The Risks of Putting People on Too Many Project Teams artwork
HBR On Leadership

The Risks of Putting People on Too Many Project Teams

Aug 27, 2025 · 25 min

Mark Mortensen, a professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, discusses the research on “multiteaming”—when employees work not only across multiple projects, but multiple teams. It has significant benefits at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Among them: multiteaming saves money. The cost—stretched employees—is hard to see. And that is where the tension, and the risk, lies. Mort…