Team Camaraderie: Can You Have Too Much?

In business as in sports, winning teams have a well-honed sense of camaraderie that helps team members read one another’s signals, move as one, and watch each other’s backs. In management circles, this sense of commitment and connection often is referred to as affiliation, and many experts consider it an essential component of effective teams. The more people value their relationships with one another, the thinking goes, the better they will perform for one another and, thus, for the organization. But can you have too much of a good thing?