a supervisor, however, he began to cancel vacations and his hair started falling out. Recognizing these signs of stress, Tammy tried to relieve Allen’s burdens by minimizing the problems she brought to his attention. She believed that she was reciprocating his helpfulness by keeping problems off his plate. She also discouraged dissent, suppressed complaints, and downplayed problems to prevent any negativity from tainting the safe space she had created.

By suppressing strife and negativity at any cost, Tammy created an atmosphere of toxic positivity. Not long after Allen promoted to a different part of the organization, Tammy’s new supervisor discovered the problems she had swept under the rug. The revelations caused a scandal that resulted in Tammy’s dismissal. Allen’s reputation was part of the collateral damage; the scandal ended any possibility of further career advancement for him.

The irony in Tammy’s story is that her “safe space” from negativity was unsafe for constructive criticism and healthy dissent. She learned to associate the discomfort caused by a toxic boss with unkindness, but overreacted by conflating avoidance of discomfort with kindness.

Moral of the story:
Thou shalt not improve the short-term well-being of the team members at the expense of the long-term well-being of the team.

Excessive Cooperation is a Good Problem to Have

Allen and Tammy both met their demise on the paths they took to avoid it. Many people lost to the Desert of Good Intentions are kind people – friendly neighbors, loving parents – but a noble heart is no defense against the unintended consequences lurking under the Desert’s surface.

That said, having a team that is too collaborative and too cohesive is a good problem to have. It’s arguably better than the commonplace problem of coaxing results from a precarious alliance of people bound together by ephemeral strands of common interest. And it’s definitely better than the problems associated with the polar opposite: teams and organizations that are downright dysfunctional.

The Parables of Overly Protective Allen and Tender Tammy are cautionary tales about avoiding excessive teamwork, collaboration, and cooperation. In practice, however, the proper balance is so difficult to achieve that most teams and organizations will never reach it.

A simplified spectrum of teamwork, spanning the range from maximally self-serving to maximally self-sacrificing.

So go ahead and keep practicing servant leadership, reading Simon Sinek books like Leaders Eat Last, and “starting with why." Just make sure you don’t overshoot the sweet spot. Build rapport with your teammates, but don’t drown in it.

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Thanks for reading Adventures in Leadership Land. This is the first in a series of posts about the dangers of taking teamwork, collaboration, and cooperation too far. Part 2 is here. Subscribe so you don’t miss the next parts once they’re published!